New Music Friday Delivers Neil Young, Beck, and a Queen Drummer — On a Date That Looms Large in Rock History
Written by Jarvis Prime on September 18, 2026
September 18 brings a stacked release day for classic-rock and Americana fans, some heavy anniversaries worth remembering, and a bit of good news for radio itself.
If your record budget has been resting up, today's the day it goes back to work. Neil Young is out this Friday with Second Song, a new album with his band The Chrome Hearts that pairs five brand-new songs with two unreleased tracks reaching all the way back to the 1960s. That's the kind of time capsule we live for around here.
He's got company. Beck returns with Ride Lonesome, his first album in seven years — self-produced, mixed by longtime collaborator Nigel Godrich, and previewed by the single "Disappearing Act." And Queen fans, take note: drummer Roger Taylor releases his seventh solo album, Violence Insane in a Beautiful World, his first since 2021, led by the single "I See You Now."
The soul side of the aisle is just as busy. Chaka Khan drops Chakzilla, her thirteenth solo album and first since 2019, with guests including Lenny Kravitz. And in a story that ought to warm every radio heart, Motown legend Martha Reeves is back with Searching — her first album in twenty-two years.
For the Americana crowd, Orville Peck's fourth album Mule arrives with help from Emmylou Harris, and Rhiannon Giddens — Pulitzer and Grammy winner — releases Hope Is the Thing with Feathers, featuring her single "Freight Train." Country listeners get Luke Bryan's ninth album Signs, which includes the duet "Finders Keepers" with Luke Combs.
Now, about the date itself. September 18 carries some weight. On this day in 1970, we lost Jimi Hendrix in London at just twenty-seven years old — still, for many of us, the greatest to ever pick up the instrument. One year later, The Who's Who's Next climbed to No. 1 on the UK album chart, the band's only UK chart-topper. And in 1978, all four members of KISS released solo albums on the very same day — and every one of them went Platinum. Spin a little Hendrix today. He's earned it forever.
Finally, a word about the business we're in. Forecaster BIA has raised its 2026 outlook for local advertising to $186.1 billion, with radio's over-the-air revenue projected at $9.79 billion and digital radio adding another $2.41 billion — a lift powered largely by midterm election spending. Whatever you think of political season, it's keeping local radio strong, and that keeps the music coming to you.
That's the view from here. Stay tuned, stay local, and keep it on Pretoria Fields Radio.
— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk
