Don’t Miss New Albums From Jason Isbell, Sierra Hull, Benmont Tench, Neil Young & More

Jason Isbell shakes things up with today’s release of Foxes In The Snow, his first solo acoustic album. Isbell played an all-mahogany 1940 Martin O-17 guitar for the Foxes In The Snow sessions recorded and co-produced with Gena Johnson over five days in October 2024 at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. Foxes In The Snow marks Isbell’s first solo album since 2015’s Something More Than Free. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s latest LP, Weathervanes, arrived in 2023. The album is Isbell’s first following his divorce from fellow musician and collaborator Amanda Shires.

“There’s a lot of heavy stuff on the record, and it felt private,” Isbell told the Wall Street Journal. “I didn’t really want anybody else in the room for that.”

Sierra Hull released a new studio album, A Tip Toe High Wire. The title reflects her ability to balance progressive exploration with her bluegrass heritage. Self-produced with her longtime collaborator and engineer Shani Gandhi, the album marks several milestones for Hull: her first in five years, her first to feature her seasoned touring band — Shaun Richardson (guitar), Avery Merritt (fiddle), Erik Coveney (bass) and Mark Raudabaugh (drums) — and her first independently released project.

“It feels like I’m venturing into new territory,” Hull shared. “For the first time, I’m creating without the constraints of a label, and that freedom has been transformative.”

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench returns with his first solo album in 11 years, The Melancholy Season, out now through Dark Horse Records. The Melancholy Season follows the longtime Heartbreakers keyboardist’s 2014 solo debut album, You Should Be So Lucky. Tench tapped renowned musician/producer Jonathan Wilson to helm the new LP. The Melancholy Season sees contributions from a talented cast of musicians including Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Sara Watkins (Nickel Creek/I’m With Her), singer-songwriter Jenny O and Sebastian Steinberg.

“At the house where I lived for many years, in the hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley, Orion was only visible in the fall and winter,” Tench explained of the album’s title. “I associated the constellation with that time: ‘Oh, there’s my friend.’ But that season, when it starts getting cold in California, has always been a bit melancholy to me.”

Neil Young finally released his “lost” album, Oceanside Countryside, through Reprise Records. The latest installment in Young’s Analog Original Series (AOS), Oceanside Countryside was recorded between May and December 1977. The unreleased album was tracked ahead of sessions for Comes A Time, which was released in 1978. Three songs appear on both albums, “Field Of Opportunity,” “Goin’ Back” and “Human Highway.” Additionally “Lost in Space,” “Captain Kennedy” and “The Old Homestead” appear on both Oceanside Countryside and Young’s 1980 LP, Hawks & Doves. The tracks “Field of Opportunity” and “Dance Dance Dance” are from the original versions featuring Young on backing vocals instead of Nicolette Larson.

Young shared a statement regarding Oceanside Countryside finally getting the opportunity to be officially released:

“This analog original album was recorded in 1977 and unreleased. These songs are the original mixes done at the time of the recordings in the order I planned for the album. I sang the vocals and played the instruments on Oceanside in Florida at Triad studios and Malibu at Indigo studio.

“I sang the vocals and recorded with my great band of friends, Ben Keith [pedal steel guitar], Joe Osborne [bass], Karl T. Himmel [drumms], and Rufus Thibodeaux [fiddle] at Crazy Mama’s in Nashville on Countryside. I hope you enjoy this treasure of an Analog Original recording, recorded by Tim Mulligan, as much as I do. Listening to it now, I think I should have put it out back then.”

Mayhem is singer-songwriter Lady Gaga’s seventh studio album, arriving today via Interscope Records. Producer Andrew Watt worked on the follow-up to 2020’s Chromatica. Other producers included Cirkut and Gesaffelstein, the latter appearing on the track “Killah.” Gaga’s fiancé Michael Polansky earned songwriting and production credits as well. The 14-song tracklist finishes with Gaga’s Bruno Mars collaboration, “Die With A Smile.”

Sharing her approach to Mayhem, Gaga stated:

“The album started as me facing my fear of returning to the pop music my earliest fans loved… I’m reassembling a shattered mirror: even if you can’t put the pieces back together perfectly, you can create something beautiful and whole in its own new way.”

Veteran hardcore guitarist Bob Mould issued his 15th solo album, Here We Go Crazy, through Granary Music/BMG Records. The former member of Hüsker Dü and Sugar was joined by drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy at recording sessions held at Chicago’s Electrical Audio.

The 11-track follow-up to 2020’s Blue Hearts was produced by Mould, who stated:

“I’ve been spending time in the Southern California desert over the past few years, and the video was shot there. Chilly wilderness atop a mountain, expansive vistas below the hills, distant places to escape life’s routines. ‘Going crazy’ can be many different things. The joy of reckless abandon, the uncertainty of the world’s future, the silence of solitude.

“On the surface, this is a group of straightforward guitar pop songs. I’m refining my primary sound and style through simplicity, brevity, and clarity. Under the hood, there’s a number of contrasting themes. Control and chaos, hypervigilance and helplessness, uncertainly and unconditional love.”

Singer-songwriter Hamilton Leithauser released a new solo album, This Side of the Island, today through Glassnote. The Walkman frontman’s last solo effort was 2020’s The Loves of Your Life. Leithauser worked with his wife, Anna Stumpf, co-producing the new record at their home studio. The National’s Aaron Dessner also provided production on seven of the nine tracks.

Leithauser explained the lengthy process that brought the nine-song LP to fruition:

“I worked on [This Side of the Island] for eight years, yes, eight. Barack Obama was president when I recorded the piano for the first song. I mostly wrote and recorded it at my home studio, and the entire record is produced by myself and my wife Anna, while seven songs are also produced by my friend, the amazing Aaron Dessner.

“To be honest, after I worked with Aaron I remixed the other two with his input in mind, so his fingerprints are really on the whole thing! I can’t thank Anna and Aaron enough for their input, I couldn’t have finished without them. I bounced ideas off Anna for eight years and I know I drove her insane.

“When I had finally gotten to the point where I didn’t know which end was up, and I think maybe Anna was thinking about throwing me out of the house, I drove upstate last Spring to visit Aaron at his beautiful Long Pond Studios. We listened through to all the songs, and he offered immediate clear and supportive ideas that finally brought the record over the finish line.”