Arlo McKinley will release new album This Mess We’re In via Oh Boy Records, and today he shares its latest preview with the tender, troubled and turbulent ‘Back Home.’
As one of the first songs he wrote for his most meditative and cinematic collection of music to date, ‘Back Home’ features Logan Halstead on accompanying vocals, and finds the Cincinnati-based McKinley reckoning with a life in limbo. Opening with allusions to past addictions and friends he has lost to similarly devastating demons, McKinley’s warm, oaky voice and unflinching honesty offer a reflection on the grief that coexists with the places and people he loves most.
“This city is a symphony, that never seems to be in key,” he sings, backed by an ace band of drummer Ken Coomer (Wilco, Uncle Tupelo), pianist Rick Steff (Lucero, Cat Power), mellotron from album producer Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Jason Isbell), plus guitarist Will Sexton, fiddle by Jessie Munson, and more. “I’ve tasted every sin, spit ’em out and I tried again.”
Following the previously released ‘Stealing Dark From The Night Sky’, and the brazen barnburner of ‘To Die For’, ‘Back Home’ is another step taken in This Mess We’re In’s journey towards brighter days and a better self. In the two years since his breakthrough 2020 LP, Die Midwestern, Arlo McKinley has emerged from an emotional fog that included the passing of his mother and multiple other loved ones, using these new songs as an internal compass to navigate his next chapter in such an uncertain world.
Arlo will head to the UK in June as part of the “Oh Boy Goes To Europe” tour, featuring Emily Scott Robinson and Kelsey Waldon. They will be stopping in London, Manchester, Glasgow, Dublin, Hamburg & Amsterdam from June 14th – 22nd and will see John’s wife Fiona Prine host select evenings. All three artists will perform sets packed with new music – each night concluding with a group performance of a John Prine classic. The Hamburg date will also see a very special and rare additional performance from Oh Boy’s longest-signed artist Dan Reeder.
The Oh Boy Records tour will take place on the following dates: Tickets are available HERE.
JUNE
Tue 14th Germany – Hamburg, Nochtwache
Wed 15th Netherlands – Amsterdam, Tuinzaal (Paradiso Noord)
Thu 16th UK – London, St Pancras Old Church
Sat 18th UK – London, Old Blue Last
Sun 19th UK – Manchester, Gullivers
Tue 21st UK – Glasgow, Oran Mor
Wed 22nd Ireland – Dublin, The Workman’s Club
