11 New Albums Out Now: Kevin Morby, Tank & The Bangas, ETA IVtet & More

Kevin Morby tapped The National’s Aaron Dessner to produce his new full length album, Little Wide Open, which arrived today. Morby recorded Little Wide Open last year at Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in Stuyvesant, New York. Along with Dessner’s multiple instrumental contributions, among the additional participants were Lucinda Williams, Oliver Hill, Rachel Baiman, Stuart Bogie, Tim Carr, Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Muna’s Katie Gavin, Hand Habits’ Meg Duffy, The Barr Brothers’ Andrew Barr, Twin Peaks’ Colin Croom and Sylvan Esso’s Amelia Meath.

“Little Wide Open is set to a backdrop of tangled highways, towns with populations less than 100,000, roadside crosses, a rock and roll romance, coupling butterflies, being an American entertainer, Econoline vans and more,” Morby explained. “This is, without a doubt, the most personal and vulnerable album I’ve ever made. Aaron did a heroic job of holding me back from throwing too many tricks at the songs, and letting my stories stand a bit naked. Despite its title this album is in fact, very wide open.”

Tank and the Bangas completed a three-album trilogy with today’s release of The Last Balloon. The New Orleans-based band fronted by Tarriona “Tank” Ball previously issued 2019’s Green Balloon and 2022’s Red Balloon. The 13-track new album was recorded with executive producer and longtime collaborator Austin Brown primarily at The Complex Studios in Los Angeles. Lucky Daye, Ledisi, Iman Omari and former member Anjelika ‘Jelly’ Joseph were among those appearing on the album.

“We’re working with new people and cultivating new sounds, and it feels like we’re more open than we’ve ever been,” added Ball about the start of a new chapter for the band. “What we’ve learned over the years is that even though people can’t always categorize our sound, they’re always able to describe how the music makes them feel. So, we’re gonna keep on changing and evolving, but we’re always gonna give you that same feeling of joy.”

Tortoise‘s Jeff Parker released a new album from his project ETA IVtet, Happy Today. Captured live at the Lodge Room in Los Angeles on August 20, 2025, the record features Parker, bassist Anna Butterss, saxophonist Josh Johnson and drummer Jay Bellerose. Last year was a tough one for Parker and his family. But as is often the case, music came to the rescue. Read a note from the guitarist below:

“2025 was a very difficult year for me and my family. Dealing with being displaced from the Eaton fires for eight months, and the kind of toll that instability took on my family’s mental health and general outlook, coupled with Donald Trump being back in office and basically making life miserable for everyone… There was a lot of sadness and despair. But feeling the sense of community that we created with our concert, and later hearing the recording, seeing the beautiful footage that had been shot and the photographs of such joy to be back in that space and to be making music again: It was a very happy moment. So I called the record Happy Today. It’s meant to be a statement of joy.”

Towa Bird released Gentleman, her highly anticipated sophomore studio album. The follow-up to the guitarist and singer-songwriter’s 2024 debut, American Hero, was produced by Patrick Wimberly. The Hong Kong-born, Los Angeles-based musician recorded the 11-track LP in Brooklyn and Los Angeles. Towa Bird tapped Bikini Kill’s Kathleen Hanna to contribute to Gentleman. Towa Bird named Gentleman after a term that symbolizes queer confidence and romance.

“The Gentleman isn’t a stage persona,” Bird added. “It’s a cultural lifestyle (e.g. Ziggy Stardust, IGOR, Silk Sonic) that represents a whole world that I want this album, myself and my fans to live in. The boys want to be the gentleman and the girls want to be with the gentleman. If the last album was a pub, this is a cocktail bar. If the last album was a white tank, this is a double-breasted suit.”

Los Angeles-based Sudanese-American actor/musician Dua Saleh released Of Earth & Wires via Ghostly International. Executive produced by Billy Lemos, the follow-up to 2024’s I Should Call Them features Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon appearing on three tracks and additional contributions from poet aja monet and Sudanese singer Gaidaa. The album was largely shaped during sessions with Ryan Olson and a circle of Minnesota-based producers and musicians, with Saleh drawing on their experience filming Sex Education in Wales.

“The war in Sudan was taking place, AI was emerging, and it just felt like the world might be ending,” Saleh said. “I was just kind of ruminating on where I could find my place as an artist amongst the terrain of AI, and I was lonely and overwhelmed. I missed my mom and my siblings; I felt like I was losing my accent being there, just questioning the notion of home on many levels. I started weaving an album around the music that we had made together, that we had collaborated on with other producers from Minnesota, where I grew up.”

