Noise Pop Festival 2027 Presents:

The musical world of Lambchop in 2026 consists of vocals, backing vocals, banjo and guitar. That’s all the new album Punching the Clown needs. With this lineup, they’ve created music that lies somewhere between gospel, folk and country. On the one hand, it’s focused and stripped-back. On the other, it’s incredibly rich and powerful. Justin Vernon plays banjo, and when it came to songwriting, Kurt Wagner was more consistent than ever: he learned from the best and resolved to give a chance only to songs that could measure up. And so, Punching the Clown, arriving in the band’s 33rd year, is the new masterpiece in Lambchop’s masterful discography.

Nashville, 2024: Kurt Wagner drove to the petrol station when an old song was playing on the car radio that he couldn’t get out of his head. “A simple song,” he says, “a banjo holding a single chord, with a few voices singing along.” A mix of folk, country and gospel. “Breathtaking. Beautiful.” For a few days, Wagner tried to identify the piece that had so captivated him but couldn’t. Instead, during his research, he came across a form of music that has long been forgotten, yet continues to exert a major influence on country and folk to this day. Wagner stumbled upon the song form known as “lining out,” which originated in British churches in the 19th century, when many people could not yet read. A lead singer, known as a “clerk,” would set a simple melody and lyrics, and the congregation would repeat them. This musical form reached the United States with settlers and flowed into the great American melting pot from which gospel, country and Appalachian folk music developed. A plan had taken shape in Kurt Wagner’s mind: to record a Lambchop album that reflects the spirit of this music and that mysterious song from the radio.

Punching the Clown is that album.