• First time on vinyl via Merge Records
• Remastered from the original tapes
• Gatefold jacket features extensive new liner notes by John Darnielle
• Includes download card plus 7 digital bonus tracks

The last of the “all-home-recordings albums” by The Mountain Goats and the only one about which that claim is true, All Hail West Texas was originally released as a free-standing compact disc on the late, lamented Emperor Jones. That was about a decade ago. The songs were originally transferred from the cassettes onto which they were recorded to 1/4″ reels at Tiny Telephone by Alex Newport, who also played in Fudge Tunnel. John got really excited when he realized his tapes were being EQ’d by the guy from Fudge Tunnel.

Remastered from those reels, along with 7 unearthed songs from the two surviving contemporaneous cassettes, All Hail West Texas stands as the peak of The Mountain Goats’ home recording era, a time people like to refer to as “when John Darnielle had his four-track,” except John did not actually use a four-track. He used the condenser mic of a Panasonic boombox and there was no overdubbing. All songs recorded on the day they were written, usually within minutes of the actual composition. Highlights include “Jenny,” “Fall of the Star High School Running Back,” and “The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton,” a song which has compelled audiences around the globe to yell “Hail Satan,” and to mean it.

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TRACKLIST:
The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton
2Fall of the Star High School Running Back
3Color in Your Cheeks
4Jenny
5Fault Lines
6Balance
7Pink and Blue
8Riches and Wonders
9The Mess Inside
10Jeff Davis County Blues
11Distant Stations
12Blues in Dallas
13Source Decay
14Absolute Lithops Effect
15Hardpan Song
16Answering the Phone
17Indonesia
18Midland
19Jenny [Alternate Take]
20Tape Travel Is Lonely
21Waco