Barnesy Teases New Album

Nobody has more ticker than Australian rocker Jimmy Barnes, even after undergoing open-heart surgery mere months ago. 

The singer took to his socials yesterday (18th April) to tease that new music was already in the works alongside longtime producer partner Kevin ‘The Caveman’ Shirley. Jimmy posted a photo of himself midway through belting into a recording microphone, captioned with the following: 

“Spent the day in ‘The Cave’ with producer extraordinaire and good friend Kevin ‘Caveman’ Shirley. We’re working on a new record. I’m inspired.”

Shirley posted a similar update to his Instagram, revealing that Barnes had been working on songs 11 and 12 from the new album, suggesting that most of the recording for the project is already completed. 

The forthcoming LP will follow Barnes’ 20th album, the festive Blue Christmas, released in November 2022. Speaking about the album in a The Music cover story, he quipped, “There is something funny about me singing Silent Night.

“It was great for me to do that, to not just go back to my default setting, which is to tear the paint off the walls – or the decorations off the tree. I had to think a lot more about what I was singing.

It appears that Barnes’ health scare has jumpstarted the artist with a new lease on life, springing back into action following open-heart surgery for a valve replacement in December. Two crucial months of recovery helped Barnes heal from a staph infection that had spread rapidly to his heart, causing vulnerability for one of his heart valves that had been replaced prior due to a congenital defect. 

While his slot on the Red Hot Summer Tour was retired, he returned to a stage sometime soon after with his first post-operative performance at Byron Bay’s Bluesfest.

At Bluesfest, Barnesy paid tribute to the 30th anniversary of his album Flesh And Wood. 

“Every day, I’m getting stronger. Every day, I’m pushing myself a little bit further,” Barnes said in an interview earlier this year. 

While Barnsey’s posts to social media provide the first pieces of information about the new record, we hope to hear more soon, and perhaps there will be new music to share by Barnes’ Hell Of A Time Tour in July.

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