Terry Allen Examines Love and the War in Afghanistan on New Song “Bad Kiss.”

Part of Centerpiece “American Childhood” Suite From Country Legend’s New Album Just Like Moby Dick, Out Jan. 24.

Today, Terry Allen — the “cult favorite” (Rolling Stone) Texas country legend and “flat-out inspiring” (LA Times) visual artist — shares “Bad Kiss” from his new album Just Like Moby Dick. The first taste of a three-song suite—titled “American Childhood”—that forms the emotional core of the album, “Bad Kiss” tells of a high school girl who enlists, leaving home and an abbreviated romance for the war-torn Middle East. But history repeats itself in an endlessly stuttering cycle of brutality and death: “It’s just the war/Same fucking war/It’s always been/Never ends.”

The song is a prime example of why The New York Times calls Terry Allen “pretty close to a master lyricist.” Listen to “Bad Kiss”:

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Just Like Moby Dick is a spiritual successor to Terry Allen’s “stunning” (Pitchfork) 1979 masterpiece Lubbock (on everything). Featuring contributions from Austin legend and co-producer Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Lucinda Williams), Lloyd Maines, and Shannon McNally among others, it’s an adventurous, highly literary, hilarious and heartbreaking work that stands among his best ever.

Last week, Terry Allen was in Miami for Art Basel Miami Beach, presenting an exhibition of his new drawings at Nina Johnson. In its Art Basel preview, the NY Times suggested that “a rare opportunity to see his handiwork (and hopefully hear him perform some of his delectably barbed country songs) is too good to miss.”

Additionally, Pedal Steal + Four Corners, a collection of Allen’s radio plays and “country-concrète” long-form narrative audio works, was nominated for a 2020 GRAMMY for Best Album Notes, for the book (written by Brendan Greaves) that accompanies the set. Said Kurt Vile, interviewing Allen for Rolling Stone: “It literally jumped to being my favorite record. It’s so far-out, but so fine-tuned at the same time.”

Terry is the subject of a new documentary film entitled Everything For All Reasons, an introduction to Allen’s music, art, and worldview that features the Panhandle Mystery Band in concert and friends ranging from David Byrne to Kiki Smith. Watch a trailer for Everything For All Reasons.

Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band will play a special show celebrating the coming release of Just Like Moby Dick at Austin’s Paramount Theater on January 18, 2020, with many special guests to be announced soon. They’ll also play a pair of shows at Zebulon Cafe in Los Angeles on February 15 and 16, as well as a show at City Winery in Washington DC on May 23.