Van Morrison is 80. Let that sink in for a second. Most people his age are content with a quiet garden and a crossword puzzle, but Van is currently outrunning artists half his age with a release schedule that feels almost frantic. If you’ve been trying to keep up with the Van Morrison latest CD news, you know it’s a moving target. Just when we finally digested the soul-searching original songs of Remembering Now in mid-2025, he pivots again.
His brand-new record, Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge, lands on January 23, 2026. It’s a beast. Twenty tracks. No filler.
Honestly, it feels like he’s in a race against time, or maybe he just has too much to say. This isn't just another collection of covers. It is a deep, grimy, and surprisingly joyful dive into the blues roots that built him. While his previous few years were... let's call them "opinionated," this new material feels like he’s finally stopped shouting at the clouds and started singing to the soul again.
The Blues Return: Breaking Down the New Tracks
You’ve got to admire the sheer audacity of a 20-track album in the streaming age. Most kids these days drop an EP and call it a day. Van? He calls up Taj Mahal and Buddy Guy.
The Van Morrison latest CD, Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge, is a mix of reverent interpretations and sharp new originals. It was recorded out in Sausalito, California, at Studio D, and you can practically hear the salt air and the vintage tube amps. He’s working with the heavyweights here. We’re talking Elvin Bishop, Mitch Woods, and his long-time anchor, John Allair.
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The tracklist reads like a history of the genre:
- "Kidney Stew Blues"
- "Rock Me Baby"
- "Betty and Dupree"
- "Social Climbing Scene" (A new original)
- "Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge" (Title track)
The vibe is raw. No-frills. It’s the kind of music that sounds better the louder you turn it up, specifically through a pair of decent floor speakers rather than cheap earbuds. He’s taking on Leadbelly and B.B. King, not to "copy" them, but to talk to them. You can hear it in his phrasing. He isn't hitting the notes like he did in 1970, but he’s hitting the meaning harder.
What People Get Wrong About Late-Era Van
There’s a common narrative that Van has lost the plot. Critics loved to harp on his pandemic-era lyrics. People said he was "cranky."
But if you actually listen to the Van Morrison latest CD, you’ll realize he’s moved past that. 2025’s Remembering Now was actually a massive return to form—it hit the UK Top 10 for a reason. Songs like "Down to Joy" (which actually got an Oscar nod a few years back for the movie Belfast) showed he still has that "Celtic Soul" magic in his back pocket.
Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge is the flip side of that coin. If Remembering Now was the spiritual, reflective side, this new 2026 album is the grit. It’s the "Saturday night in a Belfast pub" side.
The title track, "Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge," is classic Van cynicism wrapped in a blues shuffle. It’s funny, actually. He’s mocking the grifters and the "social climbing scene," but he’s doing it with a groove that makes you want to nod along rather than argue. He's at his best when he’s a little bit annoyed but a lot bit musical.
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The Collaborators Who Matter
It’s not just a solo ego trip. This record is a communal effort.
- Taj Mahal: Their chemistry is legendary. They share a similar "elder statesman" gravity.
- Buddy Guy: Getting Buddy on a track in 2026 is like catching lightning in a bottle.
- David Hayes: The man has been holding down the bass for Van for decades. He knows where the "one" is before Van even thinks of it.
Why This CD Still Matters in 2026
You might ask why you should buy a physical Van Morrison latest CD instead of just hitting play on a playlist.
The sequence matters. Van is an "album" artist. He builds a mood over the course of an hour. When you jump from "Deep Blue Sea" into "Snatch It Back and Hold It," there’s a narrative arc of musical history that gets lost when a shuffle algorithm takes over.
Also, let’s be real: Van’s fans like to own things. We like the liner notes. We like seeing who played the sax solo on "Madame Butterfly Blues."
The production on this new release, handled by Van himself alongside Jim Stern and Ben McAuley, is intentionally analog-sounding. It isn't polished to death. It breathes. You can hear the wooden floor of the studio. You can hear the spit in the harmonica. It feels human.
How to Experience the New Era
If you’re planning on picking this up, don't just put it on as background noise while you’re doing the dishes. It won’t work. This is "whiskey and a dark room" music.
- Get the CD or Vinyl: The double-vinyl is beautiful, but the CD is more practical for most of the older crowd who still have the high-end Bose systems.
- Check the Live Dates: He’s playing the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco this February. If you can get to California, go. These shows with Mitch Woods and Anthony Paule are reportedly more loose and improvisational than his standard sets.
- Listen to "Stretching Out" first: If you want to understand where his head is at, go back to the final track of his previous album. It’s a nine-minute jam that proves he’s still interested in the "mystic" side of music.
Van Morrison isn't retiring. He isn't slowing down. He’s just getting deeper into the woods. Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge is proof that as long as there’s a blues riff to be played, the Man will be there to sing it.
To get the most out of this release, start with the lead single "Somebody Tried To Sell Me A Bridge" to catch the vibe, then work your way through the Leadbelly covers to see how he’s reinterpreting the 1940s through a 2026 lens. If you’re a collector, grab the physical copy before the first pressing sells out, as his Orangefield Records releases have been having shorter runs lately.