Styx founder Dennis DeYoung announces new solo album and tour

Dennis DeYoung by a mixing desk
(Image credit: Rebecca Wolf)

Styx founder Dennis DeYoung releases his new solo album 26 East, Vol 1 on April 10 via Frontiers.

It includes the track, To The Good Old Days, which features Julian Lennon. Says DeYoung, “It was written specifically for Jules and I to sing together. He nailed the vocal and I harmonised. Harmony baby, I love it. It’s the final song on my album and it’s a simple farewell from me as I recall the sweetest days of my past with my fans, friends, family and forgiveness.” 

The album title, 26 East, is where DeYoung grew up in Roseland, IL on the far south side of Chicago. Styx formed in his basement in 1972 and his future bandmates the Panozzo twins, John and Chuck, lived just across the road from him. The cover artwork, featuring three locomotives travelling through space, represents the original members leaving Chicago on their journey to the stars.

"This was supposed to be my final album but there were so many songs written that Serafino Perugino, CEO of Frontiers, suggested dividing it into two albums rather than one,” says DeYoung. “This is Volume 1, which sounds pretentious to me, but the marketing folks wanted you to know there are going to be two of them."

DeYoung will preview the album at Chicago’s House Of Blues on April 3. Fans will also be able to take part in a Q&A session with DeYoung and co-writer Jim Peterik.

The full tracklist

1. East Of Midnight 
2. With All Due Respect
3. A Kingdom Ablaze
4. You My Love
5. Run For The Roses
6. Damn That Dream
7. Unbroken
8. The Promise Of This Land
9. To The Good Old Days (with Julian Lennon)
10. A.D. 2020

Dennis DeYoung 2020 North America tour

Mar 13: Northfield MGM Northfield Park, OH
Mar 14: Newark The Midland Theatre, OH
Mar 20: Portland Revolution Hall, OR
Mar 21: Bremerton Admiral Theater, WA
Apr 03: Chicago House Of Blues, IL
Apr 04: Fort Wayne The Clyde Theatre, IN
Apr 17: Huntington The Paramount, NY
Apr 18: Morristown Mayo Performing Arts Center, NJ
Apr 24: Atlantic City Resorts Atlantic City, NJ
Apr 25: Bethlehem Wind Creek Event Center, PA
May 01: Quebec City Le Grande Theatre De Quebec, QC
May 02: Montreal Theatre St. Denis, QC
May 03: Montreal Theatre St. Denis, QC
May 08: Harris Island Casino Showroom, MI
May 09: Harris Island Casino Showroom, MI
May 22: Kansas City Star Pavilion at Ameristar Casino, MO
Jun 04: Ashland Paramount Arts Center, KY
Jun 05: Florence Belterra Casino, IN
Jun 12: Davenport Rhythm City Casino, IA
Jul 10: Grand Prairie Verizon Theatre, TX
Jul 11: Austin ACL Live @ The Moody Theater, TX
Aug 14: Saskatoon Rock The River, SK
Oct 02: Nashville Brown County Music Center, TN

26 East album cover

(Image credit: Frontiers)
Natasha Scharf
Deputy Editor, Prog

Contributing to Prog since the very first issue, writer and broadcaster Natasha Scharf was the magazine’s News Editor before she took up her current role of Deputy Editor, and has interviewed some of the best-known acts in the progressive music world from ELP, Yes and Marillion to Nightwish, Dream Theater and TesseracT. Starting young, she set up her first music fanzine in the late 80s and became a regular contributor to local newspapers and magazines over the next decade. The 00s would see her running the dark music magazine, Meltdown, as well as contributing to Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, Terrorizer and Artrocker. Author of music subculture books The Art Of Gothic and Worldwide Gothic, she’s since written album sleeve notes for Cherry Red, and also co-wrote Tarja Turunen’s memoirs, Singing In My Blood. Beyond the written word, Natasha has spent several decades as a club DJ, spinning tunes at aftershow parties for Metallica, Motörhead and Nine Inch Nails. She’s currently the only member of the Prog team to have appeared on the magazine’s cover.