Frank Zappa’s Essential Gateway Collection ZAPPAtite Arrives on Vinyl for the First Time
​
Available July 17 Via Zappa Records/UMe
​

Frank Zappa’s catalog is as legendary as it is intimidating. During his lifetime, the groundbreaking composer, guitarist, bandleader, and musical provocateur released 62 albums, both as a solo artist and with the Mothers of Invention and the Mothers. Since his death in 1993, more than 70 additional archival and posthumous releases have expanded that legacy even further, most recently with Zappa ’66 Vol. 1: Live At TTG Studios, the 134th official release from the Zappa Vault.

For newcomers, knowing where to begin can be a challenge. Enter ZAPPAtite: Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks — a carefully curated, career-spanning collection originally released in 2016 as an accessible introduction to Zappa’s endlessly inventive musical universe. Nearly a decade later, the compilation returns in style with its first-ever vinyl release.
Arriving July 17 via Zappa Records/UMe, ZAPPAtite will be available as a standard 2LP black vinyl set, a limited-edition pink swirl 2LP exclusive, and a reissued CD edition. Both vinyl versions feature a gatefold jacket and the collection’s signature “menu” insert. Pre-orders are available now.

Curated by Ahmet Zappa and Zappa Vaultmeister Joe Travers, the 18-track collection serves up a cross-section of Zappa’s remarkable artistic range, spanning psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, orchestral works, avant-garde experimentation, biting satire, and virtuosic instrumental compositions. Rather than functioning as a traditional greatest-hits package, ZAPPAtite offers a thoughtfully assembled entry point into the more accessible, rock-oriented side of Zappa’s catalog.

The food-themed concept runs throughout the project. Divided into four courses — Appetizers, Entrées, Second Course, and Desserts — the compilation features artwork depicting Zappa in a diner, a menu-style track listing, and playful references to some of his favorite foods.

“This isn’t a greatest hits album, as Frank didn’t really have ‘hits,’ per se, nor is it a ‘best of,’ since it would be impossible to fit so much awesome onto one disc,” Ahmet Zappa said when the collection was first released in 2016. “It’s a veritable smorgasbord of musicality for the curious and a buffet of favorites for the fans.”

The feast begins with the opening salvo of “I’m The Slime” and “Dirty Love” from 1973’s Gold-certified breakthrough Over-Nite Sensation, immediately showcasing Zappa’s trademark blend of complex musicianship, sharp humor, and irreverent lyricism. The Appetizers section also features the GRAMMY-nominated disco parody “Dancing Fool,” the socially charged “Trouble Every Day” from the Mothers of Invention’s landmark 1966 debut Freak Out!, and the beloved instrumental “Peaches En Regalia” from the seminal 1969 album Hot Rats.

The Entrées course highlights some of Zappa’s most recognizable songs, including the controversial European hit “Bobby Brown Goes Down,” the enduring Top 40 success “Valley Girl” featuring daughter Moon Unit Zappa, and the title track from the ambitious rock opera Joe’s Garage.

Second Course digs deeper into Zappa’s blend of humor and musicianship with fan favorites “Cosmik Debris” and “Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow” from Apostrophe (’), one of the most commercially successful releases of his career. The section also includes the live staple “Titties & Beer,” capturing the theatrical energy and unpredictability that made Zappa’s concerts legendary.

For Desserts, the collection closes on a grand scale. Highlights include the frenetic Synclavier showcase “G-Spot Tornado,” the anti-drug commentary of “Cocaine Decisions,” and the atmospheric guitar centerpiece “Zoot Allures.” The journey concludes with “Strictly Genteel,” performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, a sweeping orchestral-rock composition that originally served as the finale to Zappa’s surreal 1971 film 200 Motels.
​
Few artists challenged conventions as relentlessly as Frank Zappa. Across more than three decades of boundary-pushing recordings, he fused rock, jazz, classical music, satire, and experimental composition into a body of work that remains unmatched in its ambition and originality. Whether you're discovering his music for the first time or revisiting familiar favorites, ZAPPAtite offers a compelling guided tour through one of popular music’s most expansive and influential catalogs.

