Portland-based troubadour, M. Ward will release his long-awaited sixth solo album “A Wasteland Companion” on April 10 via Merge Records.

In the three years since M. Ward released his last solo album, “Hold Time,” Ward has spent a majority of his time out on the road. Inspiration from the album comes from this idea of traveling, as M. Ward explains, “Between now and when I made ‘Hold Time’ there has been a lot of traveling which requires a lot of reckoning with what to leave behind and what to carry – material and otherwise – and thinking about what I want versus what I need, creatively and otherwise. I wanted to get a reflection of that on the album. It was a process of stripping away my security blanket, which is the same four walls I always record in.”

Recorded in eight different studios around the US and UK, the album features an astonishing eighteen different musicians, including Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis, She & Him’s Zooey Deschanel, Devotchka’s Tom Hagerman, Dr Dog’s Tobey Leaman, Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, The Cardinals John Graboff, and many, many more.

“A Wasteland Companion” track listing is as follows:
1. Clean Slate (for Alex & El Goodo)
2. Primitive Girl
3. Me And My Shadow
4. Sweetheart
5. I Get Ideas
6. The First Time I Ran Away
7. A Wasteland Companion
8. Watch The Show
9. There’s A Key
10. Crawl After You
11. Wild Goose
12. Pure Joy

M. Ward North American tour dates are as follows:
Feb 2 Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Los Angeles, CA
Apr 11 The Fillmore/ San Francisco, CA*
Apr 12 The Cocoanut Grove Ballroom / Santa Cruz, CA%
Apr 13 Coachella / Indio, CA
Apr 14 SoHO / Santa Barbara, CA
Apr 16 Belly Up / San Diego, CA%
Apr 17 Crescent Ballroom / Phoenix, AZ%
Apr 18 The Orpheum / Flagstaff, AZ%
Apr 20 Coachella / Indio, CA
May 5 State Theatre / Portland, ME#
May 6 Higher Ground / Burlington, VT#
May 7 Toads Place / New Haven, CT#
May 8 House of Blues / Boston, MA#
May 11 Webster Hall / New York, NY#
May 12 Union Transfer/ Philadelphia, PA#
May 13 9:30 Club / Washington, DC#
May 15 Duke Performances at Page Auditorium / Durham, NC#
May 16 Georgia Theatre / Athens, GA#
May 17 Buckhead Theatre / Atlanta, GA#
May 22 Vic Theatre / Chicago, IL#
May 24 First Avenue / Minneapolis, MN
*Jonathan Richman supports
% fIREHOSE supports
# Lee Ranaldo Band supports