Lambchop Announces "Punching the Clown" Album Featuring Justin Vernon, Plus Tour

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Lambchop Line Up Tour and Justin Vernon-Assisted Album Punching the Clown

“Weakened” leads the excellently named LP, featuring Vernon on the banjo By Jazz Monroe May 6, 2026 Save this story Save this story

Lambchop are back. The Nashville mainstays recorded Punching the Clown with Ryan Olson on production and Justin Vernon moonlighting on the banjo throughout. As with the rest of the album, the single “Weakened,” below, features a six-piece choir. Scroll down to find the tracklist, Graham Tolbert’s album art, and the band’s forthcoming tour dates, including just a handful in the United States—Minneapolis, Chicago, and Brooklyn—before a more extensive European run.

Lambchop principal Kurt Wagner took the band to April Base, Vernon’s Wisconsin studio, to record Punching the Clown . Of the single, Wagner said in a press release, “People seem to really like this one!” Listen out for the castanets—they are the only percussion on the album.

Elaborating on the album and its roots in Scottish and Appalachian gospel music, he went on:

> in early 2024 i heard a song on the radio on my way to get some gas. just a minimal single chord strummed banjo and a small group of voices. it seemed perfect in the moment as the moment became perfect in itself. i never found out who it was, sounded kinda like early country gospel? in a time of searching i discovered a type of gospel singing known as lined out singing which is said to have begun in the late 1800s in scotland. it migrated to appalachia and became an obscure root of american gospel, country.… a spontaneous call and response type of acapella singing led by a clerk with a chorus of singers revealing the raw beauty and power of the human voice with its unique varieties its unadorned simplicity gave weight to the words as they were sung. i wanted to make a record that emulated this kind of music.

Wagner and the band’s last LP, in 2022, was the similarly well-named The Bible .

Punching the Clown : 01 Just West of Nicollet 02 A Doctor in the House 03 Weakened 04 Stella 05 Punching the Clown 06 White People 07 The New World Wave 08 Andrew Jackson Ass Hat 09 Afterburner 10 Cigar 11 To Do 12 No Chicago

Graham Tolbert

Lambchop: Punching the Clown Buy Now at Rough Trade

Lambchop: 06-28 Minneapolis, MN - Crooners Supper Club 08-30 Minneapolis, MN - Crooners Supper Club 09-27 Minneapolis, MN - Crooners Supper Club 09-29 Chicago, IL - Maurer Hall @ The Old Town School of Music 10-01 Brooklyn, NY - Public Records 10-02 Brooklyn, NY - Public Records 11-18 Viseu, Portugal - Teatro Viriato 11-19 Lisbon, Portugal - Culturgest 11-21 Braga, Portugal - Theatro Circo 11-22 Espinho, Portugal - Auditório de Espinho 11-24 Manchester, England - New Century Hall 11-25 Sheffield, England - Octagon 11-26 Gateshead, England - Sage 2 11-27 London, England - Union Chapel 11-28 London, England - Union Chapel 12-01 Dudelange, Luxembourg - Opderschmelz 12-02 Antwerp, Belgium - Arenberg 12-03 Roeselare, Belgium - De Spil 02-07 Oslo, Norway - Konserthus 02-09 Trondheim, Norway - Byscenen 02-11 Copenhagen, Denmark - DR Koncerthuset 02-12 Hamburg, Germany - Christianskirche 02-13 Berlin, Germany - Passionkirche 02-14 Erlangen, Germany - Markgrafentheater 02-16 Vienna, Austria - Theater Akzent 02-17 Budapest, Hungary - House Of Music 02-19 Glasgow, Scotland - St Lukes 02-20 Galway, Ireland - St Nicholas’ Church 02-21 Dublin, Ireland - The Helix

_Originally reported by [Pitchfork](https://pitchfork.com/news/lambchop-line-up-tour-and-justin-vernon-assisted-album-punching-the-clown/)._