Article Contributed by Milestone Publicity
Published on 2026-09-27
NASHVILLE, TN — September 25, 2026 — Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Songwriters Hall of Famer, Eurythmics co-founder, producer, and acclaimed songwriter Dave Stewart delivers “The Way It Was Back Then,” the title track from his forthcoming album, The Way It Was Back Then, across all streaming platforms. The full 10-song album, written, performed, and produced entirely by Stewart, will arrive Friday, October 30, across all DSPs via Bay Street Records.
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Watch the official music video for “The Way It Was Back Then”
Stewart shares of the video:
“This video, filmed on the streets of Soho, brings back many memories of playing the Marquee Club and staying up all night drinking espressos at Bar Italia to stay awake and see the dawn with other Merry Pranksters, as well as other adventures in freedom.”
Recorded at Stardust in the Bahamas, The Way It Was Back Then was built almost entirely from spontaneous, one-take performances. With no lyrics written down beforehand, Stewart sang, played guitar, and improvised melodies in real time—handling vocals, guitar, keyboard, and programming—while his longtime engineer and collaborator Jesse Samler played bass, drums, keyboard, and programming alongside him. Samler also handled the album’s layout.
The two then built out the rest of each song together and mixed the record themselves. The result is an intimate, unfiltered album about memory, survival, love, loss, loyalty, and betrayal—and the strange feeling of still being here after all of it.
“I wasn’t aware that I was making an album—in between the various things happening in my life, some I instigated and some just happenstance. I started to record myself singing songs at the same time as playing guitar. In almost every song, I didn’t write down any lyrics—I just sang the words at the same time as singing the melodies and playing the chords, kind of freeform. Luckily, my engineer and good pal Jesse can play the drums and bass real well, so it’s only the two of us playing everything! The whole album is very spontaneous in its lyrics and music. I have used this method on various solo albums, but usually that was with a programmer or a full band playing, but this time it was a lot more intimate.
“There is a lot of looking back, and I suppose everyone goes through this at different times in their life...especially at my age, but this is not looking back in a soft nostalgic way. These songs are about memory, survival, love, loss, damage, loyalty, betrayal, and the strange feeling of still being here after all of it. All of this spewed out, as I said, with no lyrics written down, straight off the top of my head in one take—so I’m not sure how I did it, and as usual, have to work out later what chords I was playing and learn the melodies that I sang at the time. On listening and reading the lyrics now, I realize there are songs about old friends, parents, heartbreak, the streets, courtrooms, and so many ghosts of people and places that never really left me.
“At the centre of the album, I suppose there is a deep longing for connection, but there is also the truth that nothing ever works out the way it did back then, hence the title. The past can be beautiful, but it can also be dangerous. A name, a voice, a house, a photograph—any of it can open my heart and break it at the same time.
“Some of the songs are very personal and rooted in where I came from. For me, the feeling of this album is bittersweet, cinematic, and human. ‘The Way It Was Back Then’ is not really about trying to go back...it’s about finally facing what was there.”
1. “The Way It Was Back Then”
2. “Your Wishes”
3. “Cry If You Want To”
4. “The House Where I Was Born”
5. “Black Cat”
6. “Makes Me Happy (And Sad)”
7. “Oh Jesse”
8. “All Done”
9. “Thin Ice”
10. “What’s a Man Supposed to Do”
The new album follows Dave Does Dylan, Stewart’s 14-song homage to Bob Dylan, which arrived as a limited-edition Record Store Day-exclusive vinyl release via Surfdog Records on April 12, 2025.
Featuring Stewart alone on vocals and guitar in live, unedited takes, the album found him performing inspired renditions of Dylan songs he has adored since childhood—a project Dylan himself praised, calling Stewart “a dreamer and a fearless innovator, a visionary of high order.”
Recorded live at Analog at Hutton Hotel in Nashville, Stewart paid tribute to Bob Dylan with an intimate, stripped-down performance of Dave Does Dylan, which aired on PBS and YouTube.
