Classic Rock Tracks Of The Week: February 23, 2026

Tracks Of The Week artists — (Image credit: Press materials)

Last week's titanic Tracks Of The Week battle saw Nashville's very own A Thousand Horses triumph with their new song Shadows. So congratulations to them. Slightly fewer congratulations are awarded to Robben Ford for his silver medal showing, while The Sheepdogs are the recipients of a single congratulation for coming in third. It sure beats those Winter Olympics.

A Thousand Horses - Shadows (Featuring Aaron Gillespie) (Official Music Video ) - YouTube

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What happens now? Well, we start again. Here are seven new songs and one old-but-new song guaranteed to enliven any happening.

Jayler - Down Below

The UK’s answer to Greta Van Fleet? Based on the rich, retro but snappy grooves of Down Below – ahead of their debut album, coming along in May after a couple of years’ teasing with singles and the like – they might be. “The riffs, the tones...all of it came from that raw end-of-record energy,” the band explain. “We hadn’t planned to film anything, but the vibe in the room was too real not to capture. So the video is literally us, right there in that moment.” Catch them on tours with Deep Purple and Sammy Hagar this year, along with their debut album in May.

JAYLER - Down Below (Official Video) - YouTube

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Hiss Golden Messenger - In The Middle Of It

North Carolina-based Hiss Golden Messenger (aka the clever yet dulcet brainchild of Americana troubadour MC Taylor) paints an immersive, widescreen picture of New Mexico and the human experience on In The Middle Of It. He cites the following evocative inspirations: “Highway 10 through the desert towns, Los Angeles to El Paso … Art Bell's Coast to Coast droning from a bunker in the middle of Nevada. Ghosts and UFOs and vagabonds. The engine sings out over the long lightning fields. In the middle of it: the country, the story, the relationships.” And the cool thing is, you really can feel all that here. Find more on the next album, I’m People, which comes out in May.

Hiss Golden Messenger - In The Middle Of It - Official Lyric Video [UNLISTED] - YouTube

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Shinedown - Safe And Sound

Back with a certified banger from their upcoming eighth album (produced by bassist Eric Bass and helpfully called Ei8ht, in case there was any doubt there…), America’s foremost masters of the slick, muscular hard rock suckerpunch sound stronger than ever on this hooky newbie. “This album is over a year in the making,” mic-wielder Brent Smith says. “Without question as a band we pushed ourselves like never before. Especially when it comes to Eric. Myself, Zach, and Barry are so honoured to create, and work with such an extraordinary producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, musician, performer, and bandmate.”

Shinedown - Safe And Sound (Lyric Video) - YouTube

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Tedeschi Trucks Band - Who Am I

A musical balm for the soul if ever there was one, Who Am I is one of the slower, softer moments on these guys' upcoming album, Future Soul, and it's an absolute beauty. From the guiding light and depth of Susan Tedeschi's voice through myriad soulful, deftly arranged components – plus a searing touch of the Allmans' Jessica in Derek Trucks' guitar solo – they make it all feel so effortless, so easy on the ear, and still full of emotional complexity.

Who Am I - YouTube

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Michael Monroe - Shinola

‘You’re an angry little fucker with an axe to grind,’ roars Helsinki’s very own blonde bombshell-in-chief Michael Monroe in this fiery ode to “a certain jerk” (no prizes for guessing who he probably had in mind, though it could also apply to all number of individuals, famous and otherwise). Hot off his new album Outerstellar, out now in all its filthy glamour, guts and rock’n’roll glory. Sixty-three and still as infectiously hungry for this stuff as a nineteen-year-old in his first band.

Morganway - Machine

Billed by these folky British rockers as their “break-up letter to Spotify" (they’ve released it for downloading only on Bandcamp, with 10% of every download going to Music Venue Trust), Machine is a warm, sumptuous hit of call-to-arms urgency, delivered with sunshine and a fiddle-laden countrified lilt. Produced by the group with Sweet Crisis guitarist Piers Mortimer, it’s the sound of a band enjoying music exactly on their terms – streaming giants and the looming shadows of AI be damned.

Morganway - Machine (Official Video) - YouTube

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Hillbilly Vegas - I Hope You Know

Grizzled southern rock’n’roll with shots of cheese and glitz, the Oklahomans’ new single offers the sort of hatted and booted boogieing that offers a warming counterpart to days of shite weather and depressing headlines. Close your eyes and it’s like you’re with them at some sunset honkytonk or tailgate, lite beer in hand, barbecue close by. Lyrically not the zingiest, admittedly, but it’s easy to picture them going down well with fans of Blackberry Smoke and The Kentucky Headhunters (both of whom they’ve played shows with) among others.

Hillbilly Vegas - I Hope You Know (Official Music Video) - YouTube

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Thundermother - Hellevator

There's perhaps never been a better combination of band name and song title than "Thundermother" and "Hellevator", so we're delighted to announce that Thundermother's new live single Hellevator is as explosive as that coupling suggests. Originally released as a studio track a decade ago, the new version comes from the upcoming live album Live’n’Alive, which was recorded in Husqvarna, located in the eastern part of Jönköping, a city in the Swedish province of Småland most famous as the birthplace of Husqvarna AB, who make excellent garden tractors.

THUNDERMOTHER - HELLEVATOR (Live Video) | Napalm Records - YouTube

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Polly is deputy editor at Classic Rock magazine, where she writes and commissions regular pieces and longer reads (including new band coverage), and has interviewed rock's biggest and newest names. She also contributes to Louder, Prog and Metal Hammer and talks about songs on the 20 Minute Club podcast. Elsewhere she's had work published in The Musician, delicious. magazine and others, and written biographies for various album campaigns. In a previous life as a women's magazine junior she interviewed Tracey Emin and Lily James – and wangled Rival Sons into the arts pages. In her spare time she writes fiction and cooks.

With contributions from

Fraser LewryOnline Editor, Classic Rock

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