Sunny War Returns with “Armageddon in a Summer Dress” and Tour
February 21 - July 5
Sunny War returns with Armageddon in a Summer Dress today via New West Records. The 11-song set was produced by Andrija Tokic (Alabama Shakes, Hurray for the Riff Raff) and features guest appearances by Valerie June, John Doe of X, Steve Ignorant of Crass, Tré Burt, Jack Lawrence of the Raconteurs, Kyshona Armstrong, John James Tourville of the Deslondes, and more.
Met with wide critical acclaim, No Depression said “As urgent as breaking news, this stirring album feels like it could have been recorded yesterday,” while The Line of Best Fit said “Inspired by lyrical punk and the American decline, Sunny War’s Armageddon in a Summer Dress finds the natural-born bluesperson at her most maximalist.” PopMatters called it “a revolutionary work… a genre-defying musical call for change…,” The Bluegrass Situation said “Sunny War has done it again.
Her brand new album is yet another anarcho-punk-roots masterpiece in her already deep-and-wide catalog of superlative recordings,” while Brooklyn Vegan said “Sunny War’s music may not use distorted guitars or double-time beats, but it’s punk as fuck.” Armageddon in a Summer Dress follows 2023’s Anarchist Gospel, which appeared on numerous “Best of the Year” lists including Rolling Stone, NPR Music, Uncut, Paste Magazine, No Depression, Flood Magazine, Magnet Magazine, The Bitter Southerner, among others. Its success also took her on the road appearing alongside Mitski, Iron & Wine, John Doe & Exene Cervenka of X, Bonnie Raitt, and more.
Following the release of her breakthrough Anarchist Gospel, Sunny moved into her late father’s house in Chattanooga. She thought the place was haunted.
“I spent the winter seeing things and hearing things,” she says. “The house is 100 years old, and I was in there by myself. I could hear people walking around and talking, but when I jumped out of bed with my machete, there was nobody there. I assumed it was my dad, and I started writing about the ghosts that I was living with.” Sunny’s house wasn’t haunted, at least not the way she initially suspected. “Something broke and I had to fix it, so I called the gas company even though I didn’t have the money. The guy discovered major gas leaks all over the house. I thought I was losing my mind, but I was just hallucinating from the gas. After I got that fixed, I never saw or heard another ghost.”
That’s not to say they weren’t there, just that she could no longer detect them. Armageddon is rooted in the disorientation of those hallucinations. In songs that are deeply incisive and keenly imaginative, Sunny ponders the act of crossing boundaries—between worlds, between musical genres, summoning the ghosts of the people she lost, the people she once was, and the people she was not allowed to be.
Off the road and back at her not-haunted house, Sunny did her best to stay busy, lest she lapse back into the alcohol and drug abuse that almost killed her years ago. “If I’m not touring, I’m either going to play music all day or I’m going to get drunk. It’s really one or the other. I’m just obsessively trying to work on something so that I’m making healthier decisions that day.”
She spent long days recording elaborate demos, chasing ideas and assembling whole songs from the ground up. The intense demo process allowed her to experiment with new textures, and she found herself gravitating away from her trusty acoustic guitar for an electric. “Touring behind Anarchist Gospel made me want to make a bigger-sounding record and have a whole band rather than just playing solo acoustic or with a three piece. I wanted to try stuff out of my comfort zone and try and have more fun playing. I definitely wanted to make this album for a badass five-piece band.”
Armageddon in a Summer Dress reveals an artist further refining her vibrant mix of punk and roots. “To me it’s the same kind of music. If you’re into punk for the lyrics and the message, there’s definitely a lot of old-time music that has that spirit. Folk used to be very anti-establishment.
Pete Seeger, union songs, Woody Guthrie—that’s punk rock shit. It’s all about being an outsider.” What kind of person would Sunny be had she never heard Crass? Or Robert Johnson? Or any of her heroes? Those mirror-universe Sunnys are just some of the ghosts that haunts Armageddon in a Summer Dress: all of those different selves would have led different lives. These songs tally up everything that’s lost as you grow up and grow old, all of those small occurrences that turn out to be pivotal. As dire as some of these songs may be, they’re also righteous and therefore joyous in their exhortations to live on your own terms, to fight injustice wherever you see it, and to always reach for new ways to express yourself.”
Sunny War also announced her initial tour dates in support of Armageddon in a Summer Dress. She’ll celebrate the record release this evening at The Blue Room at Third Man Records in Nashville, TN and will also appear at this year’s Big Ears Festival in Knoxville, TN next month. She will also support The Dead South on tour launching April 25 in Atlanta, GA. Please see tour dates, with more to be added, below.
Sunny War’s Armageddon in a Summer Dress is available across digital platforms, compact disc, and standard black vinyl. A limited Clear Pink color vinyl edition as well as a limited compact disc edition autographed by Sunny War is available at Independent Retailers. A limited Green & Black Swirl color vinyl edition of 200 is available via Rough Trade. A limited signed compact disc edition as well as a limited “Cry Baby Blue” color vinyl edition of 500 is available directly via NEW WEST RECORDS.
Armageddon in a Summer Dress Track Listing:
1. One Way Train
2. Bad Times
3. Rise
4. Ghosts
5. Walking Contradiction (feat. Steve Ignorant)
6. Cry Baby (feat. Valerie June)
7. No One Calls Me Baby
8. Scornful Heart (feat. Tré Burt)
9. Gone Again (feat. John Doe)
10. Lay Your Body
11. Debbie Downer
Sunny War On Tour:
February 21, 2025 – Nashville, TN – Third Man Records *Record Release Show
March 1, 2025 – Austin, TX – 04 Center
March 27, 2025 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
April 25, 2025 – Atlanta, GA – Buckhead Theater*
April 26, 2025 – Orlando, FL – House Of Blues*
April 27, 2025 – St Petersburg, FL – Jannus Live*
April 29, 2025 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Revolution Hall*
May 1, 2025 – Charleston, SC – Refinery*
May 2, 2025 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amp*
May 3, 2025 – Richmond, VA – The National*
May 4, 2025 – Jim Thorpe, PA – Penn’s Peak*
May 6, 2025 – Ithaca, NY – State Theater*
May 8, 2025 Bristol, TN – Birthplace of Country Music*
May 9, 2025 Louisville, KY – Old Forester’s Paristown Hall*
May 10, 2025 – St Louis, MO – The Pageant*
May 11, 2025 – Pelham, TN – The Caverns*
May 13, 2025 – Birmingham, AL – Avondale Brewing*
July 5, 2025 – King of Prussia, PA – River Roads Festival
*Supporting the Dead South