October 16, 2026 Is a HUGE Release Day. Here’s Your Guide
Just when you though you were getting caught up from a packed summer of strong album releases, here comes another day full of both highly-anticipated titles, and a ton of releases by volume where you need a road map to navigate through them all. If you’re a true music fan, this is a good problem to have.
To keep up with each week’s album releases in the country and roots realm, make sure to bookmark Saving Country Music’s most recent Release Radar. In the meantime, here are the recommended releases for October 16th, 2026.
Jesse Daniel – Looks Like Rain
It’s always cause from celebration whenever Jesse Daniel releases a new record. After a period where Daniel moved back to California from Texas and hasn’t been touring as often as he did in the past, he’s putting out an album he says was recorded almost two years ago, and includes some songs that are as old as 10 years, including the title track, which first appeared on his self-titled album from 2018.
“I can’t wait for you to hear this record,” Jesse Daniel says. “It’s a very personal collection of songs, stripped down songwriter style, and we recorded it all analog live to tape. This record covers loss, love, heartbreak, suicide, loss of a friend, loss of a pet. There’s a lot of heavy elements to this record. It’s not a summertime lake music record full of bangers, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’ve used music from the beginning as kind of a cathartic medium for me to express my feelings and to get through life and navitage all the emotions a person feels.”
Matt Tedder – Light Touch
Matt “The Shredder” Tedder is what they call him. And make no mistake, Tedder’s savvy on the guitar is the envy of many players in Texas and beyond. But don’t expect pyrotechnics to accompany his presentation. Yes, he most certainly can “shred” with the best of them with a fast finger prowess. But if anything, Matt Tedder has found his way to a more sophisticated interpretation of Texas honky tonk music, and to favorable results on his new album Light Touch.
Tedder began making his name in Texas music playing at Little Red’s Longhorn Saloon in Fort Worth. But it was his move to Austin in early 2025, and eventually his Sunday residency at the South Congress honky tonk Sagebrush that has helped put him on the map. Many of the songs of Light Touch were written before he moved to Austin in early 2025, and were recorded shortly after. “Now with my own weekly dancehall gig, I was inspired to write and record songs I hoped would please myself and my new crowd,” Tedder says.
Wyatt McCubbin – 650
Wyatt McCubbin has co-written songs and hits for some of the biggest names in country music since arriving in Nashville in 2013, including Zach Top, Cody Johnson, and Luke Combs. He’s also spent time out on the road opening for Zach Top, Riley Green, and others. But his new album 650 is all about centering the attention on himself finally. It’s produced by Dave Cobb, and is being released on Cobb’s Lucille Records. Early singles like “Andy Griffith” and “All Outta You” have impressed, with the latter making its way onto the Saving Country Music Top 25 Playlist.
“The only thing I wanted to say with this record is what I have lived. This 36 minutes is really sixteen years in the making,” Wyatt McCubbin says.
Dave Cobb adds, “I loved Wyatt because he truly follows in the legacy of great songwriter-artists like Don Williams and Kris Kristofferson.”
Chloe Kimes – Daredevil
Over the last few years, Chloe Kimes has distinguished herself as one of the more intriguing characters in independent country music. Originally from Michigan where she toured throughout the state in her teens, she moved to Tennessee to attend MTSU and obtain a degree in songwriting in 2016. Coming out of the pandemic, she had some viral success with the song “Coors Light” that’s a good specimen of her more traditional sound mixed with some youthful whimsy. Now she readies her sophomore album called Daredevil.
“’Daredevil’ is a product of my consideration of fear,” says Chloe Kimes. “Being a songwriter, touring musician and especially an unsigned independent artist for all of the last decade has felt akin to what I can only imagine it is like to be a stuntman shooting oneself out of a cannon into an unknown abyss and hoping to stick the landing.”
Zach Bryan – Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs EP
You most certainly get mixed reactions whenever the name of Zach Bryan is brought up. But make no mistake about it, he remains one of the most important artists of the modern era, and even a modestly provisioned 8-song EP by Zach’s otherwise prolific standards can have massive reverberations on the music industry, including in country music where Bryan continues to be regularly slotted.
The new album includes a collaboration with the Turnpike Troubadours in the form of the song “Plainsman,” which is likely to quickly become the biggest track of Turnpike’s career, just like it’s been for Sierra Ferrell, Kacey Musgraves, and many more collaborators. There’s also a track featuring Lana Del Rey. Also going under-reported, the release also will be accompanied by a memoir from Zach Bryan about his upbringing, time in the Navy, ascent in music, and the mistakes he’s made.
