Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench will release his second solo album, The Melancholy Season, on March 7 and has shared the first preview of the record with the release of the title track.
In a post on his website, Tench reveals that the song was inspired by a poem he wrote while looking at the constellation Orion.
“At the house where I lived for many years, in the hills overlooking the San Fernando Valley, Orion was only visible in the fall and winter,” Tench writes. “I associated the constellation with that time: ‘Oh, there’s my friend.’ But that season, when it starts getting cold in California, has always been a bit melancholy to me.”
He adds that the tune is “about a guy looking across the backyard at his wife by the pool. She’s about to kick off her shoes. It’s cold, the pool is heated and the steam is rising off the water. The idea was the alienation between these two people.”
This is Tench’s first solo release since his debut solo album, You Should Be So Lucky, came out in 2014.
The Melancholy Season is available for preorder now.
Tench is set to kick off a five-show residency at New York’s Café Carlyle Feb. 18 and will then hit the road for a short tour that starts March 12 in Los Angeles. A complete list of dates can be found at benmonttench.com.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