Austin singer-songwriter Shakey Graves (Alejandro Rose-Garcia) released his fifth studio album, Fondness, Etc. Self-produced and recorded to tape in a focused one-month stretch at his home studio, the lo-fi folk record finds Graves playing guitar, drums, synth and Optigan throughout, with sessions aided by a possibly haunted 1932 Gibson guitar that survived a bunker fire in World War II. Graves shared the statement below regarding Fondness, Etc.:

“The endless options of digital recording can be deadly for my creativity. The urge to add, tinker, and perfect is nearly impossible for me to resist, and I easily get lost in the sauce. Catching the foundation of a song on tape means that you have to commit to a sound and accept what might initially be seen as mistakes. Often, these little strange moments, like a bird screaming in the background or a train passing by my house, will sneak into the track and become imperceptible textures themselves. It adds to the feeling of almost unearthing a recording, and things that would usually be left on the cutting room floor in a more controlled environment become a little snapshot of time.

“This process of recording this album reminded me that there is truly no right or wrong way to go about making music. You just have to find something that speaks to you, and you chase it as far as it goes, work with what you have. I only had a little time, so I made a little album, but lo and behold, it ended up being a huge lesson for me. I’ll always remember this strange time in my life, and now, since I trapped it in tape, you’ll be able to hear that memory yourself.”

Ryan Bingham returns with They Call Us The Lucky Ones, his first full-length project in over seven years. Bingham’s upcoming tour-mates, The Texas Gentlemen — Ryan Ake (guitars), Daniel Creamer (piano, organ), Paul Grass (drums, percussion) and Scott Lee (bass) — were among the contributors to They Call Us The Lucky Ones. The 10-track follow-up to the 2023 EP Watch Out For The Wolf also features the work of Richard Bowden (fiddle, mandolin) and Cody Huggins (electric guitar, acoustic guitar, pedal steel).

“This album was probably the most fun I’ve had making a record,” Bingham explained. “I’ve always loved records that feel loose and live and gritty with a bit of soul, where the imperfections from the moment are left in. Working with musicians as talented as The Texas Gentlemen really let us lean into that in a way I hadn’t experienced before. There was an unspoken understanding between us about what each song needed, so we tracked most of it live with minimal overdubs, just playing and letting the feel lead. It finally felt like I was capturing these songs the way I always heard them in my head. We can’t wait to get out on the road and share them with fans.”

49 Winchester released a new studio album, Change Of Plans. Renowned producer Dave Cobb helmed 49 Winchester’s new album. The band — frontman Isaac Gibson, guitarist Bus Shelton, bassist Chase Chafin, pedal steel player Noah Patrick, keyboardist Tim Hall and drummer Justin Louthian — decamped to Cobb’s Savannah, Georgia studio to cut Change Of Plans. 49 Winchester recorded a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Changes,” which they fittingly included on Change Of Plans.

Peter Frampton issued Carry The Light, his first album of all-new rock material in 16 years. The 10-track LP sees the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer joined by numerous guests, including Sheryl Crow, Tom Morello, Bill Evans, H.E.R., Graham Nash and Benmont Tench. Frampton co-wrote and produced Carry The Light with his son, Julian Frampton.

“The Carry The Light album is the first new music from me in 16 years,” Frampton stated. “It was one of my most enjoyable projects ever. I got to work with my son Julian — writing and producing together. A first of many for us I’m sure.”

The Frank Zappa Estate relaunched the Vaulternative Records series of archival releases after a decade of dormancy. The direct-to-fan archival imprint originally launched in 2002 by Gail Zappa and stewarded by Vaultmeister Joe Travers, was last active in 2016. Arriving today, Zappa ’66: Vol. 1 – Live At TTG Studios, features 17 tracks, all of one of which are previously unreleased, documenting an October 1966 Mothers Of Invention studio session in Hollywood. Produced and restored by Travers, Zappa ’66: Vol. 1 – Live At TTG Studios was mastered by John Polito from the original ¼-inch analog tapes.

Today’s release kicks off a celebration of the 60th anniversary of Freak Out!, Frank Zappa and the Mothers Of Invention’s seminal debut album and one of rock’s first concept albums. Zappa ’66: Vol. 1 – Live At TTG Studios was recorded at the same Hollywood facility Freak Out! was completed months earlier. The sessions are the only known recording of guitarist Del Casher’s short tenure in the band, as well as the earliest recorded appearances of keyboardist Don Preston and percussionist Billy Mundi. Key Mothers members vocalist Ray Collins, drummer Jimmy Carl Black and bassist Roy Estrada round out the lineup.

“I decided to take advantage of the 60th anniversary and compile the best edit I could to represent what happened that day in early October 1966 when The Mothers were hired to supposedly show the world what they were responsible for,” Travers wrote of the sessions in the liner notes. “The Mothers were unlike any other, and Frank Zappa, 25 years old and still within his first year of being a signed artist, was in the middle of making a large impact.”

Singer-songwriter Adam Weinberg released his latest album, Consummate Believers, a musical exploration of life lessons and stories inspired by his two grandmothers – Sylvia, 104, and Frances, 99. This album showcases Weinberg’s signature finger-style guitar work while venturing into new territories, including Talking Heads-esque funk and intricate angular compositions. It also features a unique cover of Trey Anastasio’s rare gem, “Discern.”