The Cold Chisel songwriter returns with his fifth solo record in August, backed by a five-date national run.
Don Walker has announced Love Songs, his fifth solo album, arriving on 7 August through MGM Distribution.
Love Songs spans nine tracks, with lead single Let’s All Get Together already available on streaming platforms. The record brings together Walker’s piano-led songwriting with layered arrangements of guitars, pedal steel, horns and harmonies, featuring a stacked roster of collaborators including guitarist Shannon Bourne, pedal steel player Garrett Costigan, bassist Michael Vidale and drummer Hamish Stuart.
Among the album’s most intriguing recordings is Could You Still Be Here, an intimate track captured straight to DAT in Walker’s basement around the turn of the century. Two additional tracks, Luck and Fly Away, were laid down at Electric Avenue Studios in Pyrmont in 2022 with the late Roy Payne on guitar.
Don Walker Love Songs Album Tour
- 16 October — Memo Music Hall, Melbourne VIC
- 17 October — Eureka Hotel, Geelong VIC
- 24 October — Factory Theatre, Sydney NSW
- 30 October — Imperial Hotel, Eumundi QLD
- 31 October — Old Museum, Brisbane QLD
Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around Melbourne here.
The remaining tracks were recorded by Finn Keane at Head Gap Studios across 2023 and 2024, with overdubs added at Newmarket Studios in North Melbourne, Deluxe Studios in Brunswick and Oceanic Studios in Brookvale. Kevin Shirley mixed the album at The Cave at Ocean Way in Nashville, while mastering was handled at Waygate Mastering in Portland, Maine.
Walker assembled a wide cast of musicians across the record. Mark Punch contributes guitar and backing vocals, Charlie Owen plays lapsteel on Deeper Light, Juanita Tippins sings backing vocals on Luck, and Sam Lemann adds guitar and mandolin to Darwin. A horn section featuring Michael Fraser, Gianni Marinucci, David Palmer and Paul Williamson anchors the album’s opener, with the Harmonettes providing vocals throughout.
Support across all dates comes from Jimmy Dowling, a songwriter who blends jazz-inflected sensibilities with stripped-back song structures and a sharp ear for lyrical detail.
Love Songs is available for pre-order on 180g vinyl, CD, digital and bundles at donwalker.com.au/store, with a limited-edition album t-shirt available exclusively through pre-order bundles. Tickets go on sale from 9am local time on 7 May via donwalker.com.au/live.
For more information, head here.
