There’s never a shortage of new music from New Orleans artists, and it can be hard to keep track of it all. So each month, Gambit is throwing together Spotify and Apple Music playlists to collect the latest releases by local musicians.
Have a new single or album you’d like to tell us about? Email Jake at [email protected].
New Orleans is rolling into summer with a lot of new music. June has already seen a few full-length albums and EPs, some standalone singles to match the summer heat and previews of what’s coming later this year. Here are a few things to check out.
Back in 2016, Big Freedia spent time working with kinetic, influential DJ and producer SOPHIE, who passed away suddenly in 2021. At least one of those tracks, “Blaze That Ass,” had made its way into SOPHIE’s DJ sets over the years, and now Big Freedia is releasing a three-song EP from their collaboration. Freedia last month released “Blaze That Ass,” and started June with “Go Down,” a hypnotic dose of bounce-meets-clubby pop. The final track and the EP package will be released June 19.
Nicholas Payton, the New Orleans-born multi-instrumentalist and composer, and the Virginia quintet Butcher Brown are honoring the centennial years of both Miles Davis and John Coltrane with the album “A Supreme Blue.” The album reimagines Davis’ “Kind of Blue” and Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme” with the forward-looking musical vision Payton and Butcher Brown have become known for. “A Supreme Blue” is out digitally on July 24 and on vinyl August 14, and a few tracks have already been released. Check out the latest, “Resolution,” in this playlist.
It’s clear that Alfred Banks poured a lot of himself into “YesterMonth.” The New Orleans emcee teamed up with producer Luther Vandals for the forthright new EP, which finds Banks looking at his past — including the dissolution of the SaxKixAve project — in order to grow and build a new future. Above Vandals’ alluring production, Banks uses “YesterMonth” as a reassertion of purpose and sounds optimistic about his future with lines like “And I’ve got no destination / I don’t know where I’m heading but this view is so spacious.”
Just in time for America’s 250th, a host of New Orleans musicians have released a new compilation of protest songs. Organized by Paul Faith, the album — fittingly titled “A New Orleans Songwriter Protest Song Compilation” — features 21 songs by local artists, including Dusky Waters, Ever More Nest, Burris, Ted Hefko, Dreux Gerard and Lyla DiPaul. The album covers a range of genres and important topics, from “songs of anger and songs of unity” to “laments and calls to action,” Faith says. A group of the participating musicians also mark the Fourth of July with an album release show at Chickie Wah Wah. Find more info here.
Americana musician Dusky Waters also is gearing up to release a new album, “Mother Magnolia,” later this year and recently released the title track. And indie rock drummer and songwriter Dreux Gerard has a concise new EP called “4.”
Trombonist Charlie Halloran and his group The Tropicales, which cruises around the warm waters of calypso, cumbia and tropicalia, will release their new album “New Orleans ’26” in August. Look for the new song “Cumbia Tio T.”
Last month, Pell released his latest solo single, “Spill,” and he’s back with “Thru the Lines,” a breezy collaboration with Brooklyn’s Kota the Friend. Hot off his “Boiling Point” album, Juvenile is back with a new track produced by the great KLC the Drum Major.
Nilly has teamed up with La Reezy for the track “TYT.” And although he’s based in Seattle, producer and DJ Sango centers HaSizzle for the New Orleans-inspired track “St. Claude.”
June also has seen great new projects by alternative rocker Keaton Schiller, punk band Shidded and Gina Leslie, who has released her own full-length album after recording with Esther Rose, Maggie Koerner, Sabina McCalla, Max Bien Kahn and many others. War Bunnies took on Soundgarden’s “The Day I Tried to Live” (a fitting cover for the New Orleans alt-rock trio). And blues guitarist and vocalist Samantha Fish has a fierce new live album.
Check out all of that and more in the Spotify and Apple Music playlists above.
Below is a list of the albums and EPs released so far in 2026 by New Orleans-born and New Orleans-based musicians and bands. There also are a few notable releases by other Louisiana artists and people with local connects.
