Release Radar, Most Anticipated New Albums for Final Portion of 2026

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We’re heading into the home stretch of 2026, and we very well could still see some of the best albums released in country and roots music coming out in the impending months. This list is intended to keep you informed about all the albums being released.

This works in three parts: (1) The top recommended albums for each release day, (2) a broader list of releases in roots music that have been pre-screened by Saving Country Music, (3) the always-juicy rumor mill where hints and allegations of new albums go.

Hint: Bookmark this page, and come back each Friday to stay up-to-date with releases. This list will be updated regularly under the “confirmed releases” heading as new albums are announced, though older albums won’t be removed from the list so people can look back at what they might have missed.

PLEASE NOTE: No artist or album was “snubbed” here. If there’s an album to be released that you believe is of interest to country and roots music, please feel free to share the information below in the comments section for the benefit of everyone.

Jason James – Cut The Chain – September 11th

Ever since releasing his debut album in 2015, Texas City-native Jason James has been on the front lines of keeping the classic sound of country music alive and vibrant in the ears of very appreciative modern listeners. Listening to the music of Jason James, you hear the ghosts of George Jones, Ray Price, and other Golden Era performers coming through the voice, the writing, and the style and approach to this music. This isn’t ’90s neotraditional country. This is classic, traditional country, full stop.

The new album almost didn’t come into being due to numerous setbacks. Working with producer John Evans, they began recording in the Nashville studio of legendary bass player Dave Roe, and assembled an A-team of musicians for the record, including guitarist “Cousin” Kenny Vaughan, Steve Hinson on steel guitar, and the late bluegrass great Ronnie Bowman on backing vocals. But then funding issues stalled the sessions. (read more)

Ian Noe – Canyon Falls Trailer Band – September 25th

After re-emerging to play some shows recently, and releasing a tribute to Blaze Foley called “Jukebox Blues” in March, Ian Noe has announced the release of a new 16-song concept album called Canyon Falls Trailer Band. It was produced by Andrija Tokic at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville, with contributions from Russ Pahl on guitar, Charlie McCoy on harmonica, and Billy Contreras on fiddle.

The concept behind the album is said to be a fictional band called the “Canyon Falls Trailer Band” who play a one-off showcase trying to earn industry approval. The band showcases a mix of country and folk rock, and their performance becomes the stuff of legend, even if the ultimate fate of the band goes unknown in the fictional realm. (read more)

Dallas Burrow – Modern Day Vagabond – September 25th

Singer, songwriter, and underdog Dallas Burrow has always been one on the outside of the popular cliques in music, and has always had to prove himself and earn every bit of attention and credibility he’s received. Over time though, he’s accrued these very things from fans and fellow musicians alike in large sums to the point where he’s now one of the more respected performers in Central Texas.

Modern Day Vagabond, the album will be released on September 25th via Forty Below Records. It was produced by Red Dirt legend Mike McClure, and multi Grammy-winning producer/engineer Adam Odor at Yellow Dog Studios in Texas. It includes musical contributions from McClure and Odor, Kullen Fox from Charley Crockett’s Blue Drifters on organ, along with Mark Tokach and Larry Chaney on guitar, and Cameron Martin on drums. (read more)

Wade Bowen – The Version of Me You Get – September 25th

The Texas music mainstay is ready to write a new chapter in his career with his latest album out via Thirty Tigers. Co-produced by Bowen himself alongside longtime friend Sean McConnell, he’s impressed with the album’s early singles like “Turpentine” that made it on the SCM Top 25 Playlist. But the album almost didn’t get released at all.

“I didn’t really know what I was looking for when I first made this record. When it was finished, life picked up, and other plans came together. The timing never quite lined up, and it just sat there,” says Wade Bowen. “It wasn’t until recently that I pulled it back out. Honestly, it felt more relevant than it did back then. The last few years – personally and career-wise – made the songs land in a different way. Like I was hearing them for the first time. There’s a lot on this record – love, struggle, redemption, vulnerability. I’m glad it finally found its time.”