​FRANK ZAPPA: ZAPPAtite – Frank Zappa’s Tastiest Tracks

Tracklist:

LP1
Side A
APPETIZERS
1. I’m The Slime
2. Dirty Love
3. Dancing Fool
4. Trouble Every Day
5. Peaches En Regalia

Side B
ENTRÉES
6. Tell Me You Love Me
7. Bobby Brown Goes Down
8. You Are What You Is
9. Valley Girl
10. Joe’s Garage

LP2
Side C
SECOND COURSE
11. Cosmik Debris
12. Sofa No. 1
13. Don’t Eat The Yellow Snow (Single Version)
14. Titties & Beer

​Side D
DESSERT
15. G-Spot Tornado
16. Cocaine Decisions
17. Zoot Allures
18. Strictly Genteel

​Na hun uitverkochte concert in 2025 in de AFAS Dome in Antwerpen keert de legendarische Britse band Duran Duran terug naar ons land voor een langverwacht concert in Brussel op maandag 26 oktober 2026 in de ING Arena.Het concert maakt deel uit van hun nieuwe arenatour doorheen het Verenigd Koninkrijk en Europa, waarbij fans zich mogen verheugen op een onvergetelijke show met hun grootste hits, recenter werk én publieksfavorieten. Met dit concert staat de band voor het eerst sinds januari 2012 opnieuw op een Brussels podium. 

Muziekiconen Duran Duran kondigen een nieuwe arena-tour aan met 12 data in het Verenigd Koninkrijk en Europa. De shows vinden plaats in oktober 2026 en maken deel uit van een bijzonder actief jaar voor de band. Zo verschijnt onder meer de nieuwe single Free To Love met Nile Rodgers, staan ze op 5 juli opnieuw als headliner op BST Hyde Park in Londen (voor de tweede keer), en volgen in juni en juli een reeks zomershows in negen belangrijke Europese markten.
 
Naast hun eerste volledige Britse arena tour sinds drie jaar, speelt de band in oktober onder meer in Oslo (2 oktober), Stockholm (3 oktober), Hamburg (5 oktober), Keulen (8 oktober), Brussel (26 oktober) en Parijs (28 oktober). Met deze tour keert Duran Duran na meer dan veertien jaar eindelijk terug naar Brussel, waar de band op maandag 26 oktober 2026 halt zal houden voor een onvergetelijk concert.
 
De nieuwe single Free To Love brengt Duran Duran opnieuw samen met vaste collaborator Nile Rodgers. Het nummer is een energieke, opzwepende track die hun herkenbare stijl combineert met een moderne sound en kreeg al sterke reacties van o.a. NME, CLASH, The Sun en Classic Pop Magazine.  Free To Love komt uit in een bijzonder actief jaar voor Duran Duran, met onder meer een meerdaagse residentie in het Fontainebleau in Las Vegas en een headline-optreden op het Beachlife Festival in Californië. Daarbovenop volgen in juni en juli extra Europese zomershows.
 
Duran Duran behoort tot de meest succesvolle en invloedrijke bands in de popgeschiedenis. Met meer dan 100 miljoen verkochte platen wereldwijd heeft de groep uit Birmingham een blijvende stempel gedrukt op de muziekwereld met hits als Rio, Hungry Like the Wolf, Girls on Film en Ordinary World. De bandleden Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, John Taylor en Roger Taylor staan bekend om hun energieke liveoptredens en hun herkenbare synthpopgeluid. Als Rock & Roll Hall of Fame-inductees blijven ze hun status bevestigen met uitverkochte tours en goed ontvangen releases, waaronder Danse Macabre (2023), dat hun tiende UK Top 5-album werd.
 
Ook live blijft de band sterk aanwezig, met uitverkochte shows tijdens de Future Past Tour, een Halloween-headline show in Manchester in 2025 en de “Città di Sanremo”-onderscheiding op het Sanremo Festival voor hun bijdrage aan het evenement, 40 jaar na hun debuut. In 2026 brengt Duran Duran bovendien nieuwe vinylreleases uit van The Wedding Album en Thank You. ​

The Justin Saladino Band has unveiled “Leave Me Blue,” the first single from its forthcoming album Steal My Soul, due out October 2, 2026.

