Brian Fallon is back — and he sounds like a man who has been holding his breath for half a decade. The Gaslight Anthem frontman has officially dropped two brand-new solo songs, “Not Bad For New Jersey” and “Better Before,” out everywhere today via his own Lesser Known Records. It’s his first original solo material in more than five years, and if you were worried the time away dulled his edges, rest easy. The grit is still very much intact.

Produced by longtime collaborator Butch Walker (Green Day, Jesse Malin, Taylor Swift) at his studio just outside Nashville, the two tracks find Fallon colliding power pop hooks with the heartland rock romanticism that has been his calling card for nearly three decades. “Better Before,” co-written with Juno Award-winning songwriter Donovan Woods, is a bruised and brittle portrait of a relationship coming apart at the seams. “Not Bad For New Jersey,” meanwhile, is exactly the kind of love letter to the Garden State that only someone shaped by its boardwalks and backroads could write.

“‘Not Bad for New Jersey’ is my way of celebrating what I do and where I’m from,” Fallon explains. “I wrote that song looking back on my life the way you do after almost ending up in a crash — like, ‘How did I make it through that?’ I really could’ve busted myself open somewhere along the way, but somehow I’m still here, and I’m still in one piece.”

Stream both tracks here: https://open.spotify.com/search/Brian%20Fallon%20Not%20Bad%20For%20New%20Jersey

To celebrate the new music, Fallon and his band The Painkillers are launching a tight run of intimate live shows that any longtime fan should be scrambling to grab tickets for. The mini-tour kicks off June 14 at Asbury Park’s hallowed Stone Pony before heading to Nashville’s The Basement (June 16), the legendary Troubadour in West Hollywood (June 20), and Chicago’s Reggies’ Rock Club (June 22). Limited tickets go on sale Friday, May 15 — so set a reminder, because these rooms are small and the demand will not be.

Before all that, Fallon will share a once-in-a-lifetime stage on June 4 at Monmouth University’s OceanFirst Bank Center for Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us – Celebrating 250 Years of American Music. He joins Bruce Springsteen, Rosanne Cash, Kenny Chesney, and more for the sold-out event commemorating America’s semiquincentennial and the grand opening of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music on June 7.

BRIAN FALLON — LIVE 2026
June 4 — West Long Branch, NJ — OceanFirst Bank Center @ Monmouth University (Music America)
June 14 — Asbury Park, NJ — The Stone Pony
June 16 — Nashville, TN — The Basement
June 20 — West Hollywood, CA — Troubadour
June 22 — Chicago, IL — Reggies’ Rock Club

Five years is a long time to wait, but on the evidence of these two songs, Fallon hasn’t lost a single step. Press play, then go get a ticket while you still can.