Mac Cornish – Wayfaring Woman – September 25th

For years Mac Cornish was one of the most cherished voices and performers in the California and West Coast country and folk scenes, making friends and opening shows for the folks touring through the region and leaving them impressed. She now splits time between Nashville, but her unique perspective on country music with those Laurel Cove influences remain, and makes it onto her new album, Wayfaring Woman.

The album was recorded at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville with the great producer Andrija Tokic, utilizing much of the talent in Music City like steel guitar players Dennis Crouch and Russ Pahl. She’s shared the stage with the likes of Emily Nenni, Kelsey Waldon, and Silverada. Ahead of the album, she released numerous singles, including “Lover of Mine” and “Wayfaring Woman.”

Margo Cilker – Little White Cross – October 9th

Margo Cilker has already been shortlisted by many as a singer and songwriter who puts her experiences in the West to song just about perfectly. After founding her own label called Fossil Records, she’s readying the release of her latest album produced by Bruce Robison, and recorded in Lockhart, TX. She travelled to Texas with her steel guitar player Eric Heywood, but used Austin-based musicians like Geoff Queen, Beth Chrisman, and Lisa Pankratz on the recording.

“You could definitely call it a concept record,” says Margo Cilker, “if that concept is that I got really sad and went to Texas. I had some material so dark I didn’t think I’d show it to [Bruce Robison]. Then I remembered this is the man who wrote ‘Travelin’ Soldier.’ Life is nasty, brutish, and short, as they say. But if I can romanticize one tiny detail, that gets me to the next day.”



David Allan Coe – A Million Reasons – October 16th

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 on October 16th.

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. (read more)

Kaitlin Butts – Hello, Honky Tonk – October 30th

Sorry Halloween, but you’re gonna have to play second fiddle to the release of a new Kaitlin Butts record in 2026. Coming at you like a bowl full of treats on October 30th, Kaitlin will unleash her latest record Hello, Honky Tonk, which will be her first on a major label in the form of Republic Records.

But don’t get spooked this means this Red Dirt Queen from Tulsa is selling out. All indications are this thing will continue to be the type of killer Kaitlin Butts country we’ve been accustomed to, meaning kick ass, twangy, but unafraid to have a little fun. Oh, and don’t be surprised if some cheating ex-beaus get executed and thrown in the river or buried in the backyard along the way. There might be a reason the new record’s being released on Halloween eve. (read more)

Colby T. Helms – One For The Losers – October 23rd

In the progressively popular but increasingly difficult effort to ferret out the nearest thing to what passes for true authenticity in today’s country music, consider yourself lucky if you stumble upon Colby T. Helms. Though it’s difficult to impossible these days to find any soul that’s completely untouched by the corrupting mandibles of modernization since we all walk around with the internet in our pocket, Colby is a character that comes about as close to the real deal you’ll ever hear.

Colby’s new album One For The Losers is said to be Rated R for being rooted in tradition and roots. It was produced by David “Ferg” Ferguson in Nashville and features folk, bluegrass, old-time Appalachain music, while also expanding his palette as a songwriter.

Willi Carlisle – The Universal Bubba – November 6th

It was being taken under the wing of Sturgill Simpson that helped launch Tyler Childers into uncommon altitudes early in his career. Now Tyler Childers will see what kind of magic he can come up with behind the mixing board as it’s been announced he will be producing the new album from folk powerhouse Willi Carlisle. 

The abundant, 17-track double album was cut with the Tyler Childers backing band, The Food Stamps, at a makeshift all DIY recording studio constructed in the Bywater District of New Orleans. It was recorded over a two week span. Along with whatever “experimental music” it might contain, Willi Carlisle also assures, “There’s also more fretless 19th-century-style banjo on it than any record I’ve ever made.” (read more)

Randy Travis – Same Old Way – November 13th

Same Old Way assembles Randy Travis songs recorded from 1986 to 2013 during previous album sessions that were ultimately never released. Randy’s long time producer Kyle Lehning helms the project, assembling the songs from the Randy Travis archives, and remixing and remastering them into one cohesive project. The result is 12 more original songs to add to the Randy Travis catalog.

