Burning Spear's Call On Me unites reggae legends across generations

Burning Spear has done something he had never done before: released a full album built around collaborations with other artists. Call On Me arrived on April 14, 2026 as a 16-track set credited to Burning Spear & Friends, and for longtime roots listeners that alone makes it a landmark in Winston Rodney’s catalog.

The album’s center of gravity is a live version of Call on You, the 1974 Studio One song later also known as The Sun. From there, the project opens into a wide-ranging conversation across generations and styles, bringing in Big Youth, Luciano, Jesse Royal, Hempress Sativa, Lawgiver the Kingson, Mytania “Zazan Zazan” Samuels, Julian Marley, Brinsley Forde, Liz Tomlinson, Kumar Fyah, Glen Washington, Queen Ifrica, Alpha Blondy, Kenyatta Hill, and Matthew nya dub band. The result feels less like a string of guest spots than a carefully sequenced roots session, with each voice answering Spear’s opening statement in its own way.

That structure matters. Reggaeville described the release as the first time Winston Rodney had made a full collaboration album with other artists, and the album was recorded during the Fall 2025 Do the Reggae Tour with Ziggy Marley. Benedetto “Nino” Caccavale and Paul “Virgo” Bent handled the sound, giving the project the feel of a live document rather than a studio compilation. For fans who follow the lineage of roots reggae, the cross-generational cast gives Call On Me real community value: elders like Big Youth and Alpha Blondy standing beside younger names such as Jesse Royal, Hempress Sativa, Kumar Fyah, and Queen Ifrica.

The release is also tied to purpose beyond the music. A portion of proceeds will go to people affected by Hurricane Melissa in Jamaica, and the project was framed as a way to raise awareness around cancer and Alzheimer’s or dementia. The release was dedicated to Kevin Thompson, Caveri Marley, and Jordan Stewart, and it said Sonia Rodney suffers from frontal lobal dementia. It also said Marci came up with the concept for the album, making Call On Me feel personal as well as public, a roots record shaped by family loss, care, and remembrance.

Spear’s stature gives the project additional weight. Reggaeville called him a two-time Grammy winner and 13-time nominee, while the Los Angeles Philharmonic noted his Best Reggae Album wins for Calling Rastafari in 2000 and Jah Is Real in 2009, his 2007 Order of Distinction, and nearly forty singles, CDs, DVDs, and vinyl albums on the Burning Music imprint. That legacy hangs over Call On Me, but the album does not simply look backward. It turns Spear’s catalog into a living meeting place, and in 2026 that makes the record feel like both a tribute and a passing of the torch.