MEELS NEW EP, 'ACROSS THE RACCOON STRAIT', IS OUT TODAY
MEELS NEW EP, ACROSS THE RACCOON STRAIT, IS OUT TODAY
Meels Plays Headline Shows In Nashville, Brooklyn And Mill Valley, CA In Addition To Tour Dates With Margo Price, Carter Faith And Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
January 30, 2026 (Nashville, TN) – Today, singer-songwriter Meels released Across The Raccoon Strait via Nashville-based Lost Highway Records. The seven-track EP is the follow to 2024’s Tales from a Bird’s Bedroom, which introduced Meels as a striking new voice in indie folk and earned praise from Earmilk for its “rich sonics, evocative storytelling, and expressive vocal lines.” Listen to Across The Raccoon Strait HERE. See below for track listing.
To celebrate the release of Across The Raccoon Strait, Meels will play a trio of headline shows: February 17 at Nashville’s Station Inn, February 22 at Skinny Dennis in Brooklyn and a March 10 at Sweetwater Music Hall in her hometown of Mill Valley, CA – an iconic venue that was re-opened in 2012 by Bob Weir and his partners. Tickets are available HERE. Her live shows—marked by storytelling, laughter and a sense of communal nostalgia—have quickly earned her a reputation as one of folk’s most endearing new voices.
Over the next two months, she’ll open for Margo Price and join Carter Faith on a trio of dates. In April, Meels will join Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on their All The Good Times: The Farewell Tour. See below for itinerary. In 2025, Meels shared stages with Old Crow Medicine Show, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Molly Tuttle and Kaitlin Butts.
Meels says, “By the end of recording Across the Raccoon Strait, I finally felt like I had arrived at a sound that was truly my own. This EP is more confident, more personal, and more Meels than anything I’ve made before, and I’m so excited for it to be out in the world—not just as a reflection of how far I’ve come, but as a signpost for where my music is headed next.”
Each of the EP’s seven songs was written by Meels and she produced them alongside her Tales from a Bird’s Bedroom collaborators—Hush Kids member Peter Groenwald (Liz Longley, Prateek Kuhud) and Mark Campbell (Sasha Cooke, Kamala Sankaram). The freewheeling lead-off track “Out West” is exemplary of what Meels calls “Critter Country.” Blending folk, country and bluegrass with the intimacy and humor of modern songwriting, it’s a place where nostalgia meets honesty, and every song feels like home. Listen HERE.
In the official video, Meels pays tribute to three beloved mid-20th century TV series – “Hee Haw,” “Gunsmoke” and “Bonanza” – performing “Out West” with her band on a retro-styled Western set. Fred Joseph and Lee Einhorn directed. Henry Pakenam provided creative direction/art direction. The video for “Out West” will be live on Friday, January 30th at 9am PT HERE.
On the up-tempo “Old Mill Valley,” she wistfully sings, “This towns getting older / bring back the freaks / we’ll try to uphold her / sweep the debris.” (In the previous century, Mill Valley was home to a thriving arts scene with residents that included Jack Kerouac, Gary Snyder, Janis Joplin and Jerry Garcia.) “Praise the Sheep” celebrates the simple pleasures of farm life and “Marsha June” is a tender tribute to Meels’ unconventional grandmother.
When it was released earlier this month, “Vultures” drew attention from critics around the globe. The song found a place on “Entertainment Tonight’s” favorite new music of the week list and was named “New Song of the Day” by 13th Floor in New Zealand. Holler. hailed the track as “a joyously rattling toe-tapper…offering a reflection from the highway with characteristic warmth and humour.” COWGIRL Magazine said, “Meels reflects on life’s small tragedies and roadside observations, pairing vivid, playful lyrics with a catchy mid-tempo groove.” Meels was the week’s featured artist on Women Of Americana and “Vultures” appeared on numerous additional Spotify playlists, including those from CMA, Country Central, Coda Country and Prime Time Country Music.
Across The Raccoon Strait also includes Meels’ fall 2025 singles—“The Wizard,” a whimsical yet deeply personal song that transforms her lifelong experience with OCD into a playful, poetic narrative, and “Willow Song,” which invites listeners even deeper into her world, reminding them to seek stillness amid the chaos of life. Check out her live performance of “The Wizard” at Glacier National Park Conservancy HERE – the first in the “Meels National Park Services” video series. Her playful official video for “Willow Song” features an animated lead-in reminiscent of the introduction to the 1970’s variety show “Hee Haw” and a performance, introduced by two puppet characters, on a set evocative of “The Muppet Show” episode 401. View HERE.
Track Listing – Across The Raccoon Strait
Out West
Vultures
Old Mill Valley
Willow Song
Praise The Sheep
The Wizard
Marsha June
Meels – Tour Dates
2/17 – Nashville, TN – Station Inn ^
2/22 – Brooklyn, NY– Skinny Dennis ^
2/24 – Buffalo, NY – Electric City *
2/25 – Toronto, ON – Phoenix Concert Theatre *
2/26 – Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater *
3/1 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue *
3/4 – Denver, CO – Globe Hall #
3/6 – Phoenix, AZ – The Rebel Lounge #
3/9 – West Hollywood, CA – The Roxy #
3/10 – Mill Valley, CA – Sweetwater Music Hall ^
4/9 – Tarrytown, NY – Tarrytown Music Hall +
4/10 – Easton, PA – State Theatre Center for the Arts +
4/11 – Beverly, MA – The Cabot +
4/12 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre +
4/14 – Rutland, VT – The Paramount Theatre +
4/16 – Plymouth, MA – Plymouth Memorial Hall +s
4/17 – Nashua, NH – Nasua Center for the Arts +
4/18 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino Resort, The Avalon Theatre +
4/19 – Albany, NY – The Egg Center for the Performing Arts - Kitty Carlisle Hart Theater +
6/25 – Pendleton, OR – Jackalope Jamboree 2026
^ headline show
* supporting Margo Price
# supporting Carter Faith
+ supporting Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Meels | Photo Credit: Jim Hughes
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