Though some love to cast off these archive releases as odds and sods, a few recently releases from other country legends should at least give you hope to hear the results, including archive releases from Waylon Jennings and Don Williams. Perhaps it’s a commentary on the quality of some of today’s country music, but often these archive releases are better than the new music recorded in the present tense. (read more)

Waylon Jennings – Diamonds – December 11th (Digital)

Waylon Jennings continues to regale us with music from beyond the grave. And it continues to be just as good as the music he released in the heyday of his legendary career, and so much better than most of what is being released today. The latest posthumous release from Waylon Jennings is the song “Diamonds,” which is the title track to the second installment of archival releases son Shooter Jennings is producing of mostly-finished unreleased recordings from his father’s vault.

The album itself won’t be released until November 13th. And similar to other recent releases, it will first be physical only. The digital release of Diamonds will come staggered on December 11th. But hey, it will make a great Christmas gift on vinyl for yourself or someone else. (read more)

Alan Jackson – Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale (Live from Nashville, TN) – December 31st

Alan Jackson officially retired from touring and playing full shows on Saturday, June 27th in a massive, blowout show at Nissan Stadium in Nashville. And with the way a appreciative, but exhausted Jackson had to hold onto someone’s shoulder to make it off the stage at the end of the set as fireworks went off, you tend to take his word that it truly was the finale.

Announced in the wake of his final concert, a live album called Last Call: One More for the Road – The Finale (Live from Nashville, TN) of the final concert will be released. Pre-orders are already live, and though it’s subject to change, the release date given right now is December 31st, 2026. Though we don’t have a track list just yet, hopefully it include most or all of the performances from the final show. (read more)

Mo Pitney – Outskirts of Town – March 26th, 2027

Some country fans might have amnesia about the career of Mo Pitney at this point. But for those who remember, he was one of the major antidotes to Bro-Country after releasing his debut album Behind This Guitar in 2016 and Ain’t Looking Back in 2020. Mo’s released a couple of singles since then, but much of the last six years he’s been like a ghost as he suffers through the “Curb Records Artist Retention Program” that prescribes only releasing an album from an artist every five to seven years to keep them indefinitely under contract.

Beyond all the bellyaching though, you are excited for new music from the singer and songwriter whose signature approach is to take a more thoughtful and appreciative perspective on life. You hear that in his new song “Happy Hour,” and how it inverts the meaning of the American pastime. It was written by Adam Wright and Clint Daniels, and was produced by Jim “Moose” Brown and Pitney like the rest of the new album. (read more)

OTHER ANTICIPATED/CONFIRMED RELEASES


September 11th

Jason James – Cut The Chain

Dom Glynn & His Sunday Best – This Fast Life Is Killing Me

Pokey LaFarge – Rent Money

Cody Landress-Gibson – Music To Get By On

Chloe Marks & The Mahem – Bright Lights Late Nights

Buddy Miller – Self-Titled (Americana)

Angela Autumn – Believer (Americana)

Ali Holder – Garden of the Underworld (Americana)

Jeffrey Halford and the Healers – Used Parts (Americana)

Eli Paperboy Reed – Getting There (Americana)

Brian Fallon – Not Bad for New Jersey (Americana)

Bobby Wayne – The Way To San Quentin (rockabilly prison songs, compilation)

AJ Lee & Blue Summit – Cover to Cover (bluegrass, cover songs)

Valerie June – Brighter Blue EP (Americana)

A.J. Fullerton – Baretone EP (Americana, roots, blues)

(9-14) Shannon Hudson – Cross Stitch (Americana)

