On June 4, 2025, Ethel Cain released the first song from her upcoming sophomore album, Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, which is set to be released on August 8. The single, titled “Nettles,” has already amassed 2.6 million streams on Spotify and continues to climb.
“This song and the last track on the record were both written the same week, the very first week I moved into the house in Alabama where I finished Preacher’s Daughter”, says Cain. “In similar fashion to Preacher’s Daughter (specifically ‘A House in Nebraska’ and ‘Strangers’), I wrote what essentially became the beginning and end of the story without realizing it. What were originally just little vignettes of emotion I was feeling at the time ultimately became the tentpoles for a larger narrative.”
Press photo, credit Dollie Kyarn.
She explained that the eight-minute track, “Nettles”, became a dream about losing the one you love, and asking them to reassure you it won’t happen—to dream instead of the time you’ll share growing old together. “Every once in a blue moon, it feels good to slough off the macabre and simply let love be.”
The album came together over the past year in Cain’s home studios in Coraopolis, Pennsylvania, and Tallahassee, Florida. But its roots stretch far deeper: some of the songs trace back to the earliest whispers of the Ethel Cain project, capturing fragments of the mythology she’s been slowly piecing together since the beginning. The album title refers to a character introduced in the Preacher’s Daughter track “A House in Nebraska.” Willoughby Tucker is the first love of the Ethel character.
Album artwork: photo by Silken Weinberg, artwork by Hayden Anhedönia.
Cain will mark the release with her “Willoughby Tucker Forever” tour, a sprawling North American and European run that begins this August. Tickets sold-out within weeks of going on sale in March, with over 170,000 seats claimed. The tour includes major stops at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and Kings Theatre, two nights at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, five nights at London’s Eventim Apollo, and two at L’Olympia in Paris, among others. Full dates can be found below; visit daughtersofcain.com for details.
Meanwhile, Preacher’s Daughter continues to make waves. Its first-ever vinyl release on April 4 pushed the album to No. 1 on the Billboard Top Album Sales chart, No. 10 on the Billboard 200, and No. 10 overall in the U.K. The record is available to order now through Cain’s webstore.
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ETHEL CAIN—WILLOUGHBY TUCKER FOREVER TOUR
August 12—Paramount Theatre—Seattle, WA
August 13—Paramount Theatre—Seattle, WA
August 15—Queen Elizabeth Theatre—Vancouver, BC
August 16—Edgefield—Portland, OR
August 18—The Greek Berkeley—Berkeley, CA
August 20—Shrine Auditorium—Los Angeles, CA
August 21—Shrine Auditorium—Los Angeles, CA
August 22—Arizona Financial Theatre—Phoenix, AZ
August 24—The Bomb Factory—Dallas, TX
August 25—713 Music Hall—Houston, TX
August 26—Moody Amphitheater at Waterloo Park—Austin, TX
August 28—The Eastern—Atlanta, GA
August 29—The Eastern—Atlanta, GA
August 30—Asheville Yards—Asheville, NC
September 4—Stage AE —Pittsburgh, PA
September 5—The Anthem—Washington, D.C.
September 6—The Met—Philadelphia, PA
September 9—Radio City Music Hall—New York, NY
September 10—Kings Theatre—Brooklyn, NY
September 12—Roadrunner—Boston, MA
September 13—Outer Harbor Live at Terminal B—Buffalo, NY
September 15—Queen Elizabeth Theatre—Toronto, ON
September 16—Queen Elizabeth Theatre—Toronto, ON
September 17—Masonic Cathedral Theatre—Detroit, MI
September 19—Palace Theatre—St. Paul, MN
September 20—The Salt Shed (Fairgrounds)—Chicago, IL
October 2—O2 Apollo—Manchester, England
October 3—O2 Apollo—Manchester, England
October 4—O2 Academy Glasgow—Glasgow, Scotland
October 6—Eventim Apollo—London, England
October 7—Eventim Apollo—London, England
October 9—Eventim Apollo—London, England
October 10—Eventim Apollo—London, England
October 11—Eventim Apollo—London, England
October 14—Ancienne Belgique—Brussels, Belgium
October 15—TivoliVredenburg—Utrecht, Netherlands
October 16—TivoliVredenburg—Utrecht, Netherlands
October 18—L’Olympia—Paris, France
October 19—L’Olympia—Paris, France
October 21—Carlswerk Victoria—Cologne, Germany
October 23—Tempodrom—Berlin, Germany
October 24—Docks—Hamburg, Germany
October 25—Vega—Copenhagen, Denmark
October 27—Sentrum Scene—Oslo, Norway
October 28—Fållan—Stockholm, Sweden
October 31—Stodola—Warsaw, Poland
November 1— Velký sál Lucerna—Prague, Czech Republic
November 2—Gasometer—Vienna, Austria
November 4—X-tra—Zurich, Switzerland
November 5—Alcatraz—Milan, Italy
November 7—Razzmatazz—Barcelona, Spain
November 8—Teatro Eslava—Madrid, Spain
November 9—LAV Warehouse—Lisbon, Portugal
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