Cage The Elephant have launched a new chapter with the release of “Beaches in Tennessee,” their first fresh music in two years. Check it out below.
Built around Brad Shultz’s guitar, the track centers on Matt Shultz’s vocals delivering the refrain: “Somebody take me home / I’m not the enemy / I’m going back to those beaches in Tennessee.”
According to Matt, the song is a fictionalized retelling of a severe mental‑health crisis he faced several years ago. He previously described the experience as “extremely traumatic.” The episode coincided with Brad’s 2023 arrest after being detained in a hotel for carrying firearms licensed only in Kentucky and Tennessee. A court later determined that Brad’s actions resulted from psychotic delusions caused by medication side effects.
“This song for me symbolises me finally being able to move past it,” Matt explained. “It was my attempt at reclaiming the ability to write about something serious that happened in my life, from a place of genuine experience. Having gone through what I did, I’m grateful to have the perspective that I have now. The experience gave me a greater appreciation for my life when I came out on the other side.”
“I’m thankful for where I’m at now in this new chapter. As a band, we were able to reclaim the ability to write a song rooted in a difficult and turbulent real‑life event, but do it in a lighthearted way. I hope it helps someone else the way it helped me,” he added.
The track was produced with Justin Raisen and SADPONY (Jeremiah Raisen), with Brad noting that the former “was at the top of my list” of collaborators. It also marks the band’s debut release on Big Loud Rock.
Brad continued, “Musically, we always want to reinvent Cage The Elephant. We’ve discovered a whole new side to our band, how we look at things, and how we make art. You’re growing constantly as an artist, and I think we’ve tapped into that growth. I do feel like we’re making the best music we’ve ever made. If anything, it’s definitely the most inspired.”
The song follows a pivotal period for the Kentucky‑based group, who returned from their stint as special guests on Oasis’s “Live ’25” tour and moved straight into the studio. “The Oasis tour really reignited our fire to dream and continue to dream,” Matt said. “I think we realised there’s still room to evolve and push ourselves, especially in the live realm. That tour added to our overall passion and desire to see this thing through. When it was over, we decided not to take a break. We pretty much went straight into the studio to start making music.”
Brad’s remarks to NME after joining Oasis on their all‑American, Canadian and Mexican dates were cited as echoing this sentiment. He praised the band’s songwriting sensibility, rawness, and consistency, saying, “They’re a band that I’ve always respected for their songwriting sensibility, but also the rawness and realness of that band – I’ve always gravitated towards that. They make the type of records that you can put on front to back. There’s certain bands that just don’t miss, and they’re one of those bands.”
