[Cover photo credit to Nash Baker]
Singer/songwriter Leslie Waugh will release her new full-length album, Night Bloom, on August 28th, 2026. Once again Waugh has joined forces with Pat Manske at The Zone for a ten-song collection. Following on from a series of EPs, this new album promises a broad sweep of songwriting drawing on real-life experiences and observations with Waugh’s down-to-earth presence guiding the way.
Waugh says about the album:
I’m excited to be making a full-length record again. I have so much more room to say what I want through these songs. It’s a blend of folk influences and a contemporary Americana sound, with a dash of honky-tonk. It’s eclectic as it flows between driving alt-county tunes to folky bittersweet tales.
We’re very pleased to premier the song “Pay Attention”, featuring Mike Stinson, from Leslie Waugh’s upcoming album, Night Bloom. The track will be released widely this Friday, August 7th, 2026.
The mood and attitude of the song “Pay Attention” is greatly influenced by the Grammy-winning Lloyd Maines playing pedal steel. It sets the easy-going, reflective tone of the song and just takes whatever heaviness might come from a song that carries advice into a much more conversational direction. This is clearly Leslie Waugh’s intention with the track, to make it accessible, listenable, and far, far from preachy. The pace of the song, unfolding in a pretty laid-back way, for instance, sets up the same mood.
The fact that Waugh took such care with the tone and pace of the song suggests just how important this message is to her and how much she feels it might help others who are walking the same long-term relationship road in life. Mike Stinson’s awesome vocals provide the extra balance needed for a song about gender, personality, and communication. Together, Waugh and Stinson’s vocals provide a seasoned voice of reason for the audience, and what they say is pretty straightforward, but also pretty detailed.
Waugh’s initial advice about approaching a male partner may strike a few moments of recognition from audiences who have “been there”, but when Stinson’s vocals turn it around and reinforce many of the same traits in women, that’s a timely reveal with deep meaning and humor. Both men and women have their “pride” and need to be be approached respectfully and with care. The differences between gender approaches in the song are interesting and thought provoking, and leave plenty for the audience to consider. If these were THEIR lyrics, suited to their relationship, what might they be? Audiences could almost rewrite the song and sing along based on their own experiences.
As thousands of talk-shows, news stories, blogs, and advertising will attest, human beings want other real human beings to share their relationship advice, and Leslie Waugh builds so much life experience into one track that its firmly believable when she says “I’ve been there, I know, take my advice.” Sometimes we just really need someone who’s been there to tell us what’s most valuable in a relationship, and this song does just that. It encourages us to reflect on our own relationship experiences and make sure that we learn from them by checking in on what we may have gained or lost over time. It’s like that now-famous meme of “How it started” versus “How it’s going.” In the long run, for the sake of “true love”, are we able to really “pay attention”? Isn’t it worth it?
Leslie Waugh shares about the new track:
“Pay Attention” is a clear warning; a lesson to keep the passion alive in your marriage. I wrote it years ago but never recorded it. I knew it was good, but something was missing until I realized it’s supposed to be a duet. When Mike Stinson climbed on board, the song got the justice it deserved.
On the new album, and on “Pay Attention”, Leslie Waugh performs vocals and plays acoustic guitar and Dennis Ludiker plays fiddle, mandolin, bass, electric and baritone guitars, and harmonium. Trevor Nealon provides piano, B3 organ, and wurlitzer, whereas Lloyd Maines plays pedal steel and dobro. Pat Manske provides drums, percussion, acoustic guitar, and bass, and Mark “Speedy” Gonzales plays trombone. Mike Stinson shares vocals on “Pay Attention”.
Leslie Waugh’s story of becoming a songwriter is a standout, showing the power of coming into your own, even if you have to find that path in “full-grown adulthood”. Her story includes the disintegration of a marriage closely surrounding her attending her first songwriting workshop and a self-discovery that came out of a time of deep transition.
After that fateful workshop, Leslie began her musical journey in earnest, taking guitar and voice lessons, showing up at open mics, and joining songwriter groups to hone her craft. Soon after, the Houston Songwriter Association honored her with Songwriter of the Year and Song of the Year. Her albums include The White Cat Sessions (2011), on.ward (2014), and a trilogy of EPs titled Vignettes from a Woman’s Serenade.
Waugh says about her mid-life discoveries in songwriting:
I think when you’re young, you have your own identity and you belong just to yourself, but after decades of children and marriage and work and all these other things, it can be easy to lose that — especially for a woman. But music gave a real sense of personal identity back to me. I wasn’t just somebody’s mom or wife or employee — I am a songwriter. This is what I do, it’s who I am, and nobody can take that away from me.
