You might recognize Portland wizard Ripley Johnson from such bands as Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo. For the past few years, Johnson has also been making easy, laid-back rockers with Rose City Band, which, despite its name, has mostly been a solo project. Since 2019, Johnson has released three remarkably warm and pleasant Rose City Band albums; the most recent is 2021’s Earth Trip. Today, Johnson has let the world know that there’s a new Rose City Band album coming out this spring. It’s called Garden Party.

It appears that Ripley Johnson has been making some changes. For one thing, the new press photo indicates that Johnson has shaved his gigantic grey beard and that he’s now just rocking a mustache. He looks good! Also, Rose City Band, while still primarily a solo project, seems to be functioning as an actual band on Garden Party. Tortoise’s John McEntire mixed the new album, and it features musicians like Johnson’s Moon Duo bandmates Sanae Yamada and John Jeffrey, as well as pedal steel player Barry Walker and bassist Plankton Wat.

Rose City Band have shared the Garden Party opening track “Chasing Rainbows,” which radiates supremely chill Grateful Dead vibes. In a press release, Johnson says, “The songs won’t really be finished until we play them on the road,” but “Chasing Rainbows” already sounds like it’s in a good place. Below, listen to the song and check out the Garden Party tracklist and the upcoming Rose City Band tour dates.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Chasing Rainbows”
02 “Slow Burn”
03 “Garden Song”
04 “Porch Boogie”
05 “Saturday’s Gone”
06 “Mariposa”
07 “Moonlight Highway”
08 “El Rio”

TOUR DATES:
4/27 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
4/28 – Santa Barbara, CA @ Soho
4/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
4/30 – Pioneertown, CA @ Pappy & Harriet’s
5/04 – Vancouver, BC @ Cobalt
5/05 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
5/06 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
5/21 – Berlin, Germany @ Privatclub
5/22 – Copenhagen, Denmark @ Loppen
5/23 – Gothenburg, Sweden @ Pustervik
5/24 – Oslo, Norway @ Blaa
5/25 – Stockholm, Sweden @ Fasching
5/26 – Malmö, Sweden @ Plan B
5/28 – Hamburg, Germany @ Hebebühne
5/29 – Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
5/30 – Amsterdam, Netherlands @ Bitterzoet
5/31 – Middelkerke, Germany @ De Zwerver
6/01 – London, UK @ Scala
6/02 – Manchester, UK @ YES (Pink Room)
6/03 – York, UK @ The Crescent
6/04 – Brighton, UK @ Patterns
6/07 – Zürich, CH @ Bogen F
6/08 – Ravenna, Italy @ Beaches Brew
6/09 – Milano, Italy @ Arci Bellezza

Garden Party is out 4/21 on Thrill Jockey.