Don’t Miss New Albums From Elton John & Brandi Carlile, The Lil Smokies, Seth Walker, ALO + More

Elton John and Brandi Carlile shared their first collaborative album, Who Believes In Angels?, through Interscope Records. The longtime friends and collaborators recorded Who Believes In Angels? in just 20 days during sessions held at Los Angeles’ Sunset Sound Studios. Producer/songwriter Andrew Watt worked on the project with John and Carlile. Drummer Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers), bassist Pino Palladino and multi-instrumentalist Josh Klinghoffer appear on the album. The 10-song tracklist is made up of John-led songs and Carlile-led songs, featuring lyrical contributions from Carlile, as well as John’s longtime songwriting partner Bernie Taupin. Watt was said to serve as “producer, mediator and creative conduit.”

Describing the experience, Elton John — who released his last studio album of new original material, Wonderful Crazy Night, in 2016 — stated:

“This record was one of the toughest I’ve ever made, but it was also one of the greatest musical experiences of my life. It has given me a place where I know I can move forward. Who Believes In Angels? feels like going into another era and I’m pushing the door open to come into the future. I have everything I’ve done behind me and it’s been brilliant, amazing. But this is the new start for me. As far as I’m concerned, this is the start of my career Mark 2.”

Brandi Carlile also commented on the collaborative record and working with one of her biggest influences and inspirations:

“I’m still reeling from the fact that I got to do it. I think all ships rise with Elton John’s standards for songwriting, and it was an incredibly challenging and inspiring environment to work in, everybody throwing in ideas, everybody listening to everybody else’s ideas. It felt like a family. The world is a wild place to live in right now. It’s hard to find peace and triumph. It’s a radical act to seek out joyful and euphoric happenings. And that is what this album represents to me.”

The Lil Smokies, who this week announced a pending hiatus, issued their first studio album in five years, Break of the Tide, via Americana Vibes. Break of the Tide follows the string band’s 2020 album Tornillo. Like Tornillo, Break of the Tide was recorded in Texas, this time in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with local producer Robert Ellis. Break of the Tide is The Lil Smokies’ first album with new members, bassist Jean Luc Davis and banjo player Sam Armstrong-Zickefoose, who join the core trio of dobro player Andy Dunnigan, guitarist the Reverend Matthew Rieger and fiddler Jake Simpson.

Acclaimed singer-songwriter and guitarist Seth Walker returns with his new album, Why The Worry, out now through Royal Potato Family. Walker co-produced his 12th studio album with Brook Sutton and Jano Rix. He also co-wrote with Rix’s The Wood Brothers bandmate Oliver Wood on the Why The Worry title track. Additionally, Walker co-wrote with Band of Heathens‘ Ed Jurdi on “Midway Girl.” Seth also included a bevy of choice covers on Why The Worry, including songs by Bill Withers, Michael Kiwanuka, J.J. Cale, Al Green and Bobby Charles. The title for Why The Worry is a mantra Walker adopted as the album saw a series of setbacks, namely Hurricane Helene, which hit North Carolina, where Seth lives, particularly hard.

“It was gut-wrenching seeing all of the devastation to my community,” he said of Helene’s impact. “It really made me take a pause and wonder what am I doing here, what’s the point. I’d already been thinking about calling the album Why The Worry. After a little time getting my feet back under me following the storm, that guiding principle returned. The worry wouldn’t undo any damage, and there was still service in song.”

ALO released their new album, Frames, via Brushfire Records. The California-based band — guitarist Lebo (Dan Lebowitz), bassist Steve Adams, keyboardist Zach Gill and drummer Ezra Lipp — recorded the follow-up to 2023’s Silver Saturdays last summer with close friend and collaborator David Simon-Baker. The album’s 10 tracks sees the foursome melding rock, electronic, alt-pop, R&B, folk, dance and funk elements. The album’s theme addresses the rapid pace of modern life and information overload, with the band exploring the important spaces between those “frames” where we can breathe and live our lives.

