Not all of the best new music that emerged over the weekend was strictly new.
We were given a glimpse at a long-lost album that is finally set to be released by one of America's best known artists, while one of the country's finest blues singers delivered her taken on an 80-year-old song.
But there was plenty of fresh material too, from comeback singles to protest anthems.
Here's the new music you might have missed in the past few days.
Neil Young — Vacancy
Back in 1975, Neil Young recorded an album’s worth of music that never saw the light of day. Now, all these years later, we get to hear it — Homegrown is out later this week, and this rollicking track is the latest taste of what’s to come.
Tom Walker — Wait for You
Tom Walker, who won the 2019 BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act, is back with new music for the first time in more than a year. Talking about the track after its release, Walker said: “We can all go through tough times; it’s what you choose to do after that’s important. If something positive can come out of it, that’s a really special thing.”
Toots and the Maytals — Got To Be Tough
Reggae icons Toots and the Maytals will drop their first new album in a decade in August. They’ve given us an idea of what to expect with this, the defiant title track — a cover of Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds is also set to feature.
Bettye LaVette — Strange Fruit
Blues Hall of Fame inductee Bettye LaVette has shared this simmering cover of Strange Fruit, the song made popular by Billie Holiday back in the 30s. The release of the song, whose lyrics protest the lynching of black Americans, was brought forward to coincide with the ongoing Black Lives Matter protests in the States.
T-Pain — Get Up
Another of the artists to release new music in response to the protests, T-Pain has delivered this motivational anthem Get Up. Check out the video, which opens with an excerpt from an impassioned Malcolm X speech. Proceeds from the track’s streaming revenues will go to the Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice Network.
