Kendall Street Company Tells Tale Of ‘Yodeling Astroman’ On New Album

By Nate Todd Aug 28, 2026 • 12:14 pm PDT

Kendall Street Company announced a new album, Yodeling Astroman, arriving on October 23 via Gitcha Records. The band from Charlottesville, Virginia also shared the lead single, “Don’t Wanna Be Gone.”

Kendall Street Company reconvened with longtime collaborator Scott Gordon (Ringo Starr, Alanis Morissette) to co-produce Yodeling Astroman, the band’s eighth studio album. Press materials further detailed the concept record:

The new project is a collection of folk tales written from the perspective of the Yodeling Astroman. Legend has it that the Yodeling Astroman materialized in deep space shortly after the Big Bang and stumbled upon Earth by chance. Astroman eventually became intrigued by human life, and their capacities to equally love and to hate, to hope and to despair, to build and to destroy. Kendall Street Company took creative liberties in channeling this otherworldly perspective, resulting in an album that captures just a handful of choice selections from the Yodeling Astroman’s vast and mysterious observations.

The first glimpse at Yodeling Astroman is the second song on the 15-track LP, “Don’t Wanna Be Gone.” The song began as an examination of life on the road, but zoomed out to take on a more macro view.

“It’s a song about wanting to stay in the present moment despite everything happening all the time,” frontman Louis Smith said. Smith drew inspiration from a myriad of places including “the Asheville floods and California wildfires, Mad Max: Fury Road, Paul Simon and the ups and downs of life on the road.”

Smith then crafted a song that touches on themes of “touring, lost love, climate change, substance abuse, displacement, mindfulness, anxiety and existence.”

“It’s a song I had to wrestle with for a while, but I’m happy where it landed,” Smith added.

Listen to “Don’t Wanna Be Gone” below:

Yodeling Astroman Tracklist:

1. Last Night I Dreamed
2. Don’t Wanna Be Gone
3. Lost and Found
4. Back In My Day
5. Feelings (or How Do I Feel?)
6. Hoyt & Horn
7. My Captain
8. 16oz World
9. Smashed Roach
10. How Can It Be
11. The Gambler
12. Lord Von Rubin
13. My Doubts
14. Yodeling Astroman
15. Get Along Now lil’ Doggie