“We’re All Just Trying To Get By” was written during “the dark depths of lockdown” but looks at the positives of being human and our need to survive. The song is an achingly beautiful ballad and a classy curtain-raiser to his upcoming album. There is a dreamy pop feel with a sweeping widescreen melody combined with a profound and uplifting message. Listen to his latest track below.

The Queen drummer said of the track “I tried to highlight the great things in life. It’s the simplest statement really. It’s what every life force on Earth is doing: just trying to get by and proliferate and exist. That’s all we are trying to do, from plants to animals to humans, trying to survive. For all our troubles and everything, every sort of life is all just trying to get by. Also, of course, we are in the middle of a bloody pandemic… I mean, even the coronavirus is just trying to get by too!”

He then added of Tunstall’s involvement “The track was all finished and it was suggested it might be nice if we got KT involved. I love what she did, I think it really adds to the track. And she’s very clever. I think people forget that she was really the pioneer as far as I know of looping, the looping technique which obviously Ed Sheeran is brilliant at and has made very popular. But I remember her doing it, what, 15 years ago? Fantastic. She’s a very talented singer and musician and it’s lovely to have her on the track. It’s a very nice partnership.”

Tunstall was all too glad to be a part of the song “It was the coolest surprise Roger getting in touch during lockdown and asking me to lend my vocals to this great and meaningful song. What a pleasure to work with such a brilliant writer and musical hero.”

Outsider will be released on October 1 on the following formats: 1LP 180g Black Vinyl, 1LP 180g Transparent Blue Colour Vinyl, 1x Transparent Blue Colour Cassette, 1CD, Digital Download and streaming. You can Pre-order here.

Taylor is also is set to play cuts from his latest release along with some Queen classics on a 14-date UK tour this autumn. The tour begins on October 2 at Newcastle’s O2 Academy before ending at London’s O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on October 22 – see all the details here.

The Scottish singer took to her social media channels to post a statement outlining the reasons for the termination of the tour.

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A post shared by KT Tunstall (@kttunstall)

In the statement the ‘Suddenly I See’ singer related her fears to a previous incident involving hearing loss during her 2018 tour whilst thanking her fans for their continued support. Within the statement the singer also announces her unfortunate withdrawal from her US tour dates with Hall and Oats, the rescheduled tour saw the singer recruited to support legendary pop duo. The outfit responsible for such hits as ‘Maneater’ and ‘I Can’t Go for That |(No Can Do)’ will still be hitting this road this summer under the name Daryl Hall + John Oates, joined by with special guests Squeeze.

Tunstall has stated that she previously experienced hearing issues a decade prior, the artist’s left ear incurred high-frequency issues. Tunstall has stated that she then developed tinnitus, a hearing-loss condition, that includes symptoms such as ringing, roaring and humming sounds in the ears. The condition is said to affect 15-20% of people, the issue has also been described as a permanent ailment among people diagnosed.

Earlier in the year, the singer addressed her fears on the threat of hearing loss, the singer attributed her concerns to her underuse of ear protection whilst listening to loud music. The 46-year-old singer provided the following description of her relationship with live music and her subsequent issues with tinnitus. “I’d never been particularly careful about my hearing over the years, especially as a clubber through my 20s and cranking the volume up on bad monitors at my early gigs, The kicker is, I still have the tinnitus, even in a deaf ear, I’ve adapted really well and can still perform and record, but if I could do it all again, I would definitely make sure I was going for regular hearing checks from a young age.”

KT Tunstall first rose to fan with the release of her 2005 single, ‘Black Horse and the Cherry Tree’. The track landed at number 28 within the UK singles charts and was the lead single from the singer’s debut studio album, ‘Eye to the Telescope’ released in 2004, the album was later re-released under Relentless Records in 2005. The track was performed live in 2004 on the popular TV show, ‘Later… with Jools Holland’, the solo performance garnered public attention for the singer and showcased the artist’s original talents. Tunstall was soon winning awards and being nominated for various accolades, such nominations include the 2005 Mercury Prize and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance in 2007.

Tunstall has also been nominated for various awards at the Brit award ceremonies, in 2006 the singer was nominated for the categories Best British Live Acts and BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act. Tunstall would go on to win multiple Brit Awards in 2006 for two categories, Best British Female Artist and the European Border Breakers Award. The multitalented singer has also worked within the film industry, Tunstall has written soundtracks for a variety of films. She has penned the score and music for such films as ‘The Kid’, the Disney sports biographical drama ‘Million Dollar Arm’ and ‘Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast’. Tunstall also wrote two pieces of music for the Blockbuster film ‘Bad Moms’, entitled ‘Band Moms (Suite)‘ and ‘Enough Is Enough (Suite)’.

