Today, Texas-via-Oklahoma band Jason Boland & The Stragglers released “Take Me Back To Austin,” the final pre-release single ahead of their new album The Last Kings of Babylon, out March 14 via Thirty Tigers. The breezy single celebrates his adopted home of Austin, TX – his favorite place to return to from the road and where he first met his wife. The Last Kings of Babylon marks a full circle moment for the band as they reunite with legendary producer Lloyd Maines, who produced the band’s debut album Pearl Snaps.
“My wife and I lived in Austin when we first got together, and then we moved out into the country in Texas, where it can be pretty boring,” Boland explains. “People expect with how much time I spend on the road that I’d want to come home and kick my shoes off when I finally get a break, but all we ever want to do is head right back into Austin and catch a band.”
“Take Me Back To Austin” follows the release of “High Time” and “Drive,” which was featured in American Songwriter, Country Central, Whiskey Riff and All Country News who proclaimed, “This balance of sorrow and resilience is what makes Boland’s artistry so compelling.”
Jason Boland & The Stragglers will embark on a 2025 album release tour that kicks off on March 14 in Waco, TX and culminates with four sold-out “The Boys of Oklahoma” stadium shows from April 10-14 at Boone Pickens Stadium in Stillwater, OK alongside Cross Canadian Ragweed, Turnpike Troubadours, The Great Divide and Stoney LaRue. Find a full list of tour dates below or visit their website.
The announcement of The Last Kings of Babylon arrives on the heels of the band’s 25th anniversary. A quarter of a century ago, Boland and his Stragglers cemented themselves in the alt-country and Red Dirt scenes with the release of their 1999 breakthrough Pearl Snaps. Hailed by the New York Times as “one of the country scene’s most multidimensional songwriters,” Boland would go on to sell more than half a million albums and collaborate with Shooter Jennings and Robert Earl Keen over the course of his career.
In 2024 alone, Boland and his band mounted a 30-date anniversary tour, released a live album Live From Cain’s Ballroom, and cemented their status as one of the pillars of the Red Dirt movement with “The Boys of Oklahoma” concerts which have sold over 180,000 tickets.
The Last Kings of Babylon tracklist:
1) Next To Last Hank Williams
2) Truest Colors
3) Drive
4) Take Me Back To Austin
5) High Time
6) One Law At A Time
7) Ain’t No Justice
8) Farmall
9) Irish Goodbye
10) Buffalo Return To The Plains
Tour Dates:
2/15 – Yantis, TX – Neon Moon Restaurant and Social Club
2/22 – Fredericksburg, TX – Luckenbach Texas
3/14 – Waco, TX – The Backyard Bar Stage and Grill
3/15 – Dallas, TX – The Kessler
3/20 – Austin, TX – 3Ten ACL Live
3/21 – Lubbock, TX – Cactus Theater
3/22 – Roswell, NM – The Liberty, Inc
3/28 – Springfield, MO – Midnight Rodeo
3/29 – Indianapolis, IN – Hi-Fi Indy
3/31 – Detroit, MI – El Club
4/1 – Evanston, IL – SPACE
4/2 – Bloomington, IN – Castle Theatre
4/3 – Lincoln, NE – Bourbon Theatre
4/4 – Kansas City, MO – Knuckleheads
4/5 – Fort Smith, AR – The Majestic
4/10 – Stillwater, OK – Boone Pickens Stadium
4/11 – Stillwater, OK – Boone Pickens Stadium
4/12 – Stillwater, OK – Boone Pickens Stadium
4/13 – Stillwater, OK – Boone Pickens Stadium
5/10 – Tyler, TX – East Texas State Fair - Tyler BBQ & Music Festival
5/17 – Crystal Beach, TX – Camp Margaritaville RV Resort Crystal Beach
