Rival Sons launch Bird In The Hand single, announce extensive US tour

Rival Sons larking about
(Image credit: Pamela Littky)

Rival Sons have released Bird In The Hand, the third track to emerge from the band's upcoming seventh album Darkfighter. The release follows that of two earlier singles: Rapture, which saw the light of day in January, and Nobody Wants To Die, which came out in October. 

Bird In The Hand kicks of with a melancholic, Beatles-esque melody and swiftly turns into an overclocked blues grind, before frontman Jay Buchanan takes it to the church on the chorus.  

As Buchanan explains, “There’s a lyric in there, ‘Let’s go down to the river where the water runs still and deep, to scatter the ashes of the mess I used to be.’ You can burn through a whole lot of time just trying to find your lane, your realised intention. 

"At some point you accept reincarnation as a waking process. Build, refine and burn again and again and the lyric, ‘A bird in the hand, now that’s a miracle I can believe’ is the immersive commitment to the present."

Rival Sons' upcoming album Darkfighter will be released on June 2 – it was originally slated for March 10 – and will be followed by a second album, Lightbringer, which will arrive later in the year. Darkfighter is available to pre-order now

The band, who toured The US with Whisky Myers in February and embark on a run of shows with Greta Van Fleet later this month, have also announced another set of North American dates. The new schedule begins at the Diamond Ballroom in Oklahoma City, OK, on May 11, and winds up on June 18 at the Ogden Theatre in Denver, CO. Support will come from a mix of Starcrawler, The Record Company and Black Angels. Tickets go on sale today at 10am local. Full dates below. 

Rival Sons 2023 tour dates

Mar 20: Tucson Arena, AZ≠
Mar 21: El Paso Don Haskins Center, TX≠
Mar 24: Anaheim Honda Center, CA≠
Mar 26: Reno Reno Events Center, NV≠
Mar 28: Sacramento Golden 1 Center, CA≠
May 11: Oklahoma City Diamond Ballroom, OK*#
May 12: Little Rock The Hall, AR*#
May 13: Austin Stubb’s, TX*#
May 16: Chattanooga The Signal, TN*#
May 17: Atlanta Tabernacle, GA*#
May 18: Nashville Marathon Music Works, TN*#
May 20: Daytona Beach Welcome To Rockville, FL+
May 21: Wilmington Greenfield Lake Amphitheater, NC*#
May 23: Richmond The National, VA*#
May 24: Norfolk The NorVa, VA*#
May 26: Morgantown Ruby Amphitheater, WV*
May 27: Columbus Sonic Temple, OH+
May 28: Buffalo Town Ballroom, NY*
May 30: Silver Spring The Fillmore, MD*#
May 31: Worcester The Palladium, MA*#
Jun 1: New York Palladium Times Square, NY
Jun 3: Philadelphia Franklin Music Hall, PA*#
Jun 4: Albany Empire Live, NY*#
Jun 6: London London Music Hall, ON*#
Jun 8: Detroit The Fillmore, MI^#
Jun 9: Chicago Radius, IL^#
Jun 10: Minneapolis The Fillmore, MN^#
Jun 12: Milwaukee The Rave, WI^#
Jun 13: Cedar Rapids Club 5, IA^#
Jun 14: St. Louis Pageant, MO^#
Jun 16: Omaha The Admiral, NE^#
Jun 17: Kansas City Uptown Theater, MO^#

≠supporting Greta Van Fleet
*with The Record Company
^with Black Angels
#with Starcrawler
+festival show

Rival Sons tour poster

(Image credit: Rival Sons)

Rival Sons: Darkfighter tracklist

1. Mirrors
2. Nobody Wants to Die
3. Bird in the Hand
4. Bright Light
5. Rapture
6. Guillotine
7. Horses Breath
8. Darkside

Rival Sons - Darkfighter cover art

(Image credit: Atlantic Records)
Fraser Lewry

Online Editor at Louder/Classic Rock magazine since 2014. 38 years in music industry, online for 25. Also bylines for: Metal Hammer, Prog Magazine, The Word Magazine, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Saga, Music365. Former Head of Music at Xfm Radio, A&R at Fiction Records, early blogger, ex-roadie, published author. Once appeared in a Cure video dressed as a cowboy, and thinks any situation can be improved by the introduction of cats. Favourite Serbian trumpeter: Dejan Petrović.