Diamond Rio have dated a new four-song EP, America Works, for 13 November through Rio Records 2.0 and One Riot Records. MusicRow reports that the title track came out last week, and that its video world premieres tonight on Country Music Today, a Heartland Network programme.
The song was written by the band's own Jimmy Olander with Jeffrey East, and it is about service and small acts of selflessness rather than flag-waving. The video was filmed in part at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with military personnel in it alongside the band's families, friends and crew. "Other than a few soldiers at Fort Campbell, every cast member in the video is connected to us personally," Olander said, adding that it made the whole thing feel meaningful.
The second song out of the EP is Other Side of The World, due on 16 October, and its origin is domestic rather than national. Olander wrote it with Marty Roe and Heather Morgan after Roe watched his eldest daughter move to Australia to study music at Hillsong College. Olander described the writing session as an attempt to capture Roe's pride and heartbreak, and said things got emotional more than once.
That song also marks a first for a band that has been going since the 1980s: Carson McKee takes a lead vocal, singing it as a duet with Roe. McKee described cutting it while homesick, and said a line in his verse, "I miss you Dad like you'll never know," took repeated takes because he could not get through it without crying.
The rest of the EP is short and deliberate. Pink Guitar, written by Olander with Hayley McLean and Josh Shilling, also puts McKee out front. The Kick, an Olander instrumental already released, closes the set. A four-track record with two lead vocals from a new member reads like a band introducing a change rather than papering over one.
Diamond Rio have been collecting certifications at the same time. The RIAA recently certified Meet in the Middle double platinum, with Beautiful Mess and One More Day both reaching platinum, which is the kind of paperwork that follows a catalogue thirty years after the fact once streaming is counted in. Veteran country acts have been doing well out of that arithmetic lately, as when Alan Jackson collected an RIAA certification in Nashville.
What makes this release worth watching is that it is not a legacy exercise. A working band with a new singer, a new imprint and four songs written in the room is a different proposition from a hits reissue. Our release calendar carries the November date, and the country hub has the rest of the week's Nashville news.
The facts
- Diamond Rio release the four-song EP America Works on 13 November 2026.
- It comes out through Rio Records 2.0 and One Riot Records.
- The title track was written by Jimmy Olander and Jeffrey East.
- Its video was filmed partly at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, with military personnel.
- Other Side of The World arrives on 16 October.
- That song is the band's first with Carson McKee on a lead vocal.
- Marty Roe co-wrote it after his eldest daughter moved to Australia to study music.
- The RIAA has certified Meet in the Middle double platinum.
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