A posthumous album by the late cult folk singer and visual artist Ed Askew is being released on Drag City. Out July 31, The Final Painting features contributions from, among others, Bill Callahan and William Tyler; Sharon Van Etten sings backing vocals on the single “Gray Air-o-Plane.” Below, watch a video that sets the song to images of Askew’s paintings.
Askew made The Final Painting with producer Jerry David DeCicca—who also helmed his 2013 album For the World—working from demos Askew recorded in his apartment between 2020 and his death in January 2025.
Revisit the review of Ed Askew’s 1984 album Imperfiction, reissued by Drag City in 2011.
The Final Painting:
01 Winter Song
02 Bacon & Eggs
03 Long Night [ft. Eve Searls]
04 Lost in the Kitchen
05 A Train is a Thought
06 Gray Air-o-Plane [ft. Sharon Van Etten}
07 Someone [ft. Bill Callahan]
08 Tough Guys
09 Nightengale [ft. Eve Searls]