Madison Cunningham
Following her Grammy-winning record Revealer, Cunningham pushes her songwriting further with tracks that balance vulnerability, reflection, and bold guitar-driven arrangements
Madison Cunningham has never been one to overplay her hand. With nothing more than a crystalline voice and a guitar that always seems one step ahead of you, she’s built a reputation on making small details explode into emotional fireworks. Now, the Los Angeles songwriter is kicking the doors wide open. Her third album, Ace — easily her boldest swing yet — drops October 10 on Verve Forecast, and today she’s giving us “Wake,” a fragile, luminous duet with Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold.
The track plays like two friends whispering secrets in the dark: dueling acoustic guitars weave a delicate lattice while their voices braid together in harmonies that ache with hindsight. “It hits me as I drive away / I’ll never see your hair go gray,” they sing, cutting deep in just a few words. It’s Cunningham at her most vulnerable, and her most self-assured — the sound of an artist unafraid to let her guard down while sharpening her craft.
For Cunningham, teaming with Pecknold was a full-circle moment. “Fleet Foxes’ melodies and songs have inspired me for as long as I can remember,” she says. Pecknold is just as effusive: “Working with Madison on this was humbling and enlightening. She’s a force and an inspiration… thank you so much Madison for pushing things forward so masterfully.”
“Wake” isn’t just another collab; it’s the kind of song that feels both timeless and urgent, a reminder that heartbreak is universal and hindsight always stings. It follows last month’s “My Full Name,” a tender gut-punch of a lead single where Cunningham sang, “Love’s a kind of sorrow worth saving,” laying out the record’s central paradox: love hurts, but you chase it anyway.
A follow-up to Cunningham’s GRAMMY-winning 2022 record, Revealer, Ace is a 14-track chronicle of heartbreak, risk, and renewal. “You think you’re on the verge of true healing but something scares you,” she says of writing the album. “And you have to start all over.” That jagged push and pull — healing and regression, breaking and rebuilding — is the pulse of the record.
If the last few years have cemented Cunningham as one of the most respected guitarists of her generation — she’s toured with Mumford & Sons, teamed up with Lucy Dacus, Remi Wolf, and Andrew Bird, and earned Hozier’s stamp of approval as “one of the most talented creative forces of our generation” — Ace feels like the moment she takes the wheel and doesn’t look back.
And she’s taking it on the road. The Ace Tour kicks off January 6, 2026, in San Francisco — her first proper headlining run after commanding massive stages alongside Mumford & Sons. Expect a set that cuts as close as an unplugged confession but still has the firepower to hold a theater in the palm of her hand.
Tickets go on sale this fall. Until then, sit with “Wake.” It’s a song that lingers long after it’s over — and a reminder that some artists don’t just write songs; they build entire worlds.
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