September 18th

Riley Green – That’s Just Me

Susannah Clegg – Good Times Are Coming Our Way

Bryce Leatherwood – Beers and Ballads

Jason Scott and the High Heat – Play Boy

Rhiannon Giddens – Hope is the Thing with Feathers

Skip Ewing – Dragonfly

Sean Burns & Lost Country – Better Off in Time & Other Songs for the Dance Floor 

Orville Peck – Mule

Katie Pruitt – Fools for the Fleeting (Americana)

Neil Young & Chrome Hearts – Second Song (Americana)

Leon III – Candy Cigarettes (Cosmic country)

Biita Houdei – The Bed Was Made For Me (indie folk)

Ned Hill – Saw Jesus in the Park (Americana)

Beck – Ride Lonesome (singer-songwriter / Americana)

henry o henry – Apocrypha (folk, Americana)

Kelly Hunt – Requiem for a Sleepless Night (folk)

Kaz Murphy – Making Noise: Songs of Rebellion and Redemption (folk)

Biita Houdei – This Bed Was Made For Me (folk)

Anders Jörnesten – Waiting for the Break of Day (acoustic folk)

Jake Blount – Single-Footing Horse (old time)

Dave Wilbert – The Good News EP

Brothers and the Hayes – Phantoms of Reality EP (Americana)

(9-16) Jack Browning – Painted Skies

(9-17) Sachin & the Porch – Best Intentions EP

(9-24) Shelby Lee Lowe – Stories To Tell

September 25

Ian Noe – Canyon Falls Trailer Band

Jeffrey Halford & the Healers – Used Parts

Wade Bowen – The Version of Me You Get

Mac Cornish – Wayfaring Woman

Dallas Burrow – Modern Day Vagabond

Kenny Chesney – Silver Sands Marina

Lauren Watkins – If I’m Being Honest

Mike Thomas – Echoes

Aaron Watson – The S.O.Bees Volume 1

Dylan Gossett – Ramblin’

Wheeler Walker Jr. – Pullin’ Out

Uncle Lucius – Open Eyes, Broken Heart (Americana)

Jack Biilmann – Move The Mountains (Americana)

RJ Chesney – A Southern Man (Americana)

Mary Gauthier – Reckoning (Americana)

Joy Oladokun – Hope Is a Heavy Thing (Americana)

Michael Rudd – Midnight at Dawn (Americana)

Bill Scorzari – Sidereal Days (Day 2) (Americana)

Landon Smith – Don’t Mind Me (Contemporary folk)

Jude Brothers – Dogwood Maiden Voyage (folk)

Logan Mac – Live at the Print Shop

The Bluegrass Album Band – The Bluegrass Album (bluegrass, reissue)

The Star Room Boys – Why Do Lonely Men and Women Want to Break Each Other’s Hearts (reissue)

(9-24) The Heists – Break & Mend (folk, bluegrass)

October 2nd

Wynonna – The Hard Truth

Miranda Lambert – Crisco

Red McAdam – Comic Western Gothic

Ella Hooper – Overnight Success

Cody Bolden – Menace To Myself

Sally Jaye – You’ll Be Okay, Baby (Americana)

Very Old Morris – Boogedy Boogedy Boogedy Shoop (Alt-country)

Joe Rian – Think Yer In Luv (alt-country)

Paula Fong – Bird on the Wing (singer/songwriter)

Rita Bliss – One More Winter (folk)

Ethan Setiawan & Fine Ground – Little Storms (bluegrass)

Highway Home – No More Drinkin’ Songs EP

(10-1) Various Artists – A Century of Strings, Stories & Songs: A Tribute to The Delmore Brothers

(10-3) David Miner – West Texas Stars


October 9th

Levi Foster – Appalachian Funk Tree

Naomi Jane – Kinda Sorta Country

Margo Cilker – Little White Cross

Talking Hearts – Memory Lane

Prinz Grizzly – Tilda

The Nershis – Songs For The Road

Cooper Kenward – Call Me The Knife

Jess Williamson – A Mile South of Heaven

Jane Kramer – Moon & Mother (Americana)