Exposure to loud music is an issue in which the World Health Organisation wish to address and have provided guidance regarding prevention and care. Such precautions suggested include carefully controlled settings of volume levels on phones and other mobile devices and noise-cancelling headphones. The World Health Organisation has also suggested safety measures for live music such as wearable ear protection.

We’re happy to announce that Good Night SONGS for Rebel Girls, a new album inspired by the book series – Good Night Stories is out now. This beautiful album includes Skye’s acoustic version of ‘The Only Way Is Up’. Stream. Listen. Buy – https://t.co/shnN1VLXhs pic.twitter.com/QzXoWpYvKJ

— Morcheeba (@MorcheebaBand) November 27, 2020

The British artists featuring on the new record include Pontypridd singer-songwriter Amy Wadge, covering Elton John’s seminal Goodbye Yellow Brick Road; Scottish folk-rocker KT Tunstall, who covers The Pretenders’ 1986 single Hymn To Her; Norfolk-born Brit Award winner Beth Orton, who adds her own spin to Antony and The Johnsons’ For Today I Am A Boy; and Morcheeba vocalist Skye Edwards (aka SKYE), who delivers an acoustic version of Yazz’s feelgood classic The Only Way Is Up.

Speaking about her involvement on the album, Edwards told The Shortlisted: “I’m a mother of four – two are daughters – and I love the positive inspirational message of Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls, so I was of course very excited to be part of the ‘Good Night Songs for Rebel Girls’. When it came to choosing which song to cover, I thought about the first record I bought on vinyl in the 80s, ‘The Only Way Is Up’, by Yazz. It has been my 12-year-old son’s primary school music teacher that suggested recording it acoustically. He’s starting a blog for his pupils called Mr Scullin’s Music Room and was interviewing my husband and I about Morcheeba and life as a musician. We got talking about Rebel Girls and that’s how it came about. He ended up playing the guitar on the track!”

Elsewhere there are appearances on the album from British-Indian sitar maestro Anoushka Shankar; Sussex singer-songwriter Marie White, the winner of the Glastonbury’s Emerging Talent competition in 2019; and Cumbrian saxophonist Jess Gilliam, who presents a reimagining of the Carole King masterpiece You’ve Got A Friend.

The LP has a distinctly international flavour, with further contributions from Ireland’s Imelda May; Norway’s Aurora; Italian singer and model Elodie; Belgian instrumentalist Lubiana; South Korean singer Somin; and Lyon multi-instrumentalist Pomme. The record also features tracks from two bona fide American legends, with intriguing cameos from punk rock godmother Joan Jett (performing her own track Fresh Start) and soul-pop songstress Anastacia, who brings her own brand of gusto to Kelly Clarkson’s 2012 mega-hit Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You).

The full track listing for Goodnight Songs For Rebel Girls is as follows:

1 Beloved – Imelda May
2 Girl on Fire – Lubiana
3 The Only Way is Up – SKYE
4 Thank You – Aurora
5 Stronger – Anastacia
6 Fresh Start – Joan Jett
7 Brass in Pocket – Ani DiFranco
8 Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Tank and the Bangas
9 Hymn to Her – KT Tunstall
10 Goodbye Yellow Brick Road – Amy Wadge
11 Issues – Marie White
12 For Today I am a Boy – Beth Orton
13 You’ve Got a Friend – Jess Gillam
14 Joga – Anoushka Shankar
15 Beautiful – Somin
16 Va Tu Sei Libero (You Don’t Own Me) – Elodie
17 The Park – Pomme

My little kicker of a second album #DrasticFantastic is getting a triple format reissue on Jan 15th!

Drastic Fantastic (Ultimate Edition) includes bonus material, acoustic & live versions, b-sides & remixes.

Pre-order now:https://t.co/mOpZYSrBWZ pic.twitter.com/5oTSNIQEJi

— KT Tunstall (@KTTunstall) November 18, 2020

Drastic Fantastic served as the successor to Tunstall’s Mercury Prize-nominated debut studio LP Eye To The Telescope, which had catapulted the singer-songwriter to international stardom in 2005. The Edinburgh product successfully avoided the dreaded ‘second album syndrome’ though, producing a radio-friendly sequel that enjoyed commercial and critical acclaim.

