Sara Bareilles is back, and she brought the kind of album that only comes from living through something real. The Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has announced Good Grief, her seventh studio album and first since 2019’s Amidst the Chaos, arriving August 28 via Epic Records. A fall tour follows.
The 14-track album was primarily recorded over six days at Dreamland Recording Studios in Woodstock, New York, alongside longtime collaborators drummer Charley Drayton, guitarist Butterfly Boucher, and bassist Solomon Dorsey. Additional sessions took place with co-producer Aaron Dessner at Long Pond Studios in the Hudson Valley. The record also features contributions from Brandi Carlile, Ingrid Michaelson, and the late poet and activist Andrea Gibson.
“This whole collection of songs felt like transmissions rather than a deliberate attempt to make sense of the world,” Bareilles said in a statement. “My deepest hope is that Good Grief provides some kind of comfort or catharsis.”
The lead single “Home,” which opens the album, was inspired by a conversation Bareilles heard between Stephen Colbert and Anderson Cooper about grief and loss. A documentary of the same name, directed by Josh Alexander, premiered at the Tribeca Festival on June 4.
The Good Grief Tour opens September 9 in Boston and makes stops at Radio City Music Hall, Fox Theatre, Chicago Theatre, and more before wrapping on the West Coast in October.