Now streaming across major platforms, “Leave Me Blue” is a soulful blues ballad co-written by Justin Saladino and Dan Bano. Anchored by the memorable refrain, “Brown eyes, you leave me blue,” the song explores the emotional pull of longing, vulnerability, and devotion that refuses to fade.

Driven by a descending chord progression and an expressive vocal performance, the track embraces a stripped-back arrangement that puts feeling ahead of flash. Rather than leaning on guitar heroics, the song allows every note to serve the mood and narrative.

“We just wanted to play some blues,” Saladino explains. “So we followed that feeling and dove in headfirst.”
As the first taste of Steal My Soul, “Leave Me Blue” offers insight into the album’s broader musical vision. According to Saladino, the record draws from multiple corners of the blues tradition while maintaining a unified artistic identity.

Spanning traditional blues ballads, shuffles, blues-rock, and roots-inspired sounds, Steal My Soul aims to celebrate the genre’s diversity without losing sight of its core voice.
“I’ve always wanted to make a blues album that lives in a few different corners of the genre, but still speaks with one voice,” says the singer-songwriter and guitarist.
​
Steal My Soul arrives on October 2, 2026.
​

EZRA COLLECTIVE ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM
WITH SINGLE 'ONLY LOVE'!
​

​Fresh off of headlining the new music stage at BBC Radio 1 Big Weekend, Ezra Collective announce their brand-new fourth studio album Here Because of Hope, set for release on Sept 18th via Partisan Records, alongside the release of its first single Only Love featuring Pa Salieu.  Watch the stunning new video for Only Love below, which was directed by Ebenza Blanche (Little Simz, Gucci) and shot on location in Lagos.

Here Because of Hope marks the beginning of a bold new chapter for Ezra Collective, arriving after a historic few years that saw the band become the first jazz act to win the Mercury Prize before going on to win the BRIT Award for Group of the Year. Expansive, emotional and deeply rhythmic, the album captures a band continuing to push the boundaries of contemporary British music while remaining rooted in the community, spirituality and collective energy that has defined them from the very beginning. With excerpts read by BAFTA-winning actor Letitia Wright, the album will include features from Pa Salieu, Lila Iké, Leona Lewis and Libianca.

The album’s first single Only Love sees Ezra Collective join forces with Pa Salieu for the very first time, uniting two artists whose music is deeply shaped by diasporic identity, rhythm and storytelling. Built around West African-inspired grooves, euphoric horns and Pa’s deeply personal lyricism, the track finds beauty in resilience, joy and survival.
Speaking on the track, bandleader Femi Koleoso says “Pa Salieu has been a musician that we have long admired in Ezra Collective. Not just because of his incredible lyricism and storytelling but also his ability to weave in his Gambian heritage and roots into such a distinctly UK sound.

In 2024 we had the beautiful moment playing at Wembley Arena, looking out into the crowd and seeing Pa Salieu dancing and partying with his friends and in that moment, I had the very thought we need to make a song together for this kind of setting. I spent some time studying West African music, studying Gambian music, and let that influence the bassline of this track and the drumbeat. We linked up with Pa in Wood Green and immediately his stories started to flow, he came with a bunch of lyrics that he had from a really hard time he went through, but in those lyrics were so many stories of pain but also beauty, joy and love, and we were trying to find that beautiful place in the middle of those two things, and that's how we came about this song.”

Here Because of Hope follows another landmark year for the group. Alongside winning Best Jazz Act at the MOBO Awards and receiving the Jazz FM Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Jazz, the band recently celebrated ten years of their seminal debut EP Chapter 7 with a special anniversary reissue and intimate fan event at London’s Colour Factory in collaboration with Jazz re:freshed.

