Read Southall Says Fans Can Expect A New Album In 2026… & Potentially One Every Year After That: “Our Goal Is To Release Music Faster”

Not only can Southall fans expect new music from the band next year… they can likely expect new music every year for years to come.

Southall frontman Read Southall stopped by the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast to talk about the band’s 10 years in the red dirt scene, why they changed their name, the making of their 2023 self-titled album, working with mainstream artists like Chase Rice,  growing up in Oklahoma and how that inspired his love for country music, having Koe Wetzel open for them and much more.

Read also dished on whether or not fans can expect new music from the group anytime soon. The answer? Yes they can, and they better get ready for a lot of it. The songwriting for this upcoming album is much like how Southall handled their self-titled Southall venture in 2023: anyone in the band can bring a song to the table. Read Southall says that he’s written two or three songs, and so has the band’s drummer (Reid Barber) and the band’s guitarist (John Tyler Perry), among the others.

He believes that’s going to help them put out new music on a more consistent basis. That and the fact that they’re making a point to get into the studio with more frequency. Read Southall touched on their irregular studio schedule likely hurting their overall output as a band, and suggested that will change soon enough:

“I think our biggest hold up before was we were waiting too long to get back in the studio. You’re turning off that part of your brain, and then you go into the studio and it’s like, ‘Alright, give me gold.'”

So if Southall is going to the studio more… when is the new album coming out?

Read explained that the plan, as of right now, is to release a full project early on in 2026. And he’s going to do everything he can to get a boatload of singles out ahead of it:

“I think the full project will be released next year. If not the top of the year, very early in the year. And we’re gonna try to get as many singles as they’ll let us get out. That’s our plan is probably try to release three or four (in the Fall).”

Say less.

That’s not the only good news either. Read Southall went on to say that the band has a collective goal of putting out new music more consistently. Just as some TV shows have fallen into a “one season every three years” pattern, artists have also started taking longer and longer to put together and release new albums.

Read said as a fan himself, he’d much rather have a new set of songs to listen to every year, so that’s what they’re trying to accomplish with Southall:

“I think our goal is to release music faster… and probably in less numbers. Kings of Leon is one of my favorite bands. Would I rather have Kings of Leon put out a 20-track record every two years, or would I rather them put out a 10-track record every year? 10-track record every year. That’s where we’re trying to ultimately go. We’re trying to mark this time of ‘This is how we sound, this is what we’re playing right now.’ And then keep building on it.”

@whiskeyriff “Our goal is to release music faster.” @Southall // The new Whiskey Riff Raff podcast with Read Southall is LIVE now on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube. #whiskeyriff #whiskeyriffraff #southall #readsouthall #newmusicloading ♬ original sound – Whiskey Riff

And to be clear, it’s not like Southall has been lazy, and that’s why they’ve only released one album in the past three years. As Read elaborated on, they’ve been plenty busy with music… just not recording new music. He suggests that will soon change, and he’s happy that it will be:

“At first it was like, ‘We just gotta earn our keep and burn down the road and go all these places and pay our dues.’ And I think we’ve done that. Really, right now, it’s like, ‘Okay now let’s capture as much of this music as we can.’ Who knows what the future holds?

I want to make sure that we’re recording music and stamping this space in time. Or this time and place, or how we sound, because that will outlast anything. That will outlast us all.”

If you want to hear more from Read Southall, make sure to download the podcast on Apple Podcasts by searching “Whiskey Riff Raff” or click here.

We’re also available on Spotify and wherever else you can listen to podcasts.

Cheers, y’all.

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