Thom Bishop’s Train Leaving Dallas is not a conventional collection of originals and covers. Instead, the acclaimed American songwriter set out with producer and collaborator Billy Panda to create an album where newly written songs could feel classic, and classic songs could feel newly discovered. The result is a twelve-track record due for release on July 31st, 2026.
The album’s six original tracks were co-written during the period when Bishop and Panda were both based in Nashville. Those songs sit alongside six covers chosen from material the two musicians had performed together over many years in live settings. Rather than treating the covers as simple tributes, Bishop and Panda approached them as living songs, open to fresh interpretation and new emotional colour.
“Here Comes The Night,” the album’s lead single, captures that idea clearly. Bishop’s version of the Van Morrison classic was inspired by an evening in Galway, where he found himself holding a guitar as night settled over the city. The moment led him back to his earliest memory of hearing Morrison on American radio, creating a connection between Ireland, memory and the lasting pull of great songwriting.
The album was recorded in stages. Bishop’s original material was recorded at Panda’s Studio P in Sarasota, Florida, while the covers began with Bishop performing alone on his Gibson L4 archtop guitar at Brian Shey’s home studio in Lyons, Colorado. Panda later built the arrangements around those performances, adding instrumentation and production detail, while Executive Producer Grace McKay helped shape the completed record.
Bishop’s career gives Train Leaving Dallas deep context. His songs have earned praise from Billboard, Paul Zollo and The New York Times, and the title track has already been recorded by Crystal Sands and Megon McDonough. With this album, Bishop steps forward not only as a veteran songwriter, but as an artist still searching, listening and finding new ways to make songs matter.