Reflecting on the album, Ezra Collective say “our fourth offering is a really prominent and beautiful time because it feels like our first records were really Ezra Collective as children, this one really feels like Ezra Collective as adults. There's been so many moments of joy, so many moments of excitement, but at the same time it's impossible not to look at the world and feel deep pain and sadness, and we were really determined to write an album that still sees the prominent importance and final destination being joy, but also recognises the pain and the momentary difficulties that people are facing. This album is the journey from that pain to joy, and the connective word in the middle is hope. We hope that this album makes people dance, We hope it makes people cry. There are stories woven into every single fabric of the record, and those stories most eloquently put by 5 adults that met as children.”

Over the past decade, Ezra Collective have become one of the defining British bands of their generation. From sold-out shows at Wembley Arena, Royal Albert Hall and New York’s Blue Note Jazz Club through to triumphant performances at Glastonbury, Central Park SummerStage, Sydney Opera House to name a few, the group have consistently expanded the possibilities of UK jazz while bringing its spirit to global audiences.

Across media, the band have graced the covers of ES Magazine, Mixmag, Music Week and The Observer New Review, alongside features in Vogue, Billboard, Rolling Stone and NME, while standout television appearances have included The Graham Norton Show and The Jonathan Ross Show.
​
With Here Because of Hope, Ezra Collective continue their journey with their most ambitious and emotionally expansive project to date, reaffirming not only their place at the forefront of contemporary British music, but the sense of joy, connection and optimism that has always sat at the heart of everything they do.
​

​LIVE
26/06 Couleur Café Festival, Brussel

 
VOLG EZRA COLLECTIVE
Instagram | Facebook | Website

​

Rodney Crowell Announces Long-Lost Album ‘Then Again’ Featuring Guy Clark and Lyle Lovett

Release date: 26th June 2026
​

​Country music icon Rodney Crowell has announced the release of a long-lost album many fans never expected to hear. Titled Then Again, the 10-track collection arrives on 26 June 2026 via New West Records.

Produced by Crowell alongside Steuart Smith, with additional production from Dan Knobler, Then Again was largely recorded more than two decades ago before being shelved and ultimately forgotten. The rediscovered sessions feature an impressive cast of collaborators including Guy Clark, Lyle Lovett, Benmont Tench, and a bonus-track appearance from Emmylou Harris and Lera Lynn on “Go Light a Candle.”

“I guess you could call it a lost album,” Crowell says. “I stumbled upon it in my vault at home. I’d forgotten about it completely.”
Musically expansive and emotionally reflective, Then Again captures a younger Crowell while carrying the weight of time, memory, and loss. The album revisits old friendships, old ideas, and old versions of the songwriter himself, giving the recordings a resonance that feels especially poignant today.

“I’m glad I put it on the shelf, because now is the time for it,” Crowell explains. “It may not be the time for it for the rest of the world, but it’s time for it for me.”
The passage of time has given the songs new emotional depth, with Crowell’s lived experience lending added gravity to material first recorded decades ago.

Then Again will be released digitally, on CD, and standard black vinyl. Limited “Swamp Green” vinyl and signed CD editions will also be available through independent retailers.
Ahead of the album’s release, Crowell has shared two preview tracks. The first, “Are You One Of Us?”, is a powerful duet — and at times a pointed musical conversation — with the late Guy Clark. Built around themes of division and belonging in America, the song stands as the final recording collaboration between the longtime friends and songwriting partners.

Crowell has also unveiled “If I Could Speak to Leonard,” a tender tribute to Leonard Cohen. Featuring understated instrumentation, elegant guitar work, and one of Crowell’s most intimate vocal performances in years, the track imagines a conversation with one of his greatest artistic influences.

Although written before Cohen’s death in 2016, Crowell never had the chance to share the song with him.
​
“I’ve always acknowledged Leonard Cohen’s early work as a songwriter — ‘Bird on a Wire’ and ‘Chelsea Hotel’ particularly,” Crowell says. “But once I heard the live version of ‘Waiting for a Miracle’ and the next three albums he’d release, especially Old Ideas and You Want It Darker, I came to believe he was the most important songwriter of our time.”
He continues: “Seeing him in concert after coming down from the mountain in California, I was convinced he was the most generous performer I’d ever witnessed. His message was spiritual, his artistic presence a blueprint for how to achieve your most inspired work later in life. Thanks to his breadcrumbs, I have more work to do.”
​

Sam Bettens, de multi-platina stem achter de legendarische alternatieve rockband K’s Choice, en een van de meest zichtbare transgender muzikanten uit de rockscene van de jaren ’90, keert terug naar een van de meest bepalende nummers van dat decennium met een gloednieuwe herwerkte versie van “Not An Addict” (Sam’s Version).
 