January
Jai Alai — Division [Reissue] (Jan. 1)
Colossus Brass Band — Sing On (Jan. 2)
Cassie Watson Francillon — Bardo (Jan. 2)
The Deslondes — Holy Cross Blues [Reissue] (Jan. 3)
The Sunshine Special — Beginner’s Luck (Jan. 4)
Hotel Burgundy — Amor (Jan. 9)
Brad Walker — A Sliver of Catharsis (Jan. 9)
Slugger — Bangers (Jan. 9)
Fred Abong — Holy Hints (Jan. 12)
ET Deaux — Adults Swimming III (Jan. 13)
Cypress Key — Magnolia Soul (Jan. 13)
Various Artists — NOLA Secret Sesh: The Album (Jan. 15)
Azure Skyz — WEHAVEAPROBLEM (Jan. 16)
Benjamin Cousins — What We Dream it to Be (Jan. 16)
Lonesome Wilde — Beautiful Animal (Jan. 20)
Bonerama — So Much Love (Jan. 23)
Curren$y — Everywhere You Look (Jan. 23)
Lyla George — Soup for Lunch (Jan. 30)
Greazy Alice — As Time Goes By (Jan. 30)
OperaCreole — Edmond Dede’s “Morgiane” (Jan. 30)
February
Mars & Other Planets — Dialectics (Feb. 1)
Soundass & Super Womp — Blue Bootii (Feb. 1)
John “Papa” Gros — Giants (Feb. 3)
Claire Givens & MoPodna — Self-titled (Feb. 5)
LastLetterz — Sponsored by … Ape Shit (Feb. 5)
Fiddler’s Green — A Court Dismisses the People Pleaser (Feb. 5)
Extracts — Self-titled (Feb. 6)
Clifton Chenier — King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco (Feb. 6)
More Than Grit — Fracture, Divide, Transfer (Feb. 7)
W-9 — Demo (Feb. 9)
Dominic Scott — Sincerely Yours (Feb. 10)
Peter Harris — Cryptic, Vol. 1: Live at the Bayou Bar (Feb. 11)
Jerry Giddens — Sad Songs at Sunset (Feb. 13)
Twisted Teens — Blame the Clowns (Feb. 13)
Funk Monkey — Pre-Roll (Feb. 20)
Fred Abong — Bicycle Day (Feb. 20)
D. Sablu — Righteous Light (Feb. 20)
Timeout Room — Celebration Station (Feb. 20)
Adonis Rose — Usual Suspects feat. Phillip Manuel (Feb. 27)
March
Strange Roux — Midnight Dancer (March 3)
Paco Troxclair — Light My Fire (March 3)
La Reezy — Leader of Uth (March 6)
Oh Dang — Big Dogs (March 13)
Zita — Axiom (March 13)
Zora Lucent — Vestige (March 19)
Deadbeatniks — Imaginiation (March 20)
PellowTalk — Self-titled (March 20)
Joe Krown Trio + 1 — Qualified feat. Papa Mali (March 20)
Luke Winslow-King — Coast of Light (March 27)
Juvenile — Boiling Point (March 27)
Dr. John — Live at Rockpalast 1999 (March 27)
Little Freddie King — Live at BJ’s Lounge (March 27)
April
Dusty Santamaria — High Art // Heavy Trash (April 1)
Lyrikill — We Never Close (April 2)
Jesse Davis Quartet — Reflections (April 3)
Nolatet — Something to Relax With (April 3)
Steve Masakowski Family & Friends — Two Worlds (April 3)
Butte — The World is Green and I Always Forget (April 10)
Audrey LeCrone — The Uptown Divorcee (April 10)
Renee Gros — Glad I’m Wrong (April 10)
Johnette Downing & Nathan Williams — My Little Snap Bean: Zydeco for Kids (April 10)
Odd the Artist — Mothership (April 14)
Kai de Lua — Feel the Bass (April 15)
Aurora Nealand & Inquiry Quintet — Songs My Others Taught Me (April 17)
Avery Island BCE — Dom Pump (April 20)
People Museum — Dusk, A Ballet (April 23)
Silver Lining Serenaders — Breezing Along with the Breeze (April 23)
Bad Operation — Everything Must Go (April 24)
Kiki Cavazos — Goodbye Blues (April 24)
Mike Clement — Polka Dots and Ray Bans (April 24)
Kristin Diable — Impossible Things (April 24)
HaSizzle — Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 (April 24)
Pope — BFM (April 30)
May
Robin Barnes — Louisiana Love (May 1)
The Breaks — Self-titled (May 1)
Gabrielle Cavassa — Diavola (May 1)
The Nth Power — Never Alone (May 1)
Subtweet Shawn — 1-800-Praise God (May 1)
Warm Advice — Self-titled (May 6)
Chalant — Another One (May 9)
Lower Class — Choppa City Hardcore (May 14)
Tank and the Bangas — The Last Balloon (May 15)
Sari Jordan — Perfect Be the Enemy (May 15)
Amanda Shaw — Rhythm of My Roots (May 15)
Ghalia Volt — Burn the House Down (May 15)
Aubrey Jane — Starshiner (May 15)
Steef — Reality = Hell (May 15)
Mark Appleford — Catfish (May 15)
The Deslondes — Don’t Let It Die, Vol. 1 (May 22)
Thomas Dollbaum — Birds of Paradise (May 22)
Cimafunk & La Tribu — Te Toca (May 22)
Daphne Parker Powell — The Death of Cool (May 22)
Gitkin — When the South Wind Wails (May 22)
Allen Toussaint — Songbook [Deluxe Edition] (May 29)
Minos the Saint — Last Island Fire (May 29)
Jermaine from the South — Lalézon EP (May 29)
Cyril Neville — Don’t Wait Until I’m Gone (May 29)
Omari Neville & The Fuel — Voo Doo (May 29)
June
Dreux Gerard — 4 (June 4)
Keaton Schiller — The House That I Built (June 5)
Gina Leslie — I love you always no matter what happens (June 5)
Shidded — That’s Fair (June 9)
Saint Mercedes — Wisdoms (June 10)
Vorhex Angel — Drain (June 12)
Alfred Banks — YesterMonth (June 12)
Samantha Fish — Paper Doll Live (June 12)
Various Artists — A New Orleans Songwriter Protest Compilation (June 12)
Big Freedia & Sophie — Self-titled (June 19)
July
The Revivalists — Get It Honest (July 24)
Nicholas Payton & Butcher Brown — A Supreme Blue (July 24)
August
Clover Valley Boys — Self-titled (Aug. 21)
Charlie & the Tropicales — New Orleans ’26 (Aug. 26)
Upcoming
Dusky Waters — Mother Magnolia
Camiam — One of a Kind
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nola.com ’
