Big Thief debuted a new triple album, Horsepower, in the most unusual way possible: performing all 29 songs live, in full, before the record has an official release date.
The band played the album Sunday night at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, joined onstage by Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent. Introducing the set, singer Adrianne Lenker joked to the crowd, "If you had some hopes of hearing some of the songs you might know, those can be discarded."
Big Thief didn't play Horsepower in its intended sequence, but got through the whole thing, backed by an expanded lineup that included Russ Pahl and Greg Leisz on pedal steel and guitar, and Hannah Read, Richard Bowden and Zosha Warpeha on fiddle.
Some of the songs have circulated for years in the band's live sets and Lenker's solo shows. Two of them, "Carry" and "Space and Time," were previously debuted back in May during a session recorded in a field for Belgium's Radio 1.
Horsepower follows Double Infinity, Big Thief's 2025 album and first as a trio. The band resumes touring behind that record next month, playing dates across North America before closing the run at Denver's Red Rocks on October 6.
The facts
- Triple album Horsepower debuted live in full at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium
- 29 songs performed, with guests Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Iris DeMent
- Extended band included pedal steel, guitar and three fiddle players
- 'Carry' and 'Space and Time' were first played in May for Belgium's Radio 1
- Follows 2025's Double Infinity, Big Thief's first album as a trio
- Forthcoming album titled Horsepower
- Described as a triple album
- Previewed at two surprise Ryman Auditorium shows
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