“Not An Addict”, oorspronkelijk uitgebracht in 1995, groeide uit tot een internationale doorbraakhit voor K’s Choice en hielp mee het alternatieve rocktijdperk vorm te geven. Decennia later blijft het nummer wereldwijd resoneren bij luisteraars. Nu, bijna 30 jaar na de oorspronkelijke release, keert Bettens terug naar het nummer vanuit een totaal ander perspectief, niet alleen als artiest, maar ook als man die sinds het schrijven van het nummer een diepgaande persoonlijke transformatie heeft doorgemaakt.
 
Deze nieuwe versie is uitgekleed en bijzonder intiem, en weerspiegelt Bettens’ evolutie als songwriter, verhalenverteller en transgender artiest. Daardoor krijgt het iconische nummer een nieuwe emotionele diepgang en levenservaring mee.
 
“Not An Addict heeft me door elke versie van mijn leven gevolgd. Deze versie is veel soberder en kwetsbaarder,” vertelt Bettens. “Er schuilt iets krachtigs in het terugkeren naar een nummer waarmee mensen zich al zoveel jaren verbonden voelen, en het vandaag te zingen met een andere stem, andere ervaringen en een veel dieper begrip van mezelf.”
 
Het nummer is sinds vandaag beschikbaar op alle digitale platformen.

​​De release volgt op Bettens’ meest recente soloalbum Coming Home, geproduced in Nashville door viervoudig Academy of Country Music Guitar Player of the Year Tom Bukovac en uitgebracht in september 2025. Het sterk persoonlijke Americana-/country-geïnspireerde album markeerde een gedurfde nieuwe creatieve fase. Geworteld in pure songwriting en authentieke oldschool-invloeden, putte het album inspiratie uit Bettens’ jarenlange verblijf in East Tennessee, waar hij meer dan tien jaar ondergedompeld leefde in de Amerikaanse rootscultuur en zelfs voltijds als brandweerman werkte.
 
Tijdens de zomer trekt Bettens ook door Europa voor een reeks optredens, waarbij hij zowel klassiek materiaal als zijn nieuwere Americana-repertoire naar het Europese publiek brengt.
 
In het najaar van 2026 en begin 2027 tourt Bettens met zijn 6-koppige band door Vlaanderen om zijn nieuwe plaat aan het grote publiek voor te stellen en op 11 december is Sam special guest van Danny Vera in de Lotto Arena.

LIVE
OKTOBER–NOVEMBER 2026
28/10 — Overijse, Den Blank
29/10 — Ieper, Het Perron
31/10 — Klokgebouw, Eindhoven
05/11 — Kalmthout, Club Kalmthout
07/11 — Turnhout, De Warande
10/11 — Oostende, De Grote Post
 
DECEMBER 2026
10/12 — Scherpenheuvel, Den Egger
11/12 — Antwerpen, Lotto Arena
12/12 — Hasselt, Club FF
13/12 — Herzele, Steenoven
 
FEBRUARI 2027
03/02 — Gent, Vooruit
04/02 — Aalst, De Werf
05/02 — Leuven, Schouwburg
06/02 — Eeklo, Herbakker
07/02 — Heist-op-den-Berg, Zwaneberg
11/02 — Kapellen, Lux
12/02 — Halle, ’t Vondel
13/02 — Deinze, Leietheater
14/02 — Eupen, Alter Schlachthof
17/02 — Lier, Reflektor
19/02 — Puurs, Binder

VOLG SAM BETTENS
Website - Instagram - Facebook

​

Southern California rockers Robert Jon & The Wreck return with Wreckage, Vol. 3, a new album collecting a range of recent standalone singles released throughout the band’s relentless run of touring and recording over the past year. Arriving alongside the launch of the focus track “Arroyo,” the release captures another side of the band’s evolving sound - looser, heavier, and deeply rooted in the spontaneous chemistry that has long defined their live shows.

