Rival Sons Frontman Jay Buchanan Releases Solo Album Written in Underground Bunker

Jay Buchanan from Rival Sons just released a solo album called Weapons of Beauty. He wrote it alone inside an underground bunker in the Mojave Desert. Dave Cobb produced the record, and it's Buchanan's first full-length release away from his band.

The vocalist appeared in a podcast interview, and host Scott Lipps asked him about the album. SPIN Magazine wrote, "Buchanan discusses the album's themes of grief, mortality, and vulnerability and how the project couldn't have existed within Rival Sons, as well as his participation in the 2025 Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne farewell concert, Back to the Beginning."

Creating this work meant stepping away from the group that built his name. He holed up in a bunker beneath the desert to write. That strange place gave him the quiet he needed to make something entirely his own.

He tried acting for the first time in Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere. The movie centers on Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska album, which shaped Buchanan's own creative approach.

Rival Sons has new music coming, too. Buchanan mentioned upcoming material during his chat with Lipps. The interview covered his favorite singers and songwriters of all time, and they talked about many subjects beyond the solo record.