originally published: 05/15/2026
Photo by Danny Clinch
Brian Fallon has announced the premiere of two brand new tracks, "Not Bad For New Jersey" and "Better Before," both available everywhere now via his own Lesser Known Records.
Fallon’s first original solo music in more than five years, both new songs see the veteran rocker summoning up a frenetic collision of power pop and heartland rock, the perfect sonic counterpart to the hot-blooded sincerity that has driven his songwriting for close to three decades.
Produced by longtime collaborator Butch Walker (Green Day, Jesse Malin, Taylor Swift) at Walker’s studio just outside Nashville, “Better Before” – co-written with his close friend, Juno Award-winning singer-songwriter Donovan Woods – relates a tortured portrait of unraveling romance, while “Not Bad For New Jersey” serves as a gloriously ragged homage to Fallon’s beloved home state and all the grit it instilled in him.
“‘Not Bad for New Jersey’ is my way of celebrating what I do and where I’m from,” says Brian Fallon. “I wrote that song looking back on my life the way you do after almost ending up in a crash – like, ‘How did I make it through that?’ I really could’ve busted myself open somewhere along the way, but somehow I’m still here, and I’m still in one piece.”
Fallon – backed by his band, The Painkillers – will mark the arrival of his new music with a very special series of intimate live performances, beginning June 14 at Asbury Park, NJ’s world renowned The Stone Pony and then visiting Nashville, TN’s The Basement (June 16), West Hollywood, CA’s historic Troubadour (June 20), and Chicago, IL’s Reggies’ Rock Club (June 22). Limited tickets for all four dates go on sale this Friday, May 15.
In addition, Fallon will join Bruce Springsteen and a stellar lineup including Rosanne Cash, Kenny Chesney, and more for Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us – Celebrating 250 Years of American Music, a once-in-a-lifetime concert event set for June 4 at West Long Branch, NJ’s OceanFirst Bank Center on the campus of Monmouth University, just prior to the grand opening of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University on June 7. The sold-out event will feature Fallon and his fellow artists performing landmark songs from American music history, commemorating both America’s semiquincentennial and the Springsteen Center’s long-awaited grand opening.
Brian Fallon is known far and wide for his elemental gifts as a songwriter, musician, and storyteller, including four acclaimed solo albums and his role as founding member and frontman of The Gaslight Anthem. Over the course of nearly three decades, the New Jersey-based artist has crafted a constantly evolving body of work, booming with insistent imagery, defiant romanticism, and an extraordinary emotional acuity that has marked all variations of his music from the very start. 2023 saw The Gaslight Anthem return from a long hiatus with History Books, their sixth full-length album and first new studio LP in nine years. The much-beloved band marked the acclaimed album with an epic tour schedule that saw sold-out headline dates and show-stopping festival performances around the world, confirming their ongoing place among the top ranks of American rock ‘n’ roll bands.
BRIAN FALLON - LIVE 2026
JUNE
4 – West Long Branch, NJ - OceanFirst Bank Center @ Monmouth University *
14 – Asbury Park, NJ – The Stone Pony
16 – Nashville, TN – The Basement
20 – West Hollywood, CA – Troubadour
22 – Chicago, IL – Reggies’ Rock Club
* Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us – Celebrating 250 Years of American Music
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