Built from a free-form rehearsal jam that quickly took on a life of its own, “Arroyo” began with a single phrase that sparked the song’s now-driving chorus. The track unfolds as a fast-moving Southern rock burner, full of harmonized guitar lines, swirling Hammond B3 organ, and extended improvised solos that lean fully into the band’s classic rock influences without feeling nostalgic or overly polished.

Lyrically, the song was inspired by what guitarist Henry James describes as “an image in Robert’s head of a lone traveler, out on a dry creek bed in which everyone and everything was out to get him.” Drawing from the atmosphere of Spaghetti Westerns and old Clint Eastwood films, “Arroyo” follows a shadowy figure moving through “a brief moment full of darkness, danger and deception on a dry creek bed in the old Wild West.”

Recorded at the legendary Sunset Sound in Los Angeles - specifically Studio 2, often referred to as “the Van Halen room” - the track was self-produced by the band and engineered and mixed by Chad Gordon, who previously worked with Henry James on his very first recordings years ago. “We let it be what it is,” James explains. “A semi-improvised ‘70s southern rock jam.” Much of the final version came together in the first or second take, including fully improvised solos from keyboardist Jake Abernathie on Hammond B3 and James on his Epiphone Firebird guitar.
 
Wreckage, Vol. 3, a collection of rarities, fan favorites, and standout tracks showcasing the band’s signature Southern rock sound arrives during one of the busiest creative stretches of the band’s career and continues the momentum generated by recent new single releases including “Run Back To Me” and “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is.” Together, the tracks showcase the band’s ability to move fluidly between emotionally grounded songwriting, heavy riff-driven rock, and expansive jam-based musicianship while continuing to push beyond the framework of traditional Southern rock.

The collection also follows the release of the band’s acclaimed studio album Heartbreaks & Last Goodbyes, produced by Grammy-winner Dave Cobb and released via Joe Bonamassa’s Journeyman Records. The record earned widespread praise for its blend of raw storytelling, muscular grooves, and lived-in performances, with Classic Rock Magazine calling it “their most accomplished work to date.”

Since forming in 2011, Robert Jon & The Wreck - Robert Jon Burrison (vocals, guitar), Henry James (lead guitar, vocals), Andrew Espantman (drums, vocals), Warren Murrel (bass), and Jake Abernathie (keys) - have built a devoted international following through relentless touring and a live show that thrives on spontaneity, interplay, and hard-earned chemistry. Recent years have seen the band tour extensively across the U.S. and Europe, share stages with artists including Samantha Fish, Blackberry Smoke, Joe Bonamassa, and Rival Sons, and steadily establish themselves as one of modern rock’s most dependable live acts.

The band’s touring schedule continues this summer with dates across the U.K., Europe, and the United States, including appearances at Holland International Blues Festival and a run of East Coast headline dates before returning later this year for the Cali-County Cruise 2026. 
​

The world we live in was very different in April 2024, when George Mann and SiKahn released Labor Day: A Tribute To Hardworking People Everywhere,their joint album celebrating Si's 80th birthday. Today, a darker, less democratic, more dangerous country and world call for a different kind of album,one with ‘Songs to Keep Our Hearts Strong and Steady for the Fight!’That's the subtitle of their new album Mayday! Again powerfully produced by George, and appropriately to be released in an election year, it's a collection of ten never before heard songs by Si and George, plus new versions of three Si Kahn classics. In this passionate work of people-centred art, they ridicule and embarrass the opposition (‘Anyone Can Be President’, ‘Ask the Penguin, Ask the Seal’,); thank our everyday heroes of today and generations past (‘Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is’, ‘One Voice’); honour immigrants, including their own forebears (‘Stranger In This Land’); and send out a clarion call for community and resistance (‘In the Heart of the Country’, ‘Care for All’). A cry from deep within for a kinder, gentler, more just world,Mayday!is certainly an album for all times, but especially an album for “our” time.The album’s songs were produced and arranged by George at Electric Wilbur land Studios, in the old church near Ithaca, New York, with Will Russell at the recording helm. Thealbum features ten of Si’s songs, including four with Si singing lead vocals, and three songs that Si and George wrote together for this album.There is an urgency to these songs, some of which are decade sold, but all of which feel current in these times.