Charlie Parr – Rooming House (folk, blues, Americana)
This might be Charlie Parr’s 20th album and be composed of seven songs. But that doesn’t mean that it might not be his most ambitious work to date. Presented as a conceptualized “folk opera,” Rooming House set in Parr’s environs the Upper Midwest explores the characters forced into a communal living situation through hardship, who ultimately find strength and dignity through the help of each other.
Dobro extrordinaire Charlie Parr spent years living in rooming houses himself, and pulls from those experiences to create vignettes of characters and scenarios that try to speak to the very real experiences of people attempting to make it through declining times. The album explores the causes of these hardships, but also the beauty and generosity that comes from them. Rooming House will be released on Smithsonian Folkways.
David Allan Coe – A Million Reasons (posthumous release)
It’s been rumored for many years. It was recorded all the way back in 2017, so almost a decade ago. In 2022, former David Allan Coe co-manager and former Average Joes Entertainment partner Ken Madson acquired the master recordings from Average Joes to begin the process of completing the project for release. Now in the wake of David Allan Coe’s passing, his final album called A Million Reasons is set to be released.
The album is a diverse mix of song material and genres, ranging from singer/songwriter traditional country, to contemporary country rap. After all, it was recorded under the auspices of Average Joe’s Entertainment, which is Colt Ford’s country rap record label. In 2017 around the recording, David Allan Coe released a country rap version of “Take This Job and Shove It” with the Moonshine Bandits with mixed reception.
More Releases:
(10-15) The Tender Things – The Tender Things is a Nasty Band
(10-15) Don Cusic – Country Bob: Dylan and Country Music (book)
Uncle Ben’s Remedy – Garage Country
Kenyon Lockry – Further Than California
Belles – Midwestern
Caitlyn Smith – Peace of Mind
Dave Sutherland – Just Like A Black And White Film
J. Killen – Depression Dollars
Jonathan Something – One More Lonesome Cowboy Song
Lyal Strickland – Shooter of Truth
Richard Thompson – Hippies, Thugs, and Heroes (Americana)
Kyle Kimbrell – Lonesome In The Sky (Americana)
The Cashville Trash Pandas – Self-Titled (Alt-Country)
J.M. Clifford – Things That We Can’t Change (bluegrass)
Sadurn – The Underworld (folk)
Bruce Cockburn – The Blood of Others (Americana, covers)
Oscar Lindsey – Sunshine (indie folk)
Various Artists – Felice County Fair (Felice Brothers Tribute)
Emily Ann Roberts – Thread
Mae Estes – The ’90s Called EP (’90s covers)
Jordan Whitmore – Me or Us EP (Americana)
Vince Gill – Marty & Me EP
Heavy Diamond Ring – Let Love Be Enough EP (folk rock)
Erin Duvall – In The Flutter EP
Dave Alvin – Blackjack David – (Deluxe Edition, reissue)
(10-17) Elam McKnight – The Rural Wasteland: Postcards from a Zombie Nation
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October 15, 2026 @ 9:26 am
That Wyatt McCubbin album could be a game changer. I’ve been playing the snot out of “All Out of You” and can’t wait to hear what else he’s got in the chamber. His voice is incredible – very vintage outlaw. As we’re closing in quickly on year’s end it’ll be a really interesting AOTY cage match. I haven’t seen a “Price of Admission” yet with broad violent agreement in the peanut gallery.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:20 am
With all due respect I think there have been several albums every bit as good as Price Of Admission, but with the exception of Ian Noe they’re mostly from people who have a smaller fan base than turnpike did at the time of their return none of those artists have quite as emotionally invested of a fan base as turnpike has , post -return. I don’t think that’s a musical issue, more just the wonderful story of turnpike coming back from the brink
October 15, 2026 @ 11:54 am
I think the reference was to AOTY and that Price of Admission is the current reigning champion. Also, Cat in the Rain was the return album, POA is #2, and Ian Noe doesn’t have the fan base of TT by a country mile. However, Ian Noe would get my consideration for this years AOTY which certainly lends support to your opinion of great works of music out there by lots of lesser heralded artists.
October 15, 2026 @ 10:56 am
I probably like Zach Bryan more than most people here, but you need to have some gray hairs before you write a memoir if you ask me.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:22 am
Eh I dunno, he has a pretty interesting story compared to many other musicians so while I’m not a giant fan of his I think that’s just fine for him to do at this point. In his career. It’s partly his meteoric rise but partially also that an indie folk sound grabbed so much attention and killed bro country. It’s not like he’s the only one responsible and it’s not like all of the problems with mainstream country have gone away but he has a sound that I never in a million years would have expected to get this big at thr time that it did.