The album topped the US Billboard Rock and Alternative charts, and spawned three UK singles: Hold On; Saving My Face; and If Only. Hold On, which reached number 21 in Britain, remains the Scot’s third highest-charting single in the UK after 2005 global hits Suddenly I See and Other Side of the World.

Fans awaiting the Drastic Fantastic reissue were treated to a new KT Tunstall release this week. The multi-instrumentalist has linked up with Californian husband-and-wife indie-pop duo Pomplamoose for a cover of U2’s iconic 1987 single I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. Tunstall gleefully described the recording process for the collaboration as “…pure fun, pure expression, and great musicians all round!” on her Instagram account.

2021 should be a busy year for KT, who is due to join pop-rock titans Hall and Oates on their mammoth two month tour of the United States starting next August. The Caledonian troubadour will also perform at a highly-anticipated fundraiser gig at Brixton’s Windmill as part of a nationwide campaign to save music venues.

Speaking about the show (the date of which will be determined by Covid-19 restrictions) Tunstall told the South West Londoner: “Independent venues provided me as a young person with a sense of optimism. They were the route to making a living as an artist. Without these venues there is no route. They are the places where you begin, they are where you cut your teeth, they are where you make friendships. Now, the new musicians who are about to go on tour or about to release music will suffer enormously from what is happening.”

Last month the singer also contributed to The Fruit Tree Foundation’s Whole Lotta Roadies compilation album, which saw a collection of Scottish artists recording covers of their best-known hits in a bid to raise money for live music workers. Tunstall laid down a version of Black Horse and the Cherry Tree for the LP with members of her own road crew.

The tracklisting for the re-issue of KT Tunstall’s Drastic Fantastic (Ultimate Version) is as follows:

LP1 – SIDE A
1. Little Favours
2. If Only
3. White Bird
4. Funnyman
5. Hold On
6. Hopeless
7. I Don’t Want You Now

LP1 – SIDE B
1. Saving My Face
2. Beauty of Uncertainty
3. Someday Soon
4. Paper Aeroplane
5. Journey
6. Mothgirl

LP2 – SIDE C
1. Bad Day
2. La Vie En Rose
3. I Want You Back – Live From Outsider Festival 2007
4. Walk Like An Egyptian – Live From Liverpool Academy 2007
5. Turn Into You – Acoustic
6. White Bird – Acoustic
7. Hopeless – Acoustic

LP2 – SIDE D
1. If Only – Acoustic
2. Hold On – Acoustic
3. Someday Soon – Acoustic
4. Saving My Face – Acoustic
5. Ain’t Nobody – Acoustic
6. Hold On / Walk Like an Egyptian – Live In Curitiba 2019

BONUS 10″ – SIDE A
1. Hold On – The Freelance Hellraiser (Holed Up) Remix
2. Saving My Face – Tunnelz Remix

BONUS 10″ – SIDE B
1. If Only – Subsonar Remix
2. Little Favours – MyRiot (Big Flavours) Remix

STREAMING / DIGITAL DOWNLOADS
1. Little Favours
2. If Only
3. White Bird
4. Funnyman
5. Hold On
6. Hopeless
7. I Don’t Want You Now
8. Saving My Face
9. Beauty of Uncertainty
10. Someday Soon
11. Paper Aeroplane
12. Journey
13. Mothgirl
14. Bad Day
15. La Vie En Rose
16. I Want You Back – Live From Outsider Festival 2007
17. Walk Like An Egyptian – Live From Liverpool Academy 2007
18. Turn Into You – Acoustic
19. White Bird – Acoustic
20. Hopeless – Acoustic
21. If Only – Acoustic
22. Hold On – Acoustic
23. Someday Soon – Acoustic
24. Saving My Face – Acoustic
25. Ain’t Nobody – Acoustic
26. Hold On / Walk Like an Egyptian – Live In Curitiba 2019
27. Little Favours – MyRiot (Big Flavours) Remix
28. If Only – Subsonar Remix
29. Hold On – The Freelance Hellraiser (Holed Up) Remix
30. Saving My Face – Tunnelz Remix
31. Little Favours – Instrumental
32. If Only – Instrumental
33. Funnyman – Instrumental
34. Hold On – Instrumental
35. I Don’t Want You Now – Instrumental
36. Saving My Face – Instrumental
37. Beauty of Uncertainty – Instrumental
38. Someday Soon – Instrumental

The public have been able to vote for the songs they want to hear on the record; which will be performed by the original artists and their road crew. The latest tranche of tracks was unveiled on the Whole Lotta Roadies social media channels today.