Bios
A former union organizer based in New York, George Mann is a songwriter and producer who interprets labor and peoples’ history in his concerts. He has produced albums featuring such folk music legends asPete Seeger, Utah Phillips, and Tom Paxton, and tours of the US and Australia to honour The Almanac Singers( 2013) and Joe Hill (2015). George brings his experience as a union organizer and educator to his concerts-- stories and songs about historic events and the struggle for a better life. He has recorded and produced two albums of Si Kahn’s songs, and Si says,"George brings my songs to life."As part of his tours of the UK, Ireland, Europe, Australia, and North America in 2027 and 2028, George will be offering a special program of Si’s songs, to be presented as either a main stage or workshop event at festivals and other venues. 

Si Kahnis in his 61styear as a civil rights, union and community organizer, musician, and author. He has simultaneously had successful careers as a musical theatre composer, lyricist, and book writer, and as an internationally recognized songwriter, recording and performing artist. His musical body of work includes18 albums of his original songs for adults; nine CDs of his songs recorded by other artists; a CD of songs for children, Good Times and Bedtimes; a collection of labor and civil rights songs recorded with Pete Seeger and Jane Sapp; and the songs and/or scripts for seven musicals. His songs have been recorded by Peggy Seeger, Kathy Mattea, Ronnie Gilbert, Cathy Fink &Marcy Marxer, John McCutcheon, Amythyst Kiah, Billy Bragg, Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine, Hazel Dickens, the Dublin City Ramblers, Dolores Keane, Michael Jonathon & Odetta, and over 100 other artists.

​TRACKLISTING
1.Hard Times(2:37)
2.Anyone Can Be President(2:41)
3.Stranger in This Land(2:14)
4.Care for All(3:07)
5.In the Heart of the Country(3:10)
6.Ask the Penguin, Ask the Seal(3:25)(Featuring Magpie)
7.The Gap(3:25)
8.Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is(2.29)
9.At the Crossroads(3:00)
10.You Can’t Counton the Numbers(2:47)
11.Fight for Your Union(2:05)
12.Going Going Gone(3:08)
13.One Voice(3:17)
​
​All songs by Si Kahn © Joe Hill Music LLC except ‘Anyone Can Be President’,‘In the Heart of the Country’ and ‘You Can’t Count on the Numbers’by George Mann & Si Kahn,
​© George Mann and Joe Hill Music LLC ‘Ask the Penguin’, Ask the Seal’ words by Si Kahn, music: ‘Ode to Joy’ by Ludwig van Beethoven

KINGFISHR
SHARE NEW SINGLE
‘THE SUN WILL NEVER SETTLE’
​

Kingfishr continue their excellent start to 2026 with a new single, The Sun Will Never Settle, their second track of the year. It is released via B-Unique/Atlantic Records.
 
If 2025 felt like a fever dream to the Limerick trio, 2026 certainly hasn’t let them down either and has largely been spent out on the road. Last week they concluded a fully sold-out run of the UK including two jubilant nights at London’s Brixton Academy, and this Summer they entertain festivals across Europe, peppered with their own huge outdoor headline shows in Ireland.
 
Drip-feeding and road-testing new songs in their sets (the first of which was The Blade, released earlier this Spring – watch the video featuring Anthony Boyle HERE) has become a reliable way for the band to introduce new music, and today welcomes another recent addition to their live shows (and already a firm favourite from the reception its received), The Sun Will Never Settle, and premieres as BBC Radio 1’s Hottest Record.
 