Again I’m not even that big a fan of it, I’m just impressed
October 15, 2026 @ 12:54 pm
“Memoir” is the proper technical term for Zach Bryan’s book, but we all know that a guy who’s 30 is not writing the capstone of his life. I actually think it makes sense that he would release a book now. He’s reached the pinnacle of music. Also, Zach Bryan is a writer, not a musician. It just happens to be the music is the medium where he expresses his writing. So a book makes sense to me.
October 15, 2026 @ 3:16 pm
I’m not opposed to him doing so, free country and all that, but it feels a bit weird to be 30 and releasing something like that is all.
If his fans buy his book, more power to them. I just can’t imagine a 30 year old has had the distance and time to maturely reflect on their lives to have much to say about their teens and 20’s.
When I was 30 I was still trying to figure out who the hell I was as a person in some respects, I can’t imagine sitting down to write a book about my life at that point. Granted I have had nowhere near as interesting of a decade in my life as Bryan’s 20’s were, but it still feels like it isn’t going to give much more insight than what a New Yorker or the like feature article would.
October 15, 2026 @ 3:36 pm
I agree, Mike. Even granting Trigger’s point that he’s a writer, doesn’t he have anything interesting to write about other than himself?
October 16, 2026 @ 2:20 am
I probably wouldn’t buy a Zach Bryan book but other people would. A book at 30 wouldn’t have to be the last thing he ever writes. If he wants to write about the last few years of his life, why not?
October 16, 2026 @ 9:11 am
…sharing your page there.
October 16, 2026 @ 7:27 am
Growing up in Japan and OK, time in the Navy, going from YouTube to his career now, he’s done enough interesting stuff that he probably has some good stories to tell without having to wait for gray hair.
October 16, 2026 @ 9:45 pm
I f that’s a country release holiday, it’s the equivalent of one of those holidays you don’t get off from work and don’t even celebrate or observe. This is hardly anything like the holiday of just a few weeks ago. The Jesse Daniel release is very solid with some great songs, but it’s an EP, not a full album. The Zach Bryan is also an EP and has two good songs: Backwards is solid and Plainsman, while very good, would be a whole lot better if Zach wasn’t on it. His singing almost ruins it. The rest of the tracks pretty much suck.
The rest of these releases are mostly meh or rereleases of old stuff. I will say the new Vincent Neil Emerson single that dropped today is excellent. So the big winners of the day are the Jesse Daniel EP, a single from VNE, and two tracks from ZB, although one of em would be far better without ZB.
October 16, 2026 @ 10:39 pm
Well first off, you’re skipping over the other top recommendations, namely Wyatt McCubbin who quite a few folks are raving over, along with Matt Tedder and Chloe Kimes. And I didn’t declare it a “holiday,” just a super busy release day, which it is.
I consider an 8-song release and “album.” For most artists, this is true. Most albums from the ’70s and ’80s in country and rock were 8 songs. Zach Bryan might consider an 8=song album an EP because he’s used to releasing these 20-track records. But the Jesse Daniel release should definitely be considered an album. Most definitions cut off EPs at 7 songs.
October 17, 2026 @ 6:11 pm
Jesse’s release is really great. Yea, it’s 8 songs but it’s also only 27 minutes — that’s an EP, not an album. I’m loving all 8 tracks but it’s clearly too short to be called an album. I don’t call anything short of 36 minutes an album, and 36 mins is a short album. The number of songs doesn’t enter into the equation for me.
I need to give the other ones you mention above a listen still — not yet familiar with any of those three artists.
October 18, 2026 @ 11:48 am
So buy your definition, the Ramones didn’t release any albums until late in their career. 🙂 I get your larger point.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:08 am
“Just when you though you were getting caught up from a packed summer of strong album releases”
I did not in fact think this. I’m gonna have to start getting ruthless with my opinions on this summer’s releases.
October 16, 2026 @ 6:46 am
Cheers to that! Capital “B” Boring is the best word for recent record slop pouring out of mildly talented country/americana/folk/whatever type people. It’s all been one been one big yawn so far.
October 16, 2026 @ 7:01 am
Perhaps country music is not for you if you think that.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:26 am
“You most certainly get mixed reactions whenever the name of Zach Bryan is brought up. But make no mistake about it, he remains one of the most important artists of the modern era…”
Most important? Nah. Most successful? Absolutely. In five years no one outside his hardcore fanbase will be playing his music. It’s not like he’s started a movement where thousands of artists are writing half finished songs and releasing them with the hope of becoming the next Zach Bryan.
Looking forward to the Cockburn album.
