Dave Stewart Announces New Album For September Release

 

Dave Stewart — the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Songwriter Hall of Famer, Eurythmics co-founder, producer, and acclaimed songwriter — has announced a new album called The Way It Was Back Then. Written, performed, and produced entirely by Stewart, the 10-song collection arrives on Friday, September 18, via Bay Street Records as a limited, physical-only release on CD and vinyl, just days after his birthday. 

Pre-order The Way It Was Back Then

Recorded at Stardust in the Bahamas, The Way It Was Back Then was built around spontaneous, one-take performances. With no lyrics written down beforehand, Stewart sang, played guitar, and improvised melodies in real time — handling vocals, guitar, keyboard, and programming — while his longtime engineer and collaborator Jesse Samler played bass, drums, keyboard, and programming alongside him (Samler also handled the album's layout). The two of them then built out the rest of each song together and mixed the record themselves. The result is an intimate, unfiltered album about memory, survival, love, loss, loyalty, and betrayal — and the strange feeling of still being here after all of it.

Dave Stewart: "I wasn’t aware that I was making an album — in-between the various things happening in my life — some I instigated, and some just happenstance. I started to record myself singing songs at the same time as playing guitar. In almost every song, I didn’t write down any lyrics — I just sang the words at the same time as singing the melodies and playing the chords, kind of freeform. Luckily, my engineer and good pal Jesse can play the drums and bass real well, so it’s only the two of us playing everything! The whole album is very spontaneous in its lyrics and music. I have used this method on various solo albums, but usually that was with a programmer or a full band playing, but this time it was a lot more intimate.

"There is a lot of looking back, and I suppose everyone goes through this at different times in their life... especially at my age, but this is not looking back in a soft nostalgic way. These songs are about memory, survival, love, loss, damage, loyalty, betrayal, and the strange feeling of still being here after all of it. All of this spewed out, as I said, with no lyrics written down, straight off the top of my head in one take — so I’m not sure how I did it, and as usual, have to work out later what chords I was playing and learn the melodies that I sang at the time. On listening and reading the lyrics now, I realize there are songs about old friends, parents, heartbreak, the streets, courtrooms, and so many ghosts of people and places that never really left me.

"At the center of the album, I suppose there is a deep longing for connection, but there is also the truth that nothing ever works out the way it did back then, hence the title. The past can be beautiful, but it can also be dangerous. A name, a voice, a house, a photograph — any of it can open my heart and break it at the same time.

"Some of the songs are very personal and rooted in where I came from. For me, the feeling of this album is bittersweet, cinematic, and human. The Way It Was Back Then is not really about trying to go back...it’s about finally facing what was there."

The new album follows Dave Does Dylan, Stewart's 14-song homage to Bob Dylan, which arrived as a limited-edition, Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl release via Surfdog Records in 2025. Featuring just Stewart on vocals and guitar recorded in live, unedited takes, the album found him performing inspired renditions of Dylan songs he has adored since childhood — a project Dylan himself praised, calling Stewart “a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order.” Aired live via PBS and YouTube, Stewart honored Bob Dylan with an intimate stripped down performance of Dave Does Dylan. Watch season two of Dave Does Dylan Recorded Live at Analog below.