Iommi Comes Out of the Dark, Lou Gramm Heads Home, and Fleetwood Mac’s Story Gets a Premiere Date
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 26, 2026
Your Monday music and radio rundown for October 26, 2026: new rock on the shelves, a Foreigner voice stepping off the road, a Georgia bluesman climbing the Americana chart, and the AM radio bill waiting on the Senate.
Good morning from Pretoria Fields Radio. It's October 26, and the calendar has some history on it. On this date in 1965, the Beatles collected their MBE medals at Buckingham Palace while a few older honorees protested. In 1981, a young Bruce Dickinson sang his first show as Iron Maiden's frontman in Bologna, Italy. And in 1999, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young released Looking Forward, one of their rare reunion records.
The new-release bin got heavier on Friday. Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi put out From the Dark, a rare solo album with eight new songs and guest turns from Queen's Brian May and singer Jorn Lande. The same day brought a live Doors set called Unbound and Dangerous, a new Tom Morello record, and Bernie Taupin's The Sea Has No Mercy, which features Brandi Carlile. This Friday, October 30, the reissue wave rolls in: a super deluxe box of The Who by Numbers with 92 unreleased tracks, an expanded Foreigner Head Games with a new Atmos mix, a 45th-anniversary Motley Crue Too Fast for Love set, Queen's Budapest concert film, and Widespread Panic's Live From Austin, TX: Redux.
Fleetwood Mac fans, mark January 29, 2027. Apple announced last week that its first fully authorized documentary is titled Fleetwood Mac: The Chain, directed by Frank Marshall. It promises new interviews with the surviving members, unseen footage, and archival conversations with the late Christine McVie, all timed to the 50th anniversary of Rumours.
Lou Gramm is getting off the bus. The former Foreigner singer, now 76, told interviewers he plans to retire from touring at the end of this year while his voice still holds up and spend more time with his kids and his cars. His last listed show is December 19 in Des Plaines, Illinois, with a hometown stop in Rochester, New York on December 12. He'll still join Foreigner on the Rock Legends Cruise out of Miami in February and for six shows at the Venetian in Las Vegas in March.
Queens of the Stone Age announced a spring 2027 arena run with the Pixies opening, kicking off May 1 in San Diego and wrapping May 24 in Boston. No Southeast dates yet. Their new album Perfecth lands this Friday.
On the Americana side, Billy Strings holds the top spot on both the singles and albums charts for the week of October 21 with Burn the Other End and So Much for Goodbyes. Right behind him at number two is Atlanta-raised bluesman Eddie 9V with Blowin' Up, the lead single from his Dan Auerbach-produced album Down Here. Sheryl Crow and Jesse Welles sit at four with Freedom Bus, and Charley Crockett rounds out the top five.
In radio news, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act cleared the House by voice vote in September and now waits on the Senate, which returns the week of November 9. The Senate version has 60 cosponsors, and Senator Chuck Grassley says the path is either unanimous consent or a ride on a year-end must-pass bill. Meanwhile, Nielsen's latest reach study says radio still reaches more American adults each month than any other platform it measures, more than 242 million people. The Radio Hall of Fame inducted its 2026 class in Chicago on October 8, including iHeartMedia's Bob Pittman, WFAN's Boomer Esiason, Rickey Smiley, and SiriusXM's Shotgun Tom Kelly.
That's the brief. Keep it tuned here, and we'll see you on the air.
— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk
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