The final track listing for the album has yet to be determined, but confirmed numbers include:

• Edinburgh acoustic folk-rocker KT Tunstall performing her 2005 hit single Black Horse and the Cherry Tree;
• Glaswegians Twin Atlantic performing Heart and Soul, which topped the official UK Rock chart in 2014;
• Honeyblood (aka Stina Tweeddale) performing 2014 single Biro;
• Belle and Sebastian and their crew performing their 2004 hit I’m A Cuckoo;
• Edinburgh punk veterans The Rezillos performing Top Of The Pops, a top 20 hit in 1978;
• Aberdeen alt-rockers The XCerts performing Shaking In The Water, the lead single from their 2014 album There Is Only You;

Further tracks are set to be unveiled later this week, with numbers from from Leith icons the The Proclaimers; indie rockers Idlewild; space rock merchants Mogwai; Falkirk outifit Arab Strap; Kilmarnock’s Fatherson; former Delgados singer-songwriter Emma Pollock and Inverness musician Kathryn Joseph all set to feature. On Monday the Whole Lotta Roadies Twitter account promised that “each tune is a nailed on beauty.”

The new LP has been put together by The Fruit Tree Foundation, a project originally formed in 2010 by Emma Pollock and Idlewild guitarist Rod Jones to create the multi-artist compilation album First Edition based around the themes of mental health and wellbeing. Jones told NME that the ongoing pandemic had given the organisation a new sense of purpose.

He said “The devastating impact Covid-19 has had on the music industry is well documented and few are far more affected than live crew. On speaking to members of our touring crew I realised how they were falling through the cracks in government funding and with no gigs and tours upcoming the outlook for them was bleak. I wanted to try and find a way to support them and the wider Scottish Live Crew industry.”

Jones added “Knowing how many crew members are also very talented musicians in their own right I thought it would be fitting for them to showcase this by covering songs of the bands they have been working with over the years, and releasing an album of this to create a hardship fund and also awareness of their situation.”

Kate Victoria Tunstall, also known by her stage name KT Tunstall, is set to tour the UK and Ireland in support of her sixth studio album ‘Wax’. This set of shows cross the UK and Ireland will see Tunstall tour for the first time with an all-female band. This comes after Tunstall was awarded  the Inspirational Artist gong at the Women In Music Awards. She was also chosen as the first ever female Grand Marshal, following the likes of Sir Sean Connery, to lead April’s annual New York Tartan Week parade.

“I knew before I started writing (Wax) that I wanted it to be an electric guitar record. It had to be visceral, about the physical, and the obstacles of that. It’s a record about human-ness, which we so often just write off as ‘flaws’. Wax evokes colonies of bees, candlelight, the material that the first long-playing records were made of”, she explains, “but more than that, wax is produced inside your own head,” says Tunstall. 

The debut single “The River” is written by KT Tunstall and Martin Terefe and produced by Nick McCarthy, Sebastian Kellig and MyRiot. Speaking about the debut single of her new album ‘Wax’, Tunstall, said: “it’s about wanting to escape the madness in the world, escaping bad relationships, and wanting to be washed clean – emancipation through nature”.

Tickets for the Spring 2019 dates go on general sale at 10am on September 21. Tickets can be purchased here.

September 2018:
26/09/2018 – London Jazz Café – London
27/09  – The FLEECE – Bristol
28/09 – Liquid Room – Edinburgh

March 2019:
04/03/2019 – Olympia Theatre – Dublin
05/03 – Elmwood Hall – Belfast
07/03 – Alhambra – Dunfermline
08/03 – Aberdeen Music Hall – Aberdeen
09/03 – Glasgow Barrowland – Glasgow
11/03 – Sage – Gateshead
12/03 – Derngate – Northampton
14/03 – Junction – Cambridge
15/03 – Forum – Bath
16/03 – Transhed – Cardiff
18/03 – Dome – Brighton
19/03 – Leeds O2 Academy – Leeds
20/03 – Birmingham Town Hall – Birmingham
22/03 – De Montfort Hall – Leicester
23/03 – Manchester Albert Hall – Manchester
25/03 – Roundhouse – London
26/03 – G Live – Guildford