Madison Cunningham Announces Third Album, ‘Ace’

The singer-songwriter Madison Cunningham has announced her third studio album, Ace. The 14-song album explores highs and lows, falling out of love and learning to fall back in again. “You think you’re on the verge of true healing but something scares you,” Cunningham says of the album’s themes, “And you have to start all over.” Ace is out October 10 on Verve Forecast.

The album is led by the single “My Full Name,” which finds the Los Angeles musician trading her guitar for the piano while processing heartbreak: “Love’s a kind of sorrow worth saving,” she sings in a live solo performance video.

Ace was co-produced by Cunningham and Robbie Lackritz (Feist, Rilo Kiley, Bahamas, Peach Pit). “This is the first record that’s ever felt like mine from start to finish. It was as light to make as its subject matter was heavy,” Cunningham wrote on Instagram. “I’ve never felt more ownership over anything creatively, yet that was all due to the deep collaboration with some of my favorite musicians and best friends on the planet.”

The record includes a collaboration with Robin Pecknold of Fleet Foxes, who lends his vocals to “Wake.” “We did maybe ten takes where she played and sang perfectly every time and I struggled to keep up,” Pecknold says of their collaboration. “She’s a force and an inspiration.”

Ace is a follow up to 2022’s Revealer, which won a Grammy award for Best Folk Album. That album’s “Life According to Raechel” also received a nomination for Best American Roots Performance. Her first album for Verve Forecast was 2019’s Who Are You Now, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Americana Album.

Last year, Cunningham and Andrew Bird released Cunningham Bird, which covers 1973’s Buckingham Nicks, the pre-Fleetwood Mac collaboration of Lindsey Buckingham and singer Stevie Nicks. Cunningham has also collaborated with Remi Wolf, Lake Street Dive, Jacob Collier, Chris Thile, and more.

Order Madison Cunningham’s Ace now.