Jason Boland & the Stragglers Announce New Album “Last Kings of Babylon”

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25 years doing anything is nothing to scoff at, especially when it’s the hardscrabble business of music. Neither is being one of the true originators of Red Dirt music like Jason Boland and the Stragglers. Since 1998, they’ve been defying odds, helping to define the indefinable sound of Red Dirt, and doing it without the aid of Nashville.

Now Jason Boland is gearing up to release the eleventh album in his arsenal, The Last Kings of Babylon, on March 14th, 2025 via Thirty Tigers. “This album is a mirror,” says Boland. “It’s a retrospective, a reflection of everywhere we’ve been and everything we’ve learned over the last 25 years on the road. These songs are about the journey. We were searching for something when we started this band, and we’re still out there searching for it now.” 

To produce the album, Boland and the boys return to where it all began with legendary Texas/Red Dirt producer Lloyd Maines who also produced the band’s debut. It shouldn’t come as a surprise there’s a mood of reflection in the air. Not only is Boland celebrating 25 years of making music, he’s part of the massive “Boys of Oklahoma” gathering happening in Stillwater, OK April 10th-13th, 2025, which sold over 180,000 tickets behind the reunification of Boland’s Red Dirt brothers Cross Canadian Ragweed.

That said, Boland isn’t ready to rest on his laurels. “Our music has always been rooted in the folk tradition,” he says. “But with this album we figured out how to bring a little more power and intensity to the songs. We’ve reached another level as performers where we can push ourselves and our instruments while still staying true to who we are, which is a really exciting place to be.”


Along with seven original songs, Jason Boland and the Stragglers also cover the song “Drive” released by Jason Eady in 2017 and The Trishas in 2012, and co-written by Eady, Jamie Lin Wilson and Kelley Mickwee. There’s also a version of Randy Crouch’s “Ain’t No Justice,” as well as “Buffalo Return” written by Jimmy LaFave.

“Some people just weren’t meant to settle down,” Boland reflects. “They were meant to ramble and roam. There’s something healing about the idea of the buffalo returning to the plains, about people finding themselves where they belong and living the way they were meant to live.” 

The album leads of with a song called “Next To Last Hank Williams” where Jason Boland sings, “Every generation has it figured / Then in the middle of the game the rules have changed / We all agree the mystery is bigger / Meanwhile that money stays the same / And the search is on for anyone to blame.”

The debut song from the album “High Time” can be heard below. The Last Kings of Babylon is now available for pre-save/pre-order.

Track List:

1) Next To Last Hank Williams
2) Truest Colors
3) Drive
4) Take Me Back To Austin
5) High Time
6) One Law At A Time
7) Ain’t No Justice
8) Farmall
9) Irish Goodbye
10) Buffalo Return

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