Left Arm Tan – When Tigers Smoked (Americana)

Dingo – Nightwire (Americana)

Brody Price – Leaf Miner’s Daughter (alt-country)

Tamarack – Kalos (roots)

Laura Cortese – Lucky Water (roots)

Kristy Cox – Winds of Change (bluegrass)

John Prine – Found Dogs (Archival Release with New Songs)


October 16th

Matt Tedder – Light Touch

Chloe Kimes – Daredevil

Wyatt McCubbin – 650

Uncle Ben’s Remedy – Garage Country

David Allan Coe – A Million Reasons (posthumous release)

Belles – Midwestern

Dave Sutherland – Just Like A Black And White Film

Charlie Parr – Rooming House (folk, blues, Americana)

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)

J.M. Clifford – Things That We Can’t Change (bluegrass)

Sadurn – The Underworld (folk)

Bruce Cockburn – The Blood of Others (Americana, covers)

Various Artists – Felice County Fair (Felice Brothers Tribute)

Jordan Whitmore – Me or Us EP (Americana)

Dave Alvin – Blackjack David – (Deluxe Edition, reissue)

(10-15) Don Cusic – Country Bob: Dylan and Country Music (book)


October 23rd

Colby T. Helms – One For The Losers

Pug Johnson – A Beaumont Bar

Grey DeLisle – Don’t Turn Around

Brothers Osborne – Watertown

JP Harris – Shaving a Dead Man (Old-Time)

Bernie Taupin – The Sea Has No Mercy (folk, Americana)

Josh Rouse – Museums and Women (singer/songwriter Americana)

Buck Owens – At The Mint, Las Vegas 1968 (previously-unreleased live album)

(10-20) – Beau Jennings – Sings Tom Petty (acoustic covers)


October 30th

Kaitlin Butts – Hello, Honky Tonk

The Oak Ridge Boys – Buried Treasures

Jonathan Paull Gertler – Unfinished Business (Americana)

Sara Milonovich – Last Resort Motor Inn (Americana)

Abby Posner – Rest and Rise (Americana)

Miko Marks – Hell Or High Water (Americana)

Sam Burton – Fairweather Friend (Americana)

(10-28) Drew Ryder Smith – The Deep End (Americana)


November 6th

Hudson Westbrook – Made You Look

Jack Blocker – Big Jefe

Willi Carlisle – The Universal Bubba

Mark Wills – Grand Ole Revival (faith songs from Opry)

Upstate – Abalone (indie folk)


November 13th

Randy Travis – Same Old Way (archive release)

Eric Turner – What I’m Doing Here

Jake Bugg – Alamo (Americana)

Schaefer Llana – Full Circle (folk, Americana)

THE RUMOR MILL

Zach Bryan is said to have a new EP coming out called Young Manhood and Other Donatable Organs sometime in October. But so far, there’s been no confirmed release date or further information. Note that Zach has promised EPs in the last that have morphed into LPs, and sometimes they’re arrived later than originally promised.

Shane Smith and the Saints said on April 29th that they were in the studio in Memphis working on pre-production for a new album.

On December 9th, 2025 Evan Felker of the Turnpike Troubadours posted on Instagram, “New Record in 26? You tell me.” There was some rumors previously of a solo record from Felker previously too. But with the success of Turnpike’s The Price of Admission, they could be trying to carry that momentum into next year.

The Highwomen are said to be reuniting this winter to write new songs.

Margo Price recently played the West Tennessee Correctional Facility for women inmates in a concert that will be turned into a live album and documentary.

Jesse Daniel on December 17th, 2025, “I’ve got two records in the can and I’m ready to do another. Lord help me.”

© 2025 Saving Country Music

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