Songs Of Personal Loss And Protest

Jon Spencer — 2026

“Songs Of Personal Loss And Protest finds Jon Spencer recharged by a younger rhythm section that gives his familiar attack a fresh jolt.”

Jon Spencer has spent a decade looking for a band that could push him the way the Blues Explosion did, and on Songs Of Personal Loss And Protest he finally sounds like he has found one. Kendall Wind and Macky Spider Bowman, borrowed from The Bobby Lees, first backed him on 2024’s Sick Of Being Sick!, and here they get a full album to lock in. The record was cut in three days in Woodstock, and that push and spontaneity come through in the end. The title promises heaviness, and the themes are there: mortality, political nausea, and the general collapse of everything, but Spencer treats them the way he always has in the past, as fuel for his rock and roll. I love it when Spencer lets loose, which is honestly why most listeners are still with him after all these years.

With that said, several tracks feel like they do not quite finish the thought, offering plenty of riffs but stopping there. Songs Of Personal Loss And Protest is still a fun album that works best when played loud. The young talent supporting Spencer is especially important, as Wind and Bowman turn the group into a true power trio and give the album a fresh energy you might not expect from Jon Spencer in 2026.

“Orange Slice Blues” is the keeper, opening on a snappy guitar lick before Spencer piles in with his spoken jive and a Kojak shoutout, and it swings really close to prime nineties Blues Explosion. “Step On the Gas” earns its title, with Spencer demanding to know how anyone lives with all this hate before rallying the whole room around the chorus. The closer, “No More,” is a surprise, as Spencer rattles off everything that disappears when you do—“no more med checks, no more bed checks”—and finishes the album with a true statement on longevity.

The demented rockabilly streak running through “Mr. Lion” comes straight from The Cramps. Fans of the Oblivians will recognize a similar approach here, while The Gories feel like a necessary comparison if you look at their blues territory, stripping everything down to a riff, a beat, and a howl.

Spencer says the answer is always rock and roll, and this record once again makes his case. Whether every song sticks with you or not, the man delivering them clearly is not done yet.