Produced by David Curley at Grouse Lodge Studios in County Westmeath, Ireland the new single is quintessential Kingfishr - a distinctly Irish folk song, backed by banjo, warm, swelling acoustic guitars, and fronted by Eddie Keogh’s rasping, rich vocal. You can already hear and picture those heaving crowds hollering it back to him in unison in a field this Summer. The beauty of Kingfishr, and what finds them connecting on such a vast level, is that they never complicate things, writing emotionally charged folk songs that arrow to the hearts of all ages and of all walks of life.
 
Eddie Keogh on The Sun Will Never Settle: “The song is about the end of a relationship, and being better off for the experience. Sometimes these things don’t work out. That’s not ideal, but it also doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it either.
 
“If you’re lucky enough to end a relationship and both be better people as a result, you are part of a very prestigious club. Congratulations.”
​

​ 
Releasing their debut album, Halcyon, back in August, it debuted at number 1 in their native Ireland (returning there for Christmas), and nestled itself safely in the UK Top 10 too. The album’s instant impact was spurred largely from word-of-mouth but was also in part to the impact of their track, Killeagh, a song that’s certified almost five times platinum in Ireland and has arguably become the country’s modern-day national anthem (“a modern addition to the Irish folk canon. 100%” - The Guardian).  
 
They concluded their breakthrough year with two sold out nights at Dublin’s 3Arena in December, having toured the UK, Europe, and North America to ever increasing capacity crowds and rooms, and mostly twice over. Theirs is a story traced out on a well-worn map and picking up new fans wherever they stop.

​FOLLOW KINGFISHR
Website - Facebook - Instagram - YouTube - X - TikTok


​

​Irish blues-rock powerhouse Gráinne Duffy returns with her most ambitious and emotionally charged work yet on the new album What Am I Supposed to Do, out now alongside the gripping title track and official video.

Driven by a fierce guitar riff and raw, introspective lyricism, “What Am I Supposed to Do” balances personal vulnerability against a backdrop of global uncertainty. “This song is typically rock style in terms of its structure and feel,” Duffy explains. “There is a sense of reflection here between the madness outside in the world and something that is also in flux or in need of repair on the inside emotionally.”

The track gained an added layer of intensity during recording sessions in Los Angeles in January 2025, as devastating wildfires spread across the city. Its opening line — “Whole world is crazy, fallin’ down outside”  became strikingly prophetic in the studio environment. Legendary drummer Kenny Aronoff, who appears on the album, described the song as “a mix of U2 and The Rolling Stones,” capturing the record’s blend of sweeping rock dynamics and roots-infused soul.

Recorded at 64 Sound Studio, What Am I Supposed to Do was co-produced by Justin Stanley and Marc Ford of The Black Crowes. The album also features an exceptional lineup including Aronoff, bassist Jørgen Carlsson of Gov’t Mule, keyboardist Peter Levin, and Duffy’s longtime collaborator Paul Sherry.

Raised in County Monaghan, Duffy was immersed from an early age in a rich mix of sounds spanning Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, B.B. King, and Fleetwood Mac. Those influences continue to shape her signature style  a powerful fusion of blues, rock, soul, and Americana.

Since breaking through with her acclaimed 2007 debut Out of the Dark, Duffy has steadily built an international reputation as one of contemporary blues music’s most authentic voices. Releases including Test of Time (2011) and Where I Belong (2017) expanded her following across Europe and North America, while 2020’s Voodoo Blues landed in the UK IBBA Top 10 and the U.S. Roots Music Report Top 50, earning Duffy the Independent Blues Award for Best Modern Roots Artist in 2021. Her 2023 album Dirt Woman Blues further cemented her status, spending seven consecutive weeks at #1 on the U.S. Roots Music Report.

With What Am I Supposed to Do, Gráinne Duffy delivers a bold, deeply human collection that channels heartache, resilience, and unfiltered rock-and-roll spirit into what may be her defining statement to date.
​

​Track List
1. Early In The Morning
2. What Am I Supposed To Do
3. Streets of Love
4. Tearing Me Apart
5. Tragedy
6. Hurts Just The Same
7. Taking My Heart Away
8. Got To Give It Up
9. Need Your Love So Bad

Website:
grainneduffy.com