Welcome back to one of North America’s greatest troubadours, Little Wide Open is the eighth studio album by the folk-rock traveller Kevin Morby and his first since 2023’s gorgeous More Photographs (A Continuum), a companion piece to Morby’s 2022 album This Is a Photograph. The question is, where has this wandering star been over the last few years? Lucky for us, the answers rest in the 13 tracks on this project, which paint a vivid picture of tangled highways, towns with populations under 100,000, roadside crosses, and a rock-and-roll romance.
From the opening rumble of Badlands, there is an overwhelming feeling of a long journey about to unfold; it’s the keys in the ignition and the rumble of an engine. Morby sings “Welcome to the Badlands” and paints a portrait of “wild fields of lavender”, almost like something to think fondly of when the journey is proving long and daunting. Die Young has all the right associations for weary-eyed remembrance, aided by the lush sound of strings as this cowboy thinks of his last rodeo: “Time was moving too fast, I got to missing the past, and this old Econoline was getting low on gas”
Little Wide Open might be beginning to sound like a portrait of memories trapped in time, but perhaps for Morby, before you move forward, you must come to terms with what has already been, such as in All Sinners and Natural Disaster, a two-track knockdown that is both full of deceptive lyrical devastation. In the former track, he confesses: “And if time is a violent driver, then we ride passengers”. It is the latter track, though, that could be a contender for containing some of the most descriptive, crestfallen lyrics to ever pour out of Morby: “Of the fault lines on my face from all the tears and my laughter”, “I’m afraid I’ll just hurt it… Oh, so I burn it down and collect the insurance”.
With the wind blowing through the car’s open window, the journey continues onward to Cowtown and Bible Belt, where the streets are empty, save for the sound of Morby and his shimmering guitar creating visions of folk luminaries. There is a slight flirt with cliche, as the track titles point towards well-known American country associations, but Morby stays above the line, packing his narratives with warmth and tenderness.
Little Wide Open is open and honest, full of stories from life on the road – every song a memory, a life lived and lessons learnt. And by the time you reach the closing track, Field Guide For The Butterflies, you are greeted with open arms that say, “You’ve been gone a long time, we missed you and we are glad you came home”.
Little Wide Open (May 15th, 2026) Dead Oceans
Bandcamp: https://kevinmorby.bandcamp.com/album/little-wide-open