“Random Madness”, new album by blues icon Billy Price, available May 1 from Get Hip Recordings!

On May 1, 2026, Get Hip Records in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania will release Random Madness by award-winning soul-blues vocalist Billy Price. The new recording, produced by Grammy award-winning producer and drummer Tony Braunagel, contains 11 new songs co-written by Price. Braunagel produced Price’s acclaimed 2024 album Person of Interest, nominated by the Blues Foundation for four 2025 Blues Music Awards including Album of the Year.

“The success of Person of Interest motivated me to continue developing my songwriting, largely with my longtime writing partner Jim Britton, keyboard player in the Billy Price Band,” says Price. “The songs on Random Madness, from lighthearted to confessional to serious, are the most personal of my career and the natural evolution of what Tony and I started with Person of Interest.”

“A few months after Person of Interest was released, we began talking about making another record together,” says Braunagel. “I liked the idea of making this one with the Billy Price Band in Pittsburgh. We realized that a lot of good things could come out of Billy showing his band members support and well-earned respect for going out and making him sound great every night on stage and giving them an opportunity to mix energy from other sources with their local flavor.”

Random Madness was recorded at The Vault recording studio in Pittsburgh by world-class engineer Jimmy Hoyson. “For these songs,” says Price, “It was important to me to be able to work at home with the band I’ve been playing with for decades. In addition to Jim on keyboards, we used my longtime bass player Tom Valentine and drummer Dave Dodd—they’ve been with me since the late 1970s—and my veteran horn section of trumpet player Joe Herndon and sax player Eric Spaulding, who appears on so many of the classic recordings from Kid Andersen’s Greaseland recording studio in San Jose, California.”

Producer Tony Braunagel played drums on several of the tracks, and the album showcases two of the top guitar players in Pittsburgh, Ian Arthurs and Steve Delach, as well as acclaimed jazz trombonist Reggie Watkins and the gospel-inflected BGVs, AKA Background Vocals. The atmospheric title song, “Random Madness,” includes a guest appearance by trumpet great Sean Jones, who was featured on the 2007 Grammy-winning album Turned to Blue by Nancy Wilson. As a bandleader, Jones has released eight albums on the Mack Avenue Records label and is currently the chair of the jazz studies department of the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

Listeners of Random Madness will enjoy performances in a variety of related musical styles—soul, R&B, blues-rock, jazz, and soul-blues—anchored by Price’s distinctive vocal style and the stellar musicians of the Billy Price Band.

Tony Braunagel on Billy Price and the Billy Price Band

Tony Braunagel has played on many film scores and television shows as well as numerous albums as a musician, composer, and producer. He is best known as a session drummer and/or percussionist of over 200 albums. Several of the albums produced by Braunagel have been nominated for and won Grammy and Blues Music Awards.

“I grew up on soul music. That’s what I heard in Billy the first time I saw him perform, and I realized that we had that in common. We’ve shared a lot since our first meeting and discovered that we love a lot of similar things about this music. We talked about one day making a record together, got delayed for a few years, and then one day Billy said, ‘Hey I’m ready to do this.’ He came up with some great songs, and we made Person of Interest here in Los Angeles. It received critical acclaim and multiple nominations and awards.

“In time we began talking about making another record, this time with Billy’s own band. I did a little research, saw some videos of the Billy Price Band playing live with Billy, and then met their keyboard player Jim Britton online in a Zoom call. I could tell immediately that something special was going on with the combination of Billy‘s wonderfully clever, well-thought-out, and well-crafted lyrics of soul music and Jim Britton’s brilliant musical direction. Later I would get to experience the full range of Jim’s impressive talents firsthand.

“We worked through some arrangement ideas, honed a few things, and then shared the songs with the band members, all dedicated and serious musicians themselves. They started performing the songs at their shows and developed an authentic feel for them. Billy found a great studio in Pittsburgh called The Vault that had an experienced engineer named Jimmy Hoyson. Jimmy had worked in major studios in Los Angeles, and he and I had many friends in common. We established an immediate rapport, and I felt at home at The Vault from the start. It was easy to get a great sound with Jimmy in a studio so well equipped. I was surprised to feel comfortable immediately and throughout the process in a room full of strangers and in a city on the other side of the country: a blessing indeed.

“We had a fun week recording those tracks. Everybody had great attitudes, the enthusiasm was high, and the smiles were wide. I felt confident with what I brought home on the hard drive. We made some repairs remotely, and everything came off well. At the recommendation of a young man I highly respect, Colemine Records recording artist Kelly Finnigan, we chose the talented Sergio Rios, member of the band Orgone and producer and engineer for neo-soul artists including Neal Francis and Say She She, to mix the recording. We mastered at Lurssen Mastering here in Los Angeles, a facility with a great reputation and a place where I feel like a member of the family.

“So here we are with this fantastic new record by Billy Price called Random Madness. I hope that you can take the time to listen carefully and relate to how he’s put these wonderful words together into his brand of soul music. Billy is singing his butt off on this one; I’m proud of it and have no doubt that the nominations, awards, and accolades will come. More importantly, I know that it will move everyone who has a chance to listen to it.”

About Billy Price

2016 Blues Music Award (BMA) winner and frequent BMA nominee Billy Price first attracted national attention during his three-year association with guitarist Roy Buchanan. Price is the vocalist on two of Buchanan’s LPs for Polydor Records, That’s What I’m Here For and Live Stock. Since then, with the Keystone Rhythm Band, the Billy Price Band, and solo projects, Price has recorded and released a total of 21 albums, CDs, and DVDs.

Price’s album This Time for Real, with Chicago soul singer Otis Clay, received a 2016 BMA for best soul blues album. He was nominated 11 times for BMAs between 2019 and 2025 and won the 2024 Bluebird Reviews Lifetime Career Award in the U.K. His most recent recording, Person of Interest, was nominated for 2025 BMAs for Soul Blues Album and Album of the Year.

For more information about Random Madness or to schedule an interview with Price or Braunagel, please contact Kevin Johnson.

Album & Tour Information

Copies of the new album will be available in the Get Hip record shop, online at gethip.com, and billyprice.com on CD and vinyl on May 1, 2026.

Billy Price is currently on tour in Florida, but will be back in the area for events on the following dates. Visit billyprice.com to purchase tickets and for more information on other upcoming tour dates.

• APRIL 18 // Billy Price Band, Cadence Clubhouse, Allison Park, PA, 7pm
• MAY 3 // Release Party for Random Madness, Pittsburgh’s Syria Shriners, Cheswick, PA, 5pm
• MAY 23 // Billy Price Brunch, Pittsburgh Winery, Pittsburgh, PA, 12pm
• MAY 29 // Billy Price Band feat. Tad Robinson, Moondog’s, Blawnox, PA, 8:30pm

Contact:

Billy Price, 412-979-9851, info@billyprice.com
Kevin Johnson, 773-742-4327, delrayjohnson@yahoo.com, Proud Papa Promotions & Publicity

More information:

Interview with Billy Price for BLUES.GR