Foo Fighters’ Chris Shiflett Readies New Solo Album ‘Hard Lessons’

Chris Shiflett passes along some fatherly wisdom on his spiraling new rocker “Welcome to Your First Heartache,” off his newly announced solo LP Hard Lessons, which will be released June 14th.

Aptly enough given the album’s title, “Welcome to Your First Heartache” is directed toward a son experiencing his first romantic letdown. “I’ve been where you’re standing and let me tell you, son, that it gets so much better,” Shiflett sings, his reassuring tone and gentle “oohs” that appear in the coda contrasted with a scorching guitar line and jackhammer drumming that teeters on the edge of combustibility.

Hard Lessons, recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville, reunites Shiflett with Grammy-winning producer Dave Cobb, who recorded the Foo Fighters guitarist’s last album, 2017’s West Coast Town, and also contributes acoustic guitar on the new recordings. The 10-track album features guest appearances from Elizabeth Cook on the song “The One You Go Home To” and guitar fireworks from former Sturgill Simpson guitarist Laur Joamets on the previously released “This Ol’ World.”

Shiflett heads to the U.K. next week to kick off a European tour, beginning with a gig at the Grand Social in Dublin, Ireland, on March 30th.

The full track listing for Chris Shiflett’s Hard Lessons:

1. Liar’s Word
2. This Ol’ World
3. Welcome to Your First Heartache
4. The Hardest Lessons
5. The One You Go Home To (feat. Elizabeth Cook)
6. Fool’s Gold
7. I Thought You’d Never Leave
8. Weak Heart
9. Marfa on My Mind
10. Leaving Again