Singer-songwriter Grey DeLisle has announced her forthcoming album, Don’t Turn Around, to be released on 23rd October 2026 via Hummin’bird Records. Produced by the late Andy Paley and completed by longtime collaborator Marvin Etzioni following Paley’s death, Don’t Turn Around brings together a cast of musicians including Deke Dickerson, Murry Hammond, Stephen McCarthy, Greg Leisz, Chris Scruggs, Tammy Rogers, Bernie Dresel, Mandy Barnett, Mickey Raphael, engineer Jake Gideon, and special guest Dave Alvin, who joins DeLisle for the duet You’re Driving Me Away.
Drawing from classic country, California roots music, and rockabilly traditions, the album remains bedded in DeLisle’s storytelling, humour, and resilience. Across its 11 songs, Don’t Turn Around explores the many ways people leave one another and the roads they travel afterwards.
The story behind Don’t Turn Around is interesting, beginning between takes on the set of SpongeBob SquarePants. While voicing members of Sandy Cheeks’ family on the long-running animated series, DeLisle struck up a friendship with Paley, a composer, songwriter, and producer whose credits included Brian Wilson, Jerry Lee Lewis, Patti Smith, NRBQ, and The Ramones. After discovering that DeLisle was also a songwriter, Paley encouraged her to play him one of her songs. The song was Don’t Turn Around, and it marked the beginning of their rewarding creative partnership.
You can pre-save/ pre-order Don’t Turn Around here. In the meantime, DeLisle has issued lead single, The Lights Are Off, But Somebody’s Home. A dark but funny, rockabilly-flavoured take on the Bakersfield Sound, the track transforms the classic country tale of a two-timing lover into a sharp-witted honky-tonk anthem packed with twang and swagger.
