We recently shared the news of Sir Richard Bishop‘s new album, Hillbilly Ragas (September 26th, 2025, via Drag City). In follow-up to his first single, They Shall Take Up Serpents, Bishop has shared “Pass the Juggernaut,” a further taster of what’s to come, described as rendering the colonies’ mutated musical inheritance with brooding aggression — the sound of tradition near severed from its source and played with spirited aplomb in the new world.
The track, and accompanying video, is a raw display of Bishop’s interpretive methods. With jagged, blunted strikes, Bishop builds a taut intensity that feels both intimate and confrontational–music to drive dancers before the fire, music that pulls you deeper into your “poor, pagan soul.”
The accompanying music video is a visual extension of the single’s raw energy, creating a scrambling dance of colour that buzzes with the intensity of each string on Bishop’s guitar.
Hillbilly Ragas is raw, aggressive, and “opposed to anything predictable or overly melodic.” It’s the work of an imagined “undiscovered mountain man or ‘hillbilly'” who, hidden in the backwoods, never learned any traditional musical rules. The nine pieces on the album represent “a different excursion into the dark woods” and embody a unique folklore with the music fueled by moonshine, supernatural surroundings, and Bishop’s “fuck-all attitude”.
Released on September 26th, the album will be available on LP, CD, Cassette and digital formats. “Hillbilly Ragas” joins Bishop’s other releases on Drag City, including The Freak of Araby, on which he explored the musical legacy of late Egyptian guitarist Omar Khorshid, Tangier Sessions explored the sound of an obscure 19th-century guitar that Rick had acquired from a mysterious Swiss luthier, and “Oneiric Formulary“, which was described by KLOF Mag’s Glenn Kimpton as “a roller-coaster of a success…a crazed, beautiful and brilliant riot of a record.”
Pre-Order Hillbilly Ragas
Sir Richard Bishop Tour Dates 2025
Aug. 30 – Portland, OR @ Turn Turn Turn
Sept. 23 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool (Record Release Show)
Sept. 26 – Dublin, IE @ BelloBar
Sept. 27 – Drogheda, IE @ Coffee Box
Sept. 29 – Galway, IE @ Roisin Dubh
Oct. 1 – Berlin, DE @ Arkaoda
Oct. 2 – Prague CZ @ Meet Factory
Oct. 7 – Newcastle. UK @ The Cumberland Arms
Oct. 9 – Sheffield, UK @ Bishops’ House
Oct. 11 – London, UK @ Chats Palace
Oct. 12 – Paris, FR @ Chair De Poule
Oct. 19 – Milano, IT @ Motelsalieri
Oct. 22 – Oslo, Norway @ Himmel Blå