October 15, 2026 @ 12:56 pm
I would respectfully disagree. Regardless of how you feel about Zach Bryan’s music, the fact that there are “thousands of artists are writing half finished songs and releasing them” who are getting hundreds of millions of streams just like Zach proves the cultural influence he’s had.
October 15, 2026 @ 1:55 pm
“It’s not like he’s started a movement where thousands of artists are writing half finished songs and releasing them with the hope of becoming the next Zach Bryan.”
This comment is so shockingly incorrect i’m wondering if its satire? The movement you describe is exactly what has happened since 2022. My bad if you are joking
Jerry pinny rips
October 16, 2026 @ 1:13 pm
My comment is neither incorrect nor satire. Bryan got big on his emo-folk-country mash and barely fleshed out songs thanks to social media. Sure, there are artists who would like to have the viral success he’s enjoyed, but that’s across the board in all genres, not just emo-folk. I’m guessing most of them strive to write much better songs than what Bryan turns out.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:28 am
OMG!! Thanks Trig. Anyway my new album “Countryautore” will drop out on 11/05. Run for your life Zach!!
October 15, 2026 @ 11:33 am
hoping zach moulton is on the new daniel album
October 15, 2026 @ 11:57 am
That’s a quick turnaround. Has it even been a year since Son of San Lorenzo….which I loved BTW.
October 18, 2026 @ 6:22 pm
Holy shit that album has some fantastic songwriting. Seems super dark.
October 15, 2026 @ 11:44 am
Wonder if there’s still any hope of a Turnpike record this year
October 15, 2026 @ 12:57 pm
Well, I’d say if they’re going to announce one, they would need to do it in the next couple of weeks to get it in before the end of the year. But their last one was basically a surprise release, so…
October 16, 2026 @ 2:16 am
Probably not since Shooter is supposed to be doing it but there’s no evidence that the group has been in his studio recently. They’ve been touring pretty heavily lately.
October 15, 2026 @ 1:38 pm
Cobb sure sets the bar high for McCubbin when he throws names like Don Williams and Kris Kristofferson around! Looking forward to giving it a listen on Spotify after midnight.
Not country, but I’m very curious about what Richard Thompson and Bruce Cockburn are up to as well.
October 15, 2026 @ 2:37 pm
Richard Thompson pre-ordered on CD. 🙂 He actually had a Bandcamp Listening Party for it last Friday!
October 15, 2026 @ 7:34 pm
Tender things hell yeah first song is on my Playlist already …..love those guys and found out Matt tedder was guitarist ..trigg on it as always
October 15, 2026 @ 7:47 pm
Caitlyn Smith also has a new album out this week.
October 15, 2026 @ 8:31 pm
Thanks for the heads up. Had not seen that one.
October 15, 2026 @ 8:06 pm
The Levi foster album “Appalachian funk tree”has some great songs and songwriting on it. Worth a spin for most on this site I’d say
October 15, 2026 @ 8:41 pm
I agree on Levi. He got me with “Fat Elvis” and I’m loving the album.
October 16, 2026 @ 10:10 am
+1
A lot like that Howdy song from Cole Goodwin earlier this year, “She can’t slam a swingin door” is such an amazingly obvious winner ya gotta wonder how did nobody else see it laying right there…
I reckon someone invented the sandwich one day, and next the whole world just slow blinked.
Fun record, clever guy.
October 15, 2026 @ 9:10 pm
And just like that, no one cares about Charley Crockett.
October 16, 2026 @ 2:13 am
Probably because he doesn’t have a record coming out this week. Aren’t two already this year enough for you?
October 16, 2026 @ 6:33 am
You do apparently, because he lives rent free in your head.
October 16, 2026 @ 2:53 pm
Zip it, Keith.
October 16, 2026 @ 12:11 am
I’m a little bit disappointed with some of Wyatt McCubbin’s songs in this new record. I still have to spin it a number of times (only two spins atm), but I feel like some of the songs are too similar to the singles that dropped in the past weeks. Also I do not always love the production (lack of basses, too much echoing).
BUT since I love Wyatt McCubbin very much, I’m gonna dig into this one and I know for sure I’m gonna end up loving it one way or another.
October 16, 2026 @ 1:58 am
Listened through the Zach Bryan EP. Fantastic songwriting, but some bizarre production choices.
I probably could have written that last sentence in advance the day the EP was announced, actually.
October 16, 2026 @ 5:09 am
entire thing seems off doesn’t it? bad production times ten.
October 16, 2026 @ 6:56 am
Haven’t had a chance to listen to it yet, but I’ll give him credit for using Dusty Rhodes “Hard Times” promo as the intro to the second track on the EP/album.
