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PLEASE NOTE:EcoMix transforms recycled vinyl pellets from an assortment of colors into new material, reducing waste. Each disc is uniquely different.

For Kevin Morby, the little wide open is the big sky, the small lives, its his origins in the Midwest, and every duty and modesty and familiarity and isolation: the land, the people, and the parts of that inside him. Theres something unintentionally musical about the Midwest; cicadas chirping in the trees, a train passing, a tornado siren going off, explains Morby. If you listen, there are these almost ominous sounds taking place beneath the wide-open skyits ugliness and its beauty and how the two are often working together simultaneously. And while the Midwest isnt technically the badlands, its my badlands.

Little Wide Open is the title of Kevin Morbys eighth studio album, produced by Aaron Dessner. In the summer of 2024, Dessner had asked Morby to support The National at their London show in Crystal Palace Park. Shortly after, Dessnerwho was on a hot streak, having produced albums for Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, and Gracie Abramsreached out to Morby to say hed love to produce his next album. They began recording at Aarons Long Pond Studio in Stuyvesant, NY, early in 2025 and finished in September of that year.

The album, which features a host of contributors such as Dessnerwho plays multiple instruments across itAmelia Meath, Andrew Barr, Justin Vernon, Katie Gavin, Lucinda Williams, Meg Duffy, and more, has been described by Morby as the third in a trilogy of releases, following 2020s Sundowner and 2022s This Is a Photograph, which catalogued his time in the Midwest after moving back to Kansas City. This time out, Dessners production elevates Morbys recordings while never losing focus of the songs themselves. Theres a newfound confidence and clarity in both Morbys writing and Dessners production that recalls Tom Pettys 1994 classic Wildflowers.

Now primarily living in LA, the atmosphere that runs through Little Wide Open has changed somewhat from its predecessors. As Rachel Kushner writes of Morby in the albums accompanying essay: Its about time, about feeling like he has shifted from nostalgia and the losing game, losing but beautiful, of holding onto the past. He has accepted that time is ceaselessly flowing, and you cant stop it. Instead, he feels like hes riding it. Hes riding passenger with time.

street date 5/15/26