Music

Jackson Dean’s third studio album, Magnolia Sage, will arrive April 24, featuring 11 songs that fit into two worlds, Magnolia or Sage.

“Magnolia is soulful. Magnolia is the soft touch of someone else’s hand on yours. Magnolia is a Maryland beach. Magnolia is something easy,” Jackson explained on Instagram.

“Sage is western,” he continued in another post. “Sage is the wild in Wyoming. Sage is rust and a crow on a fence post. Sage is the wind in your face.”

The record contains the previously released “Be Your Man,” “Over and Over” and his radio single, “Make a Liar,” as well as the new track “Wildfire.”

Here’s the complete track listing for Jackson Dean’s Magnolia Sage:
“Blacktop Blues”
“Make a Liar”
“Be Your Man”
“5th of July”
“Tennessee Moon”
“Over and Over”
“Hey Mississippi”
“Something Easy”
“Wildfire”
“Dust on a Dirt Road”
“Heart on the Range”

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dua Lipa hasn’t released any new solo music since her album Radical Optimism came out in 2024, but she’s just jumped on a new song by the man who co-wrote and co-produced “Houdini,” the first single from that album.

Dua writes on Instagram, “my dear friend [Danny L Harle] just released his album Cerulean today… and somewhere inside that tide pulled universe is a song we made together on the very first day we ever sat down to write together alongside our other dear friend [Andrew Wyatt].”

“blast the record from start to finish,” she adds. “let it pull you under and let it split your heart open in the softest way.”

The song, “Two Hearts,” is a pounding yet melodic dance-pop banger, which may remind you of “Electricity,” the Grammy-winning 2018 single Dua recorded with Silk City.

Dua has recorded a number of collaborations with other artists over the years, including “Cold Heart” with Elton John, “Prisoner” with Miley Cyrus and “One Kiss” with Calvin Harris.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Dierks Bentley’s booked for 13 dates on Luke Combs’ My Kinda Saturday Night Tour starting in March, but by summer, he’ll be going “Off the Map.” 

That’s the name of his June/July amphitheater tour, as well as a track on his Broken Branches album. 

“‘Off The Map’ is a song about going to that place where you take a break from it for a little bit, whether it’s a bar stool sipping something cold, or a back porch down a back road,” Dierks says. “I like to think that our shows are a place where our fans can go off the map for a few hours, and recharge the batteries.”

“The band and I are so excited about sharing the road with the one and only Ricky Skaggs, as well as with the other guys and girls on the shows with us this summer,” he continues. “They were all hand picked, as I am big fans of theirs. Can’t wait to get out there and watch their shows before we get to go out and do our thing. Going to be some great on-stage collaborations this summer.”

Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, Kaitlin Butts, Cole Goodwin, Owen Riesling and the Mountain Grass Unit will join him on the dates, which kick of June 12 in Rogers, Arkansas, and wrap July 18 in St. Augustine, Florida. 

Tickets go on sale Feb. 20. 

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Jilly from Philly is back. 

After a more than 10-year hiatus, Jill Scott has released a new album, To Whom This May Concern.

It’s the soul singer’s sixth studio album following her Billboard #1 project Woman, which released back in 2015. 

“I did not have a creative block,” Scott explained to Billboard about her time away from music. “I just took a creative break.”

To Whom This May Concern is complete with 19 tracks, including the previously released “Lifting Me Up.” And despite years of quietly recording and working on music, all of the songs are new as of the last 18 months, she confirmed.

The album also includes features from popular artists like JID, Too $hort, Ab-Soul and Tierra Whack. 

“It’s been like a whole process,” she told Billboard of finally releasing the project. “Initially, I felt pregnant and I felt tired of holding it, you know. The idea of giving your baby to the world and seeing what they’re going to do with it — it’s very scary.”

The album title alone gave her a sense of peace. “It kind of released me in a sense. Like, okay, this is for the people it’s for.”

And now that it’s out, Scott said she’s feeling excitement more than anything. 

In celebration of the new project, Scott will play a special Valentine’s Day show at Blue Note NYC in New York on Saturday, February 14.  

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

It’s quite possible Thomas Rhett gave his wife, Lauren Akins, the best Valentine’s Day gift ever when he wrote “Die a Happy Man,” going on to capture their romance in the accompanying music video. 

The appeal was undeniable, as the song went on to spend six weeks atop the country chart in 2015. 

The couple would soon start their burgeoning family with the arrival of Willa Gray Akins in 2017, which led to an evolution of how they express their love. 

