The Mountain Goats are hitting the road next week to visit the few places they missed on the All Eternals Deck tour in 2011. In an exercise hearkening back to the ’70s tours of The Rolling Stones and Neil Young, John, Peter and Jon have been demoing songs for their new, as-yet-untitled album and have chosen a few brand-new songs to perform each night during this tour.

John posted the following on his website regarding this new plan:

“One small word about these shows. For years bands have been pretty judicious about playing unreleased new material, because much of it becomes available online immediately, even when the new songs are still in fairly raw form. We, too, have gotten into the bad habit of holding new stuff back. We are done with that whole philosophy, though. I miss playing stuff that’s unreleased & unrecorded, stuff that still stings fresh. So we got together and decided to tour the new songs before we even record them. I don’t guess that we’ll be touring all ten of the new songs I’ve written for the next album (eleven if you count one that’s presently being herded back and forth between its cell & the chopping block), but be advised that if you’re the sort of person who wants as many surprises as possible when you hear a new album, you should tread lightly around recordings of these shows, because we’re not going to be holding the best ones back for the album release like people tend to do now.”

Full list of tour dates is below and you can find the Mountain Goats’ All Eternals Deck on CD, LP and digital download now in the Merge store.

 the Mountain Goats on tour:
* = w/ Nurses
Jan 19 Austin, TX – Antone’s* SOLD OUT
Jan 20 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s*
Jan 21 New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s*
Jan 23 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder*
Jan 24 Orlando, FL – The Social*
Jan 25 Tampa, FL – Crowbar*
Jan 27 St. Augustine, FL – The Original Cafe Eleven*
Jan 28 Atlanta, GA – The Earl*
Jan 30 Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club*
Jan 31 Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre*
Feb 02 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle*
Feb 04 Saxapahaw, NC – The Haw River Ballroom*
Mar 09 Denton, TX – 35 Denton Festival*
Mar 13 New York, NY – Carnegie Hall: “The Music of the Rolling Stones: Hot Rocks 1964–1971”
Mar 24 New York, NY – Ecstatic Music Festival w/ Anonymous 4
Apr 02 London, UK – The Barbican w/ Anonymous 4

The Mountain Goats have announced new tour dates beginning January 19 in Austin, TX.

The Mountain Goats have been keeping busy since their summer tour in support of their Merge debut All Eternals Deck. They have shared the stage with John Hodgman, Roseanne Cash, Kristen Schaal, Wyatt Cenac, Eugene Mirman, and others at various “variety” shows. The Mountain Goats will close out 2011 with a couple of solo sets for charity, and then they will get right back to work.

In addition to the new tour dates visiting parts of the south they missed in 2011, the Mountain Goats will perform two special shows with Anonymous 4, appear at the 35 Denton Festival, and join “The Music of the Rolling Stones” at Carnegie Hall in March.

SPIN praised the Mountain Goats’ frontman John Darnielle as “indie rock’s greatest lyricist” on the cover of their April issue, while Rolling Stone touted him as an “ace word-slinger.”

All Eternals Deck is available on CD, LP, and digital download in the Merge store.

The Mountain Goats can be found on Facebook, twitter and at mountain-goats.com.

The Mountain Goats on tour:
* = w/ Nurses
Dec 06 Chicago, IL – The Second City That Never Sleeps “Letters to Santa” benefit
Dec 16 Los Angeles, CA – Troubadour Invisible Children Holiday Benefit show
Jan 19 Austin, TX – Antone’s*
Jan 20 Houston, TX – Fitzgerald’s*
Jan 21 New Orleans, LA – Tipitina’s*
Jan 23 Tallahassee, FL – Club Downunder*
Jan 24 Orlando, FL – The Social*
Jan 25 Tampa, FL – Crowbar*
Jan 27 St. Augustine, FL – The Original Cafe Eleven*
Jan 28 Atlanta, GA – The Earl*
Jan 30 Athens, GA – 40 Watt Club*
Jan 31 Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theatre*
Feb 02 Asheville, NC – Grey Eagle*
Feb 04 Saxapahaw, NC – The Haw River Ballroom*
Mar 09 Denton, TX – 35 Denton Festival*
Mar 13 New York, NY – Carnegie Hall: “The Music of the Rolling Stones: Hot Rocks 1964–1971”
Mar 24 New York, NY – Ecstatic Music Festival w/ Anonymous 4
Apr 02 London, UK – The Barbican w/ Anonymous 4

John, Peter, Yuval & Jon visited the round room at the AV Club headquarters to perform their version of Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar.”

Watch the Mountain Goats perform Jawbreaker’s “Boxcar” now

The Mountain Goats will kick off the second leg of their US tour in support of their new album All Eternals Deck June 14 in Minneapolis. The band is also scheduled to play Lollapalooza in Chicago in August, as well as several dates with Bright Eyes. Go see them!

All Eternals Deck is available on CD, LP, and digital download in the Merge store.

The Mountain Goats on tour:
(* with Bright Eyes)
Jun 14 Minneapolis, MN – Varsity Theater
Jun 16 Seattle, WA – The Showbox
Jun 17 Vancouver, BC – The Biltmore Cabaret
Jun 18 Portland, OR – Aladdin Theater
Jun 20 San Francisco, CA – The Fillmore
Jun 23 Los Angeles, CA – El Rey Theatre
Jun 26 Bloomington, IN – Rhino’s Youth Center (solo set)
Jul 27 Lewiston, NY – Artpark *
Jul 28 Gilford, NH – Meadowbrook US Cellular Pavilion *
Jul 29 South Burlington, VT – The Green at Shelburne Museum *
Jul 30 Montreal, QC – Osheaga Festival
Jul 31 Baldwinsville, NY – Papermill Island Amphitheatre *
Aug 03 Grand Rapids, MI – Meijer Gardens *
Aug 04 Indianapolis, IN – Egyptian Room *
Aug 05–07 Chicago, IL – Lollapalooza