Pete Murray has just released his highly anticipated new album, Longing.

One of Australia’s most beloved troubadours, the So Beautiful singer has plenty of experience when it comes to pulling at listeners’ heartstrings. Longing marks Murray’s eighth studio album, and his first independent full-length album in almost two decades.

He said of the new release, “Longing – this is a very special album to me. It’s my second-ever independent album. My first one came out in 2001, The Game. This one is special, as it’s taken ten years to put together.

“It’s made up of the best songs that I hadn't quite finished over time, I’d just kept putting them into an unfinished folder until I had enough to make it an album. And I feel it’s a really strong album because it’s ten years’ worth of work, and that’s a life lived. So, for me, it’s very special and I hope you guys enjoy it.”

In addition to the album’s release, Murray is spotlighting the new song Higher and has announced the 15-date Longing Summer tour for this December and January 2026.

“I played a summer tour last year and it was one of the most fun tours I have done,” he explained. “Everyone is on holidays and in such a great mood that it makes it so much fun to play to them. I can’t wait to do another summer run, but this time I’ll have a bunch of fresh new songs from my new album ‘Longing’ to throw into the mix. See you in the summer!”

Pre-sale tickets are now available via Pete Murray’s website. The general sale opens on Monday, 13 October.

To celebrate the release of Longing, Pete Murray has come up with a track-by-track exploration of his new album, exclusively for The Music.

Pete Murray – Longing Track-By-Track

Longing

Longing is the oldest song on the album. I started writing this song in about 2013 - 2014. I actually forgot I had even written this song and stumbled across the original demo about eight years later. The demo was well recorded, so I started just working on it, then put it away again for another couple of years.

Once I had finished the song, I had to call up a few music mates to check out who actually played on this track because most of it was recorded so long ago, and I had very little written down on who played on it.

I love the cruisey country nature and groove of the song, and the chorus is so nice to sing with all the harmonies. I can’t wait to sing this song live.

Amy

I played on the V Festival in the UK years ago, and my greenroom was right next to Peter Doherty, who was also on the line-up. Amy Winehouse was there with Peter this day, and I was nearly going to go over and introduce myself, but I thought it best to just leave them alone, as the media had been giving them both a really hard time in the press.

I was quite shocked to see how thin Amy was. She didn’t look well at all. Sadly, about 12 - 18 months later, Amy passed away, and when I heard about this, I was totally shocked, like the rest of the world, but part of me wasn’t surprised because of the way she looked when I saw her last. That was a sad day.

Amy was written not long after I heard the news of Amy Winehouse’s death. It’s a tribute to the amazing artist that she was. I wrote it from the perspective of a fan and how Amy would have made them feel. I didn’t want to make it obvious that this song was about her, so if you listen to the song without knowing what it’s about, you wouldn’t know it’s about Amy Winehouse.

I feel the song Amy has a different flavour to what I have recorded before. The backbeat rhythm on the acoustic guitar is what really makes it different. I also don’t use a four on the floor beat under any of my songs, but this works with Amy. It’s kind of hypnotic with the acoustic, snare and beat working together, and when the keys solo hits in the breakdown, it’s a beautiful, moving moment.

Place Your Bets

Another old song that I probably started writing around the same time as Longing, and I also forgot about this song. My guitarist, Brett Wood, played an old phone recording of this song from years ago, and it was so cool. Another song that has a country feel to it. I must have had a country flavour going on around 2014.

I love the swing on this song, and it also has a massive chorus that I feel will be a crowd favourite sing-along in the future.

Home To Me

I wrote this song in Nashville with fellow Aussie songwriter Phil Barton. I haven’t done much co-writing before, so I was a little nervous anyway before I jumped into these sessions, but what made me more nervous was the fact that I was trying to write a country song, and I had never written a country song before in my life.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to bring anything to the table, so the night before, I started writing the song. I actually wrote pretty much all the music that night and a few lyrics so that I had something to start with. Phil was awesome to work with, and he got stuck into the song with me, and we ended up nailing the song in a few hours.

Higher

You’ve got a fire in you. We all do. I wrote this song Higher to be the anthem for the fire that drives you to be the best, no matter what you're doing.

I was thinking about someone I look up to, someone who’s at the absolute top of their game. They don’t just win; they dominate. They leave everything on the field, with nothing left in the tank. That's the feeling I wanted to capture.

This song isn't just a track; it's a battle cry. It’s for every athlete getting ready to compete, every student about to ace an exam, every person chasing a dream. When you hear the chorus "higher, higher, leave it all behind” - I want you to feel that surge of energy, that belief that nothing can hold you back.

I can’t wait for you to hear it. Let's fly.

I Am Fire

I Am Fire is written about normal people that do incredible things to stand up for humanity and to save lives.