“The idea of frames – both literal and metaphorical – kept popping up in different ways,” explained Gill.

Black Country, New Road released their new album, Forever Howlong, through Ninja Tune. Produced by James Ford, Forever Howlong is the first BCNR studio album since the departure of co-founding lead singer Isaac Woods, who left the band days before the release of their 2022 studio LP, Ants From Up There. Following Woods’ exit, lead vocal duties were shared among Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw.

“It created a real through line for the album, having three girls singing,” Ellery stated. “It’s definitely very different to Ants From Up There, because of the female perspective – and the music we’ve made also compliments that.”

New York City-based folk quartet Florist issued a new album, Jellywish, today via Double Double Whammy. Jellywish, which follows their 2022 self-titled LP, is the fifth album by the group composed of — Emily Sprague, Rick Spataro, Jonnie Baker and Felix Walworth.

“It’s a gentle delivery of something that is really chaotic, confusing, and multifaceted,” Sprague said of the 10-track effort. “It has this technicolor that’s inspired by our world and also fantasy elements that we can use to escape our world… in a time that feels evermore prescriptive, limiting, and awful.”

Singer-songwriter Marlon Williams released his first Māori language album, Te Whare Tīwekaweka. The New Zealand native reconnected with his Māori heritage for the album he recorded with co-producer Mark Perkins. The 14-track LP finds Williams joined by Lyttleton-based rapper KOMMI, the He Waka Kōtuia singers, fellow New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde and Williams’ backing band The Yarra Benders — Ben Woolley, Gus Agars and Dave Khan (none of whom are Māori). The album’s title loosely translates to “The Messy House.” Williams shared a message about the album:

“Through the process of constructing these songs, I’ve found a means of expressing my joys, sorrows and humour in a way that feels both distinctly new yet also connects me to my tīpuna [ancestors] and my whenua [land, home]. A messy house is one in which the occupants are busy. The title is both an acknowledgement of the chaos at play in bringing diverse creative strands into a single body of work, and also that perfection is not a precursor for inhabitation.”

Before co-starring in the hit Netflix series Stranger Things, actor Joe Keery was involved in several musical projects. The actor’s Djo today released The Crux. Keery’s third Djo album and the follow-up to 2022’s Decide, The Crux was recorded with Keery’s regular collaborator Adam Thein. The pair co-produced the 12-track album during recording sessions at Electric Lady in New York City.

The life of late American actor Dennis Hopper unfolds over the 25 tracks making up the new The Waterboys’ album Life, Death And Dennis Hopper. Released today by the venerable Sun Records label, the sprawling collection by the band founded in 1983 by Scottish singer-songwriter/guitarist Mike Scott was produced by the group’s Famous James and Brother Paul. The album’s guests include Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle, Fiona Apple and Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes. Scott expressed the below statement regarding the focus of the concept album:

“The arc of his life was the story of our times. He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol. He was part of the counterculture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the ’60s. In the ’70s and ’80s he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.

“It begins in his childhood, ends the morning after his death, and I get to say a whole lot along the way, not just about Dennis, but about the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet earth.”

Songs Of The Earth is a song cycle written by Dirty Projectors’ and recorded with Berlin-based orchestral collective founded by conductor André de Ridder, s t a r g a z e. The album features Longstreth accompanied by his current Dirty Projectors bandmates — Felicia Douglass, Maia Friedman and Olga Bell. Songs Of The Earth features Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie), Steve Lacy, Patrick Shiroishi, Anastasia Coope, Tim Bernardes, Ayoni, Portraits of Tracy and author David Wallace-Wells.

“The need for this music arose in a few days in Fall of 2020, when T was pregnant with our daughter,” Longstreth said. “The fires in California were insane. We got on an empty flight to Juneau. It was the middle of the pandemic; no one was flying. The irony of escaping the fires by burning more carbon. The beauty and restorative cool of Alaska. A muddy bald eagle sitting on the shale stone bank of a coastal slough surrounded by rotting carcasses after the salmon run.”