Jake Worthington Announces Hiatus “To Work On Myself”
Traditional country artist Jake Worthington is stepping away from music for a period to “work on myself,” he revealed in a statement to fans on Friday evening (5-22). Though the statement didn’t give many more details or mention cancelled shows, it appears Worthington has cleared his tour calendar until late July as he takes a step back.
“I live a life as my heroes did, but that life gotten a hold of me,” the statement reads. “I love my family my friends and my fans too much to let it take over me. I need to take some time to work on myself for my wife and daughter. I promise I will come back even better. God bless country music. JW.”
Worthington was scheduled to open shows for Luke Combs May 29th and 30th in Montreal, and June 5th and 6th in Toronto, as well as play the Rock The South festival in June 13th, and the Hodag Festival on July 12th. He also had a few solo tour dates in June. They all have disappeared from his website, with his next scheduled appearance being on July 24th at the The Great Texas Mosquito Festival in Clute, TX.
Saving Country Music has reached out to Jake’s representatives to confirm any canceled dates, but has not heard back. See a full list of the potentially affected dates below.
Not dissimilar to Zach Top and others, Jake Worthington has captured the greatness of ’90s country, but with new songs and a fresh face that young and old can enjoy together. He’s considered one of the leaders of country music’s neotraditional resurgence. Worthington’s 2025 album When I Write The Song was very well-received.
Originally from LaPorte, Texas near Houston, Worthington took some time for traditionalists to warm up to since he first emerged as a contestant on The Voice, finishing 2nd on the 6th season. Ever since then, he’s hung around Texas and Nashville, refining his chops, and becoming like the Mark Chesnutt of the current generation.
Worthington is one of numerous artists to step away from touring recently to focus on mental health or other issues, including Colter Wall and Randall King.
Potentially affected tour dates:
May 29: Olympic Stadium – Montreal, QC=
May 30: Olympic Stadium – Montreal, QC=
Jun 5: Rogers Center – Toronto, ON=
Jun 6: Rogers Center – Toronto, ON=
Jun 13: Rock The South – Decatur, AL
Jul 12: Hodag Festival, Rhinelander, WI
June 11: Duling Hall – Jackson, MS
June 18: The Sinclair – Boston, MA
June 19: Mercury Lounge – New York, NY
= (with Luke Combs)
May 22, 2026 @ 7:23 pm
Canada dry.
May 22, 2026 @ 10:25 pm
Living a life like his heroes did = booze and drugs.
May 22, 2026 @ 10:37 pm
…and divorces, and children they never see.
May 23, 2026 @ 1:29 am
Yep. The Highwaymen had 13 wives and 29 children among the four of them.
May 23, 2026 @ 11:43 am
Jesus christ
May 24, 2026 @ 2:11 am
…no wife, no children there, presumably.
May 25, 2026 @ 11:05 am
Nope, just a bunch of friendly dudes and some reformed hookers.
Religion is weird
May 23, 2026 @ 3:52 pm
“Living a life like his heroes did = booze and drugs.”
This is what happens when people romanticize the hard-lifestyle of their ‘heroes’ and try to emulate them. The acts that lived that kind of life weren’t playing at it, it was real. Good for Jake to recognize he needs to get a handle on it.
May 23, 2026 @ 2:08 am
Good. Better safe than sorry. More people should do this. And hey, I feel for his crew, too, as this means they’re out of pay – or this pay, at least. But when it comes to your health, and especially your mental one, nothing and no one should come in the way.
May 23, 2026 @ 4:48 am
Touring has been taking out artists left and right this year.
Mental health, low ticket sells, weather, and the rising high costs of touring…
Cole Chaney announced this week he can no longer “turn any kind of profit” touring due to “rising cost to live and tour” and he parted ways with his talent/ booking agency and will be focusing on regional shows where he knows “fans will show up for awhile.”
Rain and flooding in the mid Atlantic this weekend took out multiple dates of Dwight Yoakam / ZZ Top tour (some rescheduled in the fall) and I know Del Fest is muscling through it.
May 23, 2026 @ 11:32 am
Almost like the economy sucks and we are seeing the impacts of people outside the Epstein class not having any cash to go do things like attend live shows.
But, hey, the Dow hit 50k so I have been told it is all fine!
May 26, 2026 @ 8:16 pm
Attendance is up across sporting leagues.
Concerts have been overpriced for years. The market is correcting itself.
May 23, 2026 @ 11:44 am
nooooooooooooo that fucking sucks about Cole (I mean it sucks for Dwight too). Cole Chaney is on my bucket list to see and not a week goes by that I don’t listen to something off of In The Shadow Of The Mountain.
May 23, 2026 @ 12:39 pm
Cole, who is great live, is honoring all the renaming dates. So check them out.
I don’t know where you live, but regional would be Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, West Virgina, SW Pennsylvania (he’s always playing here), SE Ohio…
I like regional touring for most smaller artists. I long wondered why Turnpike Troubadours ever leave the red dirt imprint. A shitty, unimaginative talent/ booking agency took down Mike & the Moonpies long before the name change.
I think this is a good retooling of his touring. He can always get opening act gigs to reach nationally.
May 25, 2026 @ 4:54 pm
I just watched the Joshua Ray Walker video circulating on social media with his mom going over his very poor Tucker sales on a tour that starts tomorrow. Why the hell is he going playing rooms in Massachusetts and Philly?
It’s heartbreaking, but it doesn’t make sense to tour places you know will be difficult to draw in this economy.
These artists have got to tour more efficiently. Stop using booking agencies that are using one size fits all models for every artists.
May 23, 2026 @ 8:03 am
JW is a treasure. Wishing him health, happiness, and many more years of touring ahead.
May 23, 2026 @ 8:51 am
Just, for chrissakes, nobody tell Zach Top
May 23, 2026 @ 9:35 am
Touring must be hard on family life. It must be difficult to get the balance right. Maybe he has got his priorities right. Good for him. I do hope I get the opportunity to see him live as his last album was superb.
May 23, 2026 @ 10:23 am
He’s big enough in Canada to sell out multiple stadium dates? That sounds strange to me. Perhaps he is that big there.
On a separate note, the lives his heroes led brought them to into addiction and life-threatening levels of dysfunction. If he’s not up to the task, don’t try and force your way through it. Having a new Mark Chesnutt is a good thing. The old Mark Chesnutt is lucky to still be alive.
May 23, 2026 @ 11:54 am
“He” is Luke Combs. Worthington was the opener for those dates, but Combs was the driving ticket seller. I don’t think it should be strange/surprising that Combs could sell out stadium dates in Montreal and Toronto. Dude is one of the biggest stars in the genre right now and it’s not like Canada (pop culture wise) is Slovakia or something.
May 23, 2026 @ 12:28 pm
He has such an incredible voice. Basically Sammy Kershaw 2.0. I hope this time away allows the healing that’s needed.
May 23, 2026 @ 8:31 pm
So he got caught cheating then. Maybe he and Randall can tour together when they’re both out of the doghouse.
May 24, 2026 @ 4:08 pm
He is supposed to be the opener for our Zach Top show on July 9th in Salt Lake. It still shows him as opener on Zach’s website. So now Im confused.
May 25, 2026 @ 5:30 am
I say it every time so maybe somebody who needs to quit will see it.
I quit. It was the best decision I’ve ever made and everyone who loves you now will love you even more sober. It can be a scary choice but if you think it’s the right one then it is.