Marriage, birth, death, departure; for Dispatch’s Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan, the only constant these past few years has been change. Add to that an exceedingly tense political climate, long-overdue reckonings on racial justice and gender equality, and a runaway global pandemic, and you’ve got an idea of what’s behind the band’s extraordinary new multi-part album. Marking Dispatch’s eighth studio release and first full-length collection without longtime member Pete Francis, the new album will arrive in a series of distinct phases, each consisting of three tracks inspired by the emotional stages of grief and transition. The songs here speak not only to the band’s personal evolution, but to human nature itself, charting a course from denial and resistance to growth and acceptance through deep introspection and empathetic character studies. Heady as that all may sound, the music is pure Dispatch, blending infectious roots rock with hints of reggae, folk, and blues, and the production is similarly lean and energetic, leaving plenty of space for some of the group’s most pointed, political lyrics to date. The result is a timely and essential album from a band still breaking new ground two-and-a-half decades into its storied career, an ode to resilience and survival that manages to find hope and joy on even the darkest of days.

Formed by Chadwick Stokes and Brad Corrigan while in college in Vermont DISPATCH have forged their own path outside the mainstream music industry as one of the most successful artists in the roots rock scene. Over the course of a slew of acclaimed studio and live albums and countless tours and festivals, the band has gone on to become one of biggest success stories in independent music history, selling out three nights at Madison Square Garden and drawing over 100,000 fans to a massive outdoor show in their adopted hometown of Boston without any traditional radio or major label support. This year, they will embark on a US Summer Tour alongside John Butler (with band). DISPATCH and John Butler will also be joined by G. Love & Special Sauce, Donavon Frankenreiter, and Illiterate Light on select dates. Throughout their rise, DISPATCH has taken every opportunity to use their success for good, launching charitable organizations to fight inequality and mass incarceration, raising funds and awareness for environmental causes, schools and hospitals on the road, and even traveling as far afield as Zimbabwe to work with children and communities in need. Chadwick Stokes’ Calling All Crows joins bands and fans together in collective activism that has raised more than half a million dollars for feminist movements, while Brad Corrigan’s Love Light + Melody helps amplify the stories of children who live in extreme poverty.