Lydia Loveless to Release ACCOLADES EP, Tour Fall 2026

Lydia Loveless announced their new EP Accolades will be released on October 30, 2026, via Bloodshot Records. They've also shared the title track, a laidback rocker about centering oneself in the clamorous present-day (the EP also features a second, more spare version of the song).

'I think for me the heart of 'Accolades' is trying to return to a place of quiet observation and meditation, the deep dark hole being more a place to sit and think about motivation for doing things as opposed to a place to wallow,' Loveless explains of the song, out now alongside a Katie Harriman-directed video. 'Of course there's some nostalgia in there too, not for the good old days exactly but for a sense of self.'

The Accolades EP–engineered and co-produced by Matt Ross-Spang (Margo Price, Dr. Dog, Jason Isbell)–is now available for preorder.

Following a stop at AMERICANAFEST last week, Loveless has a number of shows coming up this fall, including two dates with Ha Ha Tonka in November.

Pigeonhole Loveless at your peril. Over the course of seven studio albums, the Columbus, Ohio-based singer-songwriter has become known for wry, observant lyrics that don't sugarcoat the realities of everyday life. Although frequently associated with the Americana scene thanks to early Bloodshot Records albums such as 2013's Boy Crazy, their catalog is much more expansive: 2023's full-length Nothing's Gonna Stand In My Way Again boasts sturdy songcraft that defies categorization, while 2024's Something Else featured piano versions of the songs on their critically acclaimed 2014 country/pop/rock breakthrough Somewhere Else. Throughout 2025, Loveless released a song a month on Bandcamp, challenging themself to be prolific and productive. Several of those appear on Accolades, which is signature Loveless: a deeply personal meditation on relationships, the music business and navigating the modern world, conveyed via a mix of dark humor, blunt assessments and the occasional sliver of light.

Musically, the collection again detonates any expectations, encompassing '90s alternative rock (the Liz Phair-esque 'Oklahoma') and muscular bar-band anthems (the Farfisa organ-augmented 'What We Learned'), as well as more stripped-down fare. Accolades nods to the sound of Loveless' earlier work, albeit from the perspective of someone with more life experience. 'I do feel like there is a very Americana sense to it as much as there isn't,' Loveless says with a laugh. 'I was really inspired by Tom Petty on a lot of these songs, where I wanted to give them space to breathe, like I feel like a lot of his songs do, and focus more on telling stories than dumping my life on everyone.'

They recorded Accolades at Southern Grooves in Memphis with Ross-Spang, and were particularly excited that he hired ace local Memphis session players who had played with legends such as Isaac Hayes. Woodwinds such as flute and clarinet add subtle orchestral glamour to the easygoing torch song 'Avoiding Highways,' while velvety horns give 'Let Me Get My Hopes Up' a soulful touch. 'I've never had the instrumentation that I had access to in Memphis, where we could just get people to come in and put woodwinds on a song and elevate it to a totally different place,' Loveless says. 'Those songs are very different for me. I let someone else take the reins a little more than I normally would.'

Accolades is bookended by the two different versions of the title track, and Loveless says the song 'felt like the centerpiece' of the record in the way it touched on the messy noise of modern living. 'Anyone can get on the internet and voice their opinion—until it's everyone's opinion piled on top of each other, of everyone saying the same thing and having the same stupid hot take. Myself included,' they say. 'I miss the mental quiet that came before we all knew what everyone was thinking all the time.' Although Accolades doesn't necessarily come up with any answers to these thorny situations, the EP does emphasize that all of us are in this challenging world together. 'I really feel at home in these songs,' Loveless says. 'I stopped trying to make any stylistic choice and just served each song. It didn't feel like I was trying to craft this long, cohesive narrative. I just allowed myself to enjoy making music with my band.'

Accolades EP Track List

1. Accolades

2. Avoiding Highways

3. Let Me Get My Hopes Up

4. Oklahoma

5. What We Learned

6. Accolades Reprise

Lydia Loveless Live

09/28 - Wilmington, OH - Songs at the Center (Murphy Theatre)

10/10 - Columbus, OH - Urban Scrawl Festival

10/18 - Northport, AL - Kentuck Arts Center

11/27 - St. Louis, MO - Off Broadway*

11/28 - Berwyn, IL - Fitzgerald's*

* with Ha Ha Tonka

Photo Credit: Chad Cochran Accolades