Always have a soft spot for anything Dusty related.
October 16, 2026 @ 5:39 am
The DAC album sucks. Name dropping massacre. He got close with the tropical song, but it was a bit too affected.
Next week Pug Johnson release!!!!!!
October 16, 2026 @ 6:10 am
Pre-saved that one! Looking forward
October 16, 2026 @ 7:04 am
pre -ordered the Pug Johnson one. Those two singles are hilarious. Hilarious is kind of his stock in trade but feels like he outdid himself already with those
October 16, 2026 @ 6:51 am
Trigger, I love this site and check it daily. I appreciate all the hard work you put into everything.
But these are probably my absolute favorite posts. I just put on this Matt Tedder album and it’s fantastic.
October 16, 2026 @ 7:28 am
These and the updates on the Top 25 playlist!
October 16, 2026 @ 9:10 am
Thank you for all this information
October 16, 2026 @ 9:23 am
…saw mr. mccubbin opening for zach top back in february and thought and wrote about him: “Wyatt McCubbin hadn’t earned his nine-song set merely by being a valued songwriting collaborator of Zach Top’s. On February 21, the Ohio native also proved himself to be a performer with serious chops, and one who may not have to settle for opening slots on smaller stages for much longer.
Armed with nothing more than an acoustic guitar, he stepped out of the darkness before an eager young crowd and delivered a varied and engaging performance. From observations about two-tone pickup trucks, “everywhere you go, there are two-tone trucks”, a song he co-wrote and recorded with Chase Rice, to the bluegrass-leaning I Don’t Mind, recorded with a very young Zach Top back in 2018, and Keep Up With Jones from Lainey Wilson’s latest album Whirlwind, McCubbin had a hand in all of them.
More recently, he recorded the sawdust-stomping Red Off My Neck himself, as well as the redneck barroom anthem Honky Damn Tonk. And he also played a leading role in the creation of Top’s beautiful Between The Ditches from the new album, as Top himself revealed in a recent interview with this publication.”
what can i say but looking forward to dig into mccubbin’s album.
October 17, 2026 @ 4:46 am
was it the Zurich show? you know i was there…
October 18, 2026 @ 4:31 am
…indeed it was, daniele. by the way, there’s a nice little country festival just across the border from bella italia in ticino – the “verzasca country festival”. one of those in great natural settings that trigger sometime highlights. if you happen to be in the milan area, with your new album and some time on your hand, you may might as well get in touch with organisers there for a slot. just a thought from north of the alps.
October 16, 2026 @ 12:55 pm
That Charlie Parr album is a gem! Love the loose theme connecting the songs.
October 17, 2026 @ 10:30 pm
A little late on my end, but I’ll highlight Richard Thompsons’s “Hippies, Thugs, and Heros” as something worth taking a listen to. The songwriting is good (at the very least), and outside of a few songs that are deeply indebted to blues-rock, it’s very reminiscent of something you’d hear from Johnny Cash’s American Records, even if it does lean a bit more toward English folk rock.
Seriously, I wouldn’t bring up a British guitarist in his late 70’s here without using some sort of discretion, but this really is that good of an album.
October 18, 2026 @ 8:17 am
The big difference which should put Richard Thompson’s late albums above Johnny Cash’s American Recordings is he wrote all the songs himself.
David Gilmour and Mark Knopfler are also still making great music in their late careers.
Ive really liked the last two Rolling Stones albums.
October 18, 2026 @ 10:12 am
I’m not going to pretend to disagree with that assessment, but I didn’t want to start a riot just by mentioning Richard Thomson and Johnny Cash in the same sentence. Fair or not, what functionally defines if something is “country” or not is the audience that listens to it. Mark Knopfler and Jerry Cantrell (where “Brighten” and “Jar of Flies” is concerned anyway) are nominally rock artists, and their songs get played on rock stations. At the same time, Eric Church (who I don’t mean to throw under the bus) and Jason Aldean are “country” artist because that’s what they say they are, and its “country” music fans that listen to them.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that it’s odd how country music can overtly push into rock territory without the artist who already occupied the fringe between the two genres getting some acknowledgment in return.
October 18, 2026 @ 12:14 pm
James in recent years I just love mainly americana music which is why I follow this page , but I also love heavy metal or rock or blues from the likes of ACDC, Black Sabbath , Iron Maiden and Motorhead too Buddy Guy or Joe Bonnamassa and Larkin Poe. We should just be embracing good honest music Richard Thompson should be on your page if that floats your boat. RT is great live too seen him about three times.