Midland announce Stages album, lead single Shooting Memories With Tequila

Midland set Stages for June 12, 2026, giving the Texas trio a 10-song album that follows Barely Blue and pushes further into the traditional-country lane that has defined their sound. The lead single, Shooting Memories With Tequila, arrived on May 5 and quickly became the song used to introduce the project.

The band is made up of Mark Wystrach, Jess Carson and Cameron Duddy, and Midland’s official bio says the group is based in Dripping Springs, Texas. That bio describes the trio’s approach as “post-modern traditionalism,” while also calling Midland a GRAMMY-nominated act making country music feel “viscerally alive and timeless.” Those phrases match the band’s thick harmonies, steel-guitar feel and worn-in delivery, which have kept Midland close to the Texas country scene even as mainstream country keeps splitting between pop crossover records and revivalist projects.

Shooting Memories With Tequila was posted with an official lyric video on May 5, 2026. Midland described the track there as a breezy, melancholy song about heartbreak and escapism, and the lyrics place the narrator in Mexico after a breakup. The timing also gave the song a built-in Cinco de Mayo association, adding another layer to a release that leans on imagery of distance, loss and temporary relief.

The new single did not stay confined to streaming and video platforms for long. Midland performed Shooting Memories With Tequila on The Kelly Clarkson Show on June 10, 2026, and CBS Saturday Morning’s Saturday Sessions also featured the song. That television run gave Stages a national stage before the album’s release date and reinforced how comfortably Midland’s style still fits in front of a broad audience.

Early response to Stages has described it as one of the best traditional country albums of the year and one of Midland’s strongest, with reviews noting that it leans heavily into traditional country sounds. The album follows Barely Blue, which Midland released on Sept. 20, 2024 via Big Machine Records, and the new rollout shows the trio doubling down on the same formula that has kept neo-traditional country commercially viable on a national level.