This is about the positive and negative raw emotion that people deal with when they decide to put their bodies on the line to save others.

Without guns, these people run into battle zones to save lives, they run into burning buildings to save lives, they swim in freezing waters to save lives, they crawl under fallen buildings after bombs to save lives, they carry bloodied bodies for miles to save lives, they stand up against injustice.

They are heroes that inspire others to be great. They are normal people like you and I but It’s their courage and bravery that sets them apart from everyone else.

Long Way To Go

I think this is the coolest song on the album.

In about 2016, I went to Adelaide to work with Dan Rankin, aka Trials from A.B. Original. We were working out of Baz’s (Barry Francis, DJ Debris - Hilltop Hoods) studio and Trials and Baz were showing me how to get beats from the ‘Machine’. Baz just put a beat down for fun, just to show me how this worked, and I said straight away, “I have a song that I think this beat will work really well on”. The song I was referring to was Long Way to Go.

I played the riff over the beat, and it worked really well, so we jumped straight into recording Long Way to Go on top of this beat that Baz just did, and it was perfect. I still wasn’t sure the song was finished, so I put it to bed for a few years (about eight years) and then pulled it out again to do some more work on it. I was surprised how good it sounded. I just needed a few bits and pieces to get it to where it is now, and now it is perfect.

Wouldn't It Be Good

This song just started with an opening riff, then went to the two-chord verse. I was really just searching for the chorus lyrics, and the music just seemed to fit in with the lyrics. It’s normally the other way around.

I produced this song with the help of Luke Palmer, and it’s funny with this song, because when I first wrote it and played it for some friends, it wasn’t getting a great reaction. But I still really liked the song and never gave up on it. Then I had my nephew Dylan Cattanach (aka Katanak) help me out on an early demo, and it was here that I really started to hear the potential of the song - but people still weren’t getting it.

During the recording of the album, I even played it to Luke, and he wasn’t that into it, so I left it until the very end of the album recording, and I brought it up again and got Luke to help me with it. There was a really great drum groove with congas playing, and I got Luke to play a bass line on it too.

As soon as I heard the bass, acoustic and drums, I knew this was going to work, and the whole song just fell into place after that. Even at this stage, when the song started to fall into place, I think I had lost a bit of confidence with it, and I said to Luke: “I’ll keep this song for the next record, but let’s just finish it anyway”. Instead, he was like, “No way this is one of my faves and should go on this album!” So, we finished it off, and now it’s the first single. Funny how things work.

Heaven Calls

Heaven Calls has a modern keyboard flavour on it. When I was working on the song, I was vibing Frank Ocean. I originally had programmed beats on this track, but at the last minute decided to change to real drums. I’m still not sure what I like best. There is something special about the programmed beats that made the song even more modern, but I think having real drums works better with this album.

I think the finger picking on this song gives it a great groove. It just floats underneath the rest of the music. I also I reversed the first half of the slide guitar solo which give it a cool and unique flavour.

Shakes

Tapping into some soul vibes in this song. I feel this is possibly the best vocal take of the album on the album. I love singing this song as the lyrics are so positive and happy.

Longing is out now.

PETE MURRAY

LONGING SUMMER TOUR

THURSDAY 18 DECEMBER | THE EXCHANGE, NEWCASTLE NSW

FRIDAY 19 DECEMBER | MIRANDA HOTEL, MIRANDA NSW

SATURDAY 20 DECEMBER | ETTAMOGAH PUB, KELLYVILLE NSW

SUNDAY 21 DECEMBER | DEE WHY SHOWROOM, DEE WHY NSW

THURSDAY 1 JANUARY | MANLY HARBOUR BOAT CLUB, MANLY NSW

FRIDAY 2 JANUARY | THE STATION, SUNSHINE COAST QLD

SATURDAY 3 JANUARY | KINGSCLIFF BEACH HOTEL, KINGSCLIFF NSW

SUNDAY 4 JANUARY | JETTY BEACH HOUSE, COFFS HARBOUR NSW

THURSDAY 8 JANUARY | PORT MACQUARIE RACE CLUB, PORT MACQUARIE NSW

FRIDAY 9 JANUARY | SHOAL BAY COUNTRY CLUB, SHOAL BAY NSW

SATURDAY 10 JANUARY | TORONTO HOTEL, TORONTO NSW

SUNDAY 11 JANUARY | DRIFTERS WHARF, GOSFORD NSW

FRIDAY 16 JANUARY | BARWON HEADS HOTEL, BARWON HEADS VIC

SATURDAY 17 JANUARY | PIER BANDROOM, FRANKSTON VIC

FRIDAY 13 FEBRUARY | HOTEL BRUNSWICK, BRUNSWICK HEADS NSW