Grammy nominated guitar-slinger, troublemaker, raconteur, producer, and Georgia boy Butch Walker announced today his 8th studio album Stay Gold, to be released on August 26 via Dangerbird Records. The album is available for pre-order now on iTunes or on CD & vinyl from Butch Walker’s webstore. In addition, Walker will set out on a North American tour with openers The Wind and The Wave and Suzanne Santos kicking off on August 17th at Orlando’s The Social. Tickets will be on-sale beginning Friday, June 10th at 10am local time

The stories on Stay Gold are very well fleshed out, something Butch credits to “growing up on some of those dudes – Elton John and the (Bernie) Taupin lyrics, Springsteen and Joel.” It kicks off with the title song, a straight-ahead rocker, loaded with swagger and lyrics that call out native GA locales featuring a nod to the S.E. Hinton novel (and later, a Coppola film), The Outsiders. The lead single “East Coast Girl” and “Mexican Coke” are inspired by Walker’s move to Los Angeles, the former effectively combining an anthemic chorus with spoken verses, recorded conversationally on an iPhone. The writerly eye for detail is apparent in one of Stay Gold‘s standout tracks, “Wilder In The Heart”, describing an airport meeting with a girlfriend.

The album also includes “Descending”, a beautiful, decidedly tender duet with country singer Ashley Monroe about survival and staying on the course of love. Overall, Stay Gold is clearly Walker’s most articulate to date. When asked if the stories are real or imagined, he replies, “All the songs are half true.”