Big Thief surprised fans at a recent Nashville gig by previewing their next album in full – check out the details below.
The New York indie-folk trio released their sixth record, ‘Double Infinity,’ last year, and soon after its release, revealed they had already made their next studio album, telling fans it is “not what you expect”.
In fittingly surprising fashion, they debuted their next album at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium on Saturday night (August 22). Titled ‘Horsepower’, it’s a triple album and features Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch, and Iris DeMent, all of whom joined the trio onstage.
Adrianne Lenker, Buck Meek, and James Krivchenia were also joined onstage by the wider band who worked on its creation, with Russ Pahl and Greg Leisz on pedal steel and guitar, and Hannah Read, Richard Bowden, and Zosha Warpeha on fiddle.
At the gig, Lenker explained that the record was made in Nashville last May, telling the crowd that while it would be played in its entirety, it would not be in sequence, per Rolling Stone.
went to see big thief at The Rymen in Nashville and they surprised us by playing their new album in full pic.twitter.com/jq1NMCYpEM
— bingus (@biggestdingus) August 23, 2026
“If you had some hopes of hearing some of the songs you might know, those could be discarded,” Lenker said, explaining there would be two sets with an intermission in the middle. “But if you’re all open to it, it could be a really unique night of music.”
Though the band didn’t name all of the 29 songs that will appear on ‘Horsepower, many are not completely new to fans. Songs including like the title track, ‘Happiness’, ‘Baby Honey Sweet Darlin’, ‘Spatchcock Chickenshit Bingo’, and ‘Muscle Memory’ have been performed live onstage before, while ‘Sadness Is a Gift’, was previously recorded on Lenker’s solo album, ‘Bright Future’.
There were multiple cameras documenting the entire night for a concert film to be aired at a later date, but those details are yet to be revealed. Similarly, it’s not yet been revealed when the album will be released – although fans who attended the show took to Reddit to say “spring 2027” was mentioned.
Filming was prohibited at the show, but you can check out a set list from the evening below.
Big Thief at the Ryman Auditorium played:
‘Horsepower’
‘Baby Honey Sweetheart Darlin’
‘Wait a While’
‘Space and Time’
’21’
‘Casual Touch’
‘Muscle Memory’
‘Highway’
‘Stay’
‘Carry’
‘Sadness as a Gift’
‘True Love’
‘Where Will We Go’
‘Beautiful World’
‘Faker’
‘Loneliest Boy’
‘Happiness’
‘Oldest’
‘Bright Future’
‘Beautiful Powerful’
‘Avalanche, Hurricane’
‘Snail’
‘Spatchcock Chickenshit Bingo’
‘Trade Tomorrow’
‘6-7-8-9 She’s Fine’
‘These Are the Days’
‘No Matter What’
‘Born For Loving You’
‘Gift Pleasure Joy’
At the end of 2025, the band’s latest album, and their first as a trio, ‘Double Infinity’ was placed as Number 26 on NME’s list of Best Albums of the Year.
“Big Thief have earned the right to do whatever they want, which on ‘Double Infinity’ meant assembling 13 musicians, all playing live,” the entry read. “In true Big Thief fashion, the results sound mystical, joyful and intuitive. Whether they start a song with a giggling fit or end it by abandoning language, the playfulness is palpable, even on their most moving material yet.”
Speaking to NME last year, the trio addressed parting ways with their original bassist, Max Oleartchik due to “interpersonal reasons”.
“We won’t go into it because they are just very personal, and I don’t think it would serve anyone to publicise those personal reasons,” Lenker explained. “It was hard, and there’s a lot of grief in it, because it was a partnership, in a real, very deep way. It was 10 years of living together and doing everything together, and then it was a really difficult breakup.
“It was really hard to go through that transition, but ultimately, I think it’s better for both of us.”
The band went on to open up about the experience of readjusting to their new dynamic as a three-piece.
“Figuring out what the triangle was, after we broke up with Max, I feel, is such a big part of the ‘Double Infinity’ sound,” said Krivchenia. “And it’s also why we duffed it a couple times, too – I think just because we were learning. When we did a session as a trio, still pretty far after the breakup, we were like, ‘This will be great, right?’”