“It’s definitely changed a lot over the years,” Thomas says. “Before we had kids, it was like, ‘Let’s make sure we go to a nice dinner, let’s maybe watch a movie, let’s pour a glass of wine.’ And I think that those things still obviously happen when we do plan super in advance for a date night. But now me being romantic is really just helping.”

For anybody who might need a little inspiration, TR offers some examples. 

“It’s like, if something is out of place, put it up. If the kids need to go take a nap, [help with that]. I’d make lunches in the morning before the kids get up to go to school, and all that kinda stuff,” he says. “And so, when I’m off the road, being super present with my kids has turned into the new romanticism.”

“And it definitely took me a minute to figure out,” he admits, “but four kids later, I think we’re rockin’ and rollin’.”

Make that five, as their latest offspring is expected any day now. Lauren and TR recently revealed the due date is March 2, and their doctor told them the baby’s on track to weigh 11 pounds.

So far, there’s no word on whether it might be their first son.  

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Bands including Halestorm, Judas Priest and Volbeat have contributed signed guitars to a charity auction in support of Gibson Gives, the philanthropic division of the Gibson guitar company.

The auction, which will be hosted by Julien’s Auctions on March 5, will also include signed guitars by Alice Cooper, Daughtry, Rise Against, Live, Papa Roach, Collective Soul and Underoath.

Funds raised will specifically benefit the Gibson Gives & FirstBank Amphitheater Music Education Program.

“We are proud to help support the musicians of tomorrow, with help from the musicians of today,” says Martin Nolan, co‑founder and executive director of Julien’s Auctions. “This auction of nearly two dozen guitars features some incredible instruments, all signed by renowned artists and bands.”

For more info, visit JuliensAuctions.com.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Barring any last-minute extension announcements, Backstreet Boys are scheduled to wrap up their super-successful Into the Millennium residency show at Sphere Las Vegas on Sunday. And now it can be told: AJ McLean says we owe the entire concept for the residency to his wife.

“You know, she threw this out in a dinner conversation … about how none of the biggest acts in the world have ever recreated their biggest tour,” AJ told ABC Audio. “She was talking about, you know, if Janet Jackson were to redo the Velvet Rope Tour, because she didn’t get to see it, she would be like, ‘I’m gonna use all my adult money to pay whatever I have to, to go see Janet Jackson.'”

“And same with Madonna and other acts,” he continued. “And she’s like, ‘What if you guys did that?'”

Specifically, she wanted them to recreate their 1999 Into the Millennium tour, complete with all the bells and whistles that made it their biggest ever. AJ liked the idea, but it took him a while to get the rest of the group onboard.

“So I kept bringing it up to the boys and they kept saying, no, no, no, because we’re in a different mindset, different albums, da-da-da,” AJ continued. “And finally they were like, ‘Y’know what? Let’s do it.'”

AJ then pitched the idea to their concert promoter, but then, he said, “I didn’t hear a peep.” Finally, the group’s management revealed that Sphere Las Vegas was offering to host the show.

“We were overjoyed, but then immediately panic set in,” AJ recalled. “Like, how are we gonna do this?” 

But after going to see the Eagles’ show for some inspo, Backstreet figured it out, and have played to sold-out crowds ever since.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

If you’ve heard the song “Doubletake” by Edgehill, you may have had to double-check what decade you’re living in.

The track, which currently sits in the top 15 on the Billboard Alternative Airplay chart, definitely has a distinct ’90s alternative rock feel.

“We’d been listening to a lot of Weezer, obviously,” frontman Chris Kelly tells ABC Audio. “We’d been listening to Pavement a good amount. Just really cool ’90s bands that have dry vocals, distorted guitar.”

“Doubletake” appears on Edgehill’s new album, Ode to the Greyhouse, which is out now. To paraphrase a movie from the ’90s, Kelly and his bandmates felt that “Doubletake” really tied the record together.

“After we wrote that, we were like, ‘OK, this feels like the album’s cohesive now,'” Kelly says. “It felt like just that song existing kind of tied a couple things together.”

Overall, Kelly feels that “Doubletake” is a good representation of what else you’ll hear in Ode to the Greyhouse.

“I kind of feel like you can find parts of every song on the record in ‘Doubletake,'” Kelly says.

In addition to sounding like the ’90s, lyrics on Ode to the Greyhouse reflect that feeling of ironic detachment often associated with the decade.

“A lot of it’s about cognitive dissonance and the ways that we all think improperly, you could say,” Kelly says. “The things that we do that don’t line up with what we actually believe.”

Edgehill will play an album release show in New York City on Feb. 18. They’ll launch a U.S. tour in March.

Copyright © 2026, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.