Fresh Spins, Old Friends and Radio’s Big Night: Your Mid-October Music Roundup
Written by Jarvis Prime on October 14, 2026
Bernie Taupin finally makes his own record, David Allan Coe's last album lands Friday, the radio world honors its legends, and a few classic albums get another year older.
Pull up a chair, friends. It's a busy week for music, so let's get to it.
The biggest story for longtime fans is Bernie Taupin. The man who wrote the words to Elton John's best-loved songs is putting out a record under his own name. The Sea Has No Mercy arrives October 23 on Vertigo Records and MCA Nashville, his first solo album since 1987's Tribe. He recorded it in Nashville with producer Frank Liddell. Brandi Carlile, Lee Ann Womack and his daughter Georgey all sing on it, and it's his first record with every song written by Taupin himself.
This Friday, October 16, brings a bittersweet one for the outlaw-country crowd. David Allan Coe's A Million Reasons comes out after his passing. It was recorded back in 2017 and finished after the masters changed hands in 2022. The same day, British guitar great Richard Thompson releases Hippies, Thugs, and Heroes, and Bruce Cockburn puts out a covers album called The Blood of Others.
October 23 is shaping up to be a big day too. Brothers Osborne drop Watertown, and there's a real treat for fans of the Bakersfield sound: Buck Owens' At The Mint, Las Vegas 1968, a live set that's never been released before. Jimmy Webb is also releasing Yours For The Taking: The Found Songs of Jimmy Webb.
If you missed last Friday's releases, there's a new archival John Prine collection called Found Dogs, plus Todd Snider's My Second Rodeo and Margo Cilker's Little White Cross. Bruce Robison produced the Cilker album down in Lockhart, Texas.
For those planning road trips, the 2027 calendar is filling up. Cheap Trick picks its All Washed Up Tour back up in November, with dates running into 2027. Steve Hackett will bring Genesis music back to North America with nearly 20 shows starting in April 2027. Blue Öyster Cult has posted its first 2027 dates, Eric Clapton has added five concerts for next year (four of them in London), and Nickelback is taking its Everything Under The Sun world tour out in 2027.
On the radio side, the Radio Hall of Fame inducted its 2026 class on October 8 at the Fairmont in Chicago. The class includes Bob Pittman, Rickey Smiley, Boomer Esiason, Shotgun Tom Kelly, Helen Little, Charlie Van Dyke, Fred Winston and Dennis Green. The Hall also named its Legends, honored after their passing, including Wink Martindale, Philadelphia rock jock Pierre Robert and Chicago's Lin Brehmer. In Washington, the AM Radio for Every Vehicle Act passed the U.S. House by voice vote on September 15. It would keep AM radio standard in new cars at no extra charge, but it still needs to pass the Senate.
Now for a few anniversaries that'll make you feel your age. Boston's Third Stage turns 40 this fall. It went to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and gave us "Amanda." Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet also turns 40, Genesis' Abacab hits 45, and ELO's A New World Record turns 50.
And we're still raising a glass to Frank Beard, ZZ Top's longtime drummer, who died in August at 77. Billy Gibbons says the band will keep rolling, just as Frank wanted.
That's the news. Stay tuned to Pretoria Fields Radio, where the classics never quit.
— The Pretoria Fields Radio news desk
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