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Legendary singer-songwriter Rodney Crowell is set to release his new album Airline Highway on August 29, 2025, via New West Records. Produced by guitar virtuoso Tyler Bryant and mixed by Grammy-winner Trina Shoemaker, the 10-track collection was recorded in the heart of New Orleans, crackling with the vibrant energy of the Crescent City. The album is a natural evolution from his Grammy-nominated The Chicago Sessions, and finds Crowell in fine form—reflective, fearless, and fired-up.
Airline Highway showcases Crowell’s timeless songwriting alongside of some great country and roots artists. Lukas Nelson co-writes and lends his voice to the sun-drenched opener “Rainy Days in California,” Ashley McBryde teams up on the emotional gut-punch “Taking Flight,” (listen above) Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke trades vocals on “Heaven Can You Help,” and the Lovell sisters of Larkin Poe add harmony and their signature slide guitar throughout.
“This record is a document of me falling in love with these musicians,” Crowell shares. “We caught that on tape.” That chemistry is evident in tracks like “The Twenty-One Song Salute (Owed to G.G. Shinn and Cléoma Falcon).” The track, laced with nods to Louisiana legends and 21 different songs, is a sonic love letter to Crowell’s earliest musical influences in the Texas-Louisiana borderlands.
With a career that’s spanned more than five decades and includes 15 #1 hits, two GRAMMY Awards, and songs cut by everyone from Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson to Keith Urban and Etta James, Crowell remains creatively restless. “At this point, my ambition isn’t to be a household name,” he says. “It’s to be satisfied with the work I do. I’m at a place where it really is about having fun.”
The album’s roots run deep. Crowell and Bryant holed up with a band of ace players at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana, recording with spontaneity and soul. The result is an album that captures the heat, humidity, and heart of the region, tapping into the swamp-pop spirit that first inspired Crowell as a young man sneaking across the Texas border to hear The Boogie Kings live.
Crowell will support Airline Highway with a fall tour beginning October 1st. He’ll also make multiple appearances at this year’s Americanafest in Nashville from September 9-13. Special guests include The Secret Sisters, Thomas Csorba, and William Elliott Whitmore.
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