Today, ahead of a run of US tour dates, M. Ward releases For Beginners: The Best of M. Ward. In addition to highlighting the most beloved tracks across Ward’s expansive Merge Records discography, For Beginners adds his rendition of Godley & Creme’s 1985 ballad “Cry” featuring Australia’s Folk Bitch Trio, who will join Ward on the back half of his fall tour. For Beginners: The Best of M. Ward is available wherever you stream music, as well as on LP from the Merge store.

Ward shared the circumstances surrounding the recording of “Cry,” as well as a photo of the session:

“Cry” was recorded in a Tasmanian modern art museum called Mona. I sat at the end of a long hallway a few feet away from Anselm Kiefer’s sculpture of a 20-foot-high stack of lead books, and standing to my left and right around a single microphone were Melbourne’s Folk Bitch Trio; we rehearsed and recorded “Cry” in about 30 minutes. A pleasure to add this song to a collection of some of my favorite memories of music-making during the first decade of record-creating with my friends at Merge.

The song is the perfect capstone for a collection like For Beginners, summing up much of Ward’s power as a musician: the richness he’s capable of achieving in sparse recordings, his knack for collaboration, and his ability to see through to the soul of a meticulously crafted pop song—as much a means of looking forward to what’s to come as it is a callback to his past.

M. Ward’s fall tour begins on September 15, in Woodstock, New York. Tickets for all dates, including a three-night residency at New York City’s Cafe Carlyle, are on sale now.

M. Ward on tour: 
Sep 15 Woodstock, NY – Bearsville Theater*
Sep 17 Washington, DC – Union Stage*
Sep 19 Louisville, KY – Bourbon & Beyond 2024
Sep 20 Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall* 
Sep 21 Minneapolis, MN – Fine Line*
Sep 23 Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room Lounge*
Sep 24 Kansas City, MO – Madrid Theatre*
Sep 26 Dallas, TX – Kessler Theater~
Sep 27 Austin, TX – Scoot Inn~
Sep 28 Houston, TX – The Heights Theater~
Sep 30 Nashville, TN – Third Man Records Blue Room~
Oct 01 Atlanta, GA – Terminal West~
Oct 02 Asheville, NC – The Grey Eagle~
Oct 04 Charlotte, NC – Visulite Theater~
Oct 05 Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom~
Oct 06 Charlottesville, VA – Jefferson Theater~
Nov 21 New York, NY – Cafe Carlyle
Nov 22 New York, NY – Cafe Carlyle
Nov 23 New York, NY – Cafe Carlyle

* w/ Leslie Stevens
~ w/ Folk Bitch Trio