We're so excited about our new album Goodbye Work that came out on June 6, 2025! Read all about it here and check out our single “Hand in the Air” – available now on all the digital places.
Minnesota folk/country favorites The Gated Community release their highly anticipated new album Goodbye Work. Celebrating their 20th year of making musically adventurous songs that are both playful and political, the band follows up on their lauded 2023 release The Honor and Glory of The Gated Community with a polished Americana album that proves this 6-piece lineup has solidified into a top-notch band that would sound great sandwiched between fellow Minneapolis greats The Jayhawks and Trampled By Turtles.
Their most collaborative effort yet, the album features each of the band members singing lead vocals. For the first time, founding member and bassist Cody Johnson takes a turn on leads, singing on one of the standout tracks “Took In.” Drummer Paul Hatlelid sings “Petty,” while lead guitarist Nate Knutson sings “What I Hate” and his original “Weed Smoke and Worry.” The rest of the lead vocal duties are shared amongst the band’s familiar singers Sumanth Gopinath (guitar, keyboards), Rosie Harris (banjo, cello) and Beth Hartman (percussion).
“Given the way the lead vocals are traded around on this recording, the effect is something of sharing songs in a song circle or campfire sing-along,” says lead songwriter Sumanth Gopinath. “But there are so many harmony vocals and a group cohesion in each performance, that it doesn’t sound like a bunch of random musicians. It feels like a true collective.”
Continuing to expand their sound and vision, the band members have taken on new instruments in the band with Sumanth playing keyboards and glockenspiel and Rosie playing more banjo. And while Sumanth continues to write most of the songs, this release shows that this eclectic group of players can come together to create something magical that never fails to surprise or shy away from pertinent political subjects – as in the songs “All Wrong” (homelessness), “Bunker” (the Russian invasion), and “Cornelia” (slavery and racial injustice). The best example might be “Goodbye Work,” which was written about the tension between hating one’s job and desperately needing it to survive. But when they submitted a live video of them performing the song for NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert on February 10, 2025, it had a very different feel.
“People viewed it as being about the current Trump administration’s attacks on noncitizen and migrant workers in the US,” Sumanth says. “Indeed, lines like ‘I will be at the back of the van’ speak directly to that scenario – of being arrested and detained in ICE holding facilities in the US and abroad.”
Whether taking on these hard topics or taking on lighter notes (as in “Hand in the Air” or “Took In”), Goodbye Work cements The Gated Community’s place as one of the most socially relevant and original bands making music today.