Nashville singer-songwriter Max McNown has confirmed his third studio album, Leave On A Light, due 25 September via Fugitive Recordings, alongside his biggest headline run yet across Australia and New Zealand. It’s his first extended tour of the region since a previous run sold out, and this time Live Nation has him booked into nine cities over three and a half weeks.
The dates open at Perth’s Ice Cream Factory on 2 February before moving through Adelaide’s Hindley Street Music Hall, Brisbane’s Fortitude Music Hall, Sydney’s Hordern Pavilion, Newcastle’s Howlin’ Rock N Rodeo, Melbourne’s Festival Hall and Cairns’ Fred Moule Pavilion, then crossing the Tasman to close out at Auckland’s The Civic and Christchurch Town Hall by 24 February. Presales begin midweek through the artist mailing list and Mastercard/Westpac cardholder access, with general tickets opening Friday 18 September at midday local time through McNown’s own site and livenation.com.au or livenation.co.nz.
The album itself is a 17-track record made with longtime producer Jamie Kenney at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio, with McNown bringing in outside collaborators including songwriter Julian Bunetta (who’s worked with Gracie Abrams and Kelsea Ballerini) and guitarist Charlie Worsham (a regular on Luke Combs and Lainey Wilson records). Where his earlier work leaned on heartbreak, McNown has described Leave On A Light as a record about gratitude and the people who’ve stayed constant through a fast-changing few years.
‘In a way, most of the songs on this album are love songs,’ McNown said of the record. ‘They’re a tribute to my wife and my family, the people who care about who I am outside of music and give me a place of peace and unconditional love to come home to.’ Speaking to Billboard Country, he added that a piece of advice from songwriter Mags Duval shaped how he approached the album: that songs aren’t there to tell an audience how to feel, but to work as mirrors. ‘More than anything, I hope this album encourages people to look inward,’ he said.
The rollout follows a run of standalone singles, including the tribute-to-his-wife track ‘First Born Daughter’, ‘Comets’, and ‘Take Me Back’, his collaboration with Kygo. It also caps off a huge year for the 25-year-old: a Stagecoach debut, a Lollapalooza slot, two sold-out nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, dates alongside Parker McCollum and a streaming tally that’s now past 900 million. Countrytown named him its most-played artist of 2025, his song ‘Better Me For You’ logged 40 weeks on the Australian charts, and Grammy.com has called him ‘one of the brightest newly minted stars to come out of Nashville in recent years.’
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