Hiss Golden Messenger—the North Carolina-based project of MC Taylor—releases “Shaky Eyes,” the second single from his new album, I’m People (Chrysalis Records), out May 1st, 2026. The song follows “In The Middle Of It,” and “Shaky Eyes” is an ode to Taylor’s origins in California.

Reflecting on the song, Taylor says: “Do we stick with the sure bet? Or, do we gamble on possibility, never knowing how winning is apt to change things we never even considered? Or: Do we drift in the in-between?I grew up in California and big western skies are something that color my dreams still. They make me feel small and ambiguous, and they feel like home. This song is indebted—in title if nothing else—to Lou Mathews’ novel Shaky Town, a piece of work that feels Los Angeles, the Southland, deeply and lovingly. This tune was also written in Santa Fe under a neon mezcal moon.”

I’m People is an intensely human record—immediate, vulnerable, and full of spirit, something you could touch, sing along to, dance with, know about, recognize, relate. Taylor, grappling  with the heartbreak and exhilaration, the absolute black comedy of being alive in America circa 2026, seems to ask: What other choice do we have than to be hopeful?

“The songs on I’m People are about running towards and away from things, about reasonable and realistic hope and expectations, about having babies, getting older, love and lust and luck and music. They are songs about solitude and heartbreak and poverty of the spirit, and maybe community as some kind of antidote for these particular types of sicknesses. Shedding old skin. Mystery as a beautiful necessity.” — MC Taylor

I’m People was written in New Mexico, California, and North Carolina, co-produced by Taylor and Josh Kaufman, engineered by Chris Boerner and Gillian Pelkonen, and mixed and mastered by D. James Goodwin. The album was recorded at Dreamland, a decommissioned church outside of Woodstock, NY. “I wanted the record to feel the way that upstate place feels, deep in the pocket, a place of poetry, earth and sky and mountains. A place where a lot of my favorite music has come from,” Taylor comments. The album features instrumentation from Taylor, Kaufman, JT Bates, Cameron Ralston, Bruce Hornsby, Sam Beam, Marcus King, Sara Watkins, Amy Helm, Matt Douglas, Eric D. Johnson, and Griff and Taylor Goldsmith.

This fall, Hiss Golden Messenger will embark on a U.S. tour with a full band. Tickets are now available here.

Hiss Golden Messenger Tour Dates:
Thu. Sept. 24 – Denver, CO @ Ogden Theatre
Fri. Sept. 25 – Beaver Creek, CO @ Vilar Performing Arts Center
Sat. Sept. 26 – Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
Tue. Sept. 29 – Solana Beach, CA @ Belly Up
Fri. Oct. 2 – Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour
Tue. Oct. 6 – Healdsburg, CA @ Little Saint
Fri. Oct. 9 – Portland, OR @ Aladdin Theatre
Sat. Oct. 10 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Sun. Oct. 11 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor Tavern
Wed. Oct. 14 – Minneapolis, MN @ Icehouse
Fri. Oct. 16 – Newport, KY @ Southgate House
Sat. Oct. 17 – Louisville, KY @ Zanzabar
Sun. Oct. 18 – Atlanta, GA @ Terminal West
Wed. Nov. 4 – Ardmore, PA @ Ardmore Music Hall
Thu. Nov. 5 – Woodstock, NY @ Bearsville Theatre
Fri. Nov. 6 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
Sat. Nov. 7 – Washington, DC @ 9:30 Club
Mon. Nov. 9 – Cambridge, MA @ The Sinclair
Wed. Nov. 11 – Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
Thu. Nov. 12 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
Fri. Nov. 13 – St. Louis, MO @ Off Broadway
Sat. Nov. 14 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
Wed. Nov. 18 – Richmond, VA @ The Broadberry
Thu. Nov. 19 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
Sat. Nov. 21 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle
Sun. Nov. 22 – Carrboro, NC @ Cat’s Cradle