Tyler Ballgame

Rough Trade Records is thrilled to announce Tyler Ballgame’s stunning debut album For the First Time, Again, out January 30th, 2026. A bracing reminder of how great songs delivered by a gifted vocalist can move, captivate and inspire, it boasts 12 finely crafted tunes rooted in classic rock, indie and Americana. Ballgame’s infectious melodies draw the listener into a story, and his message of belief in one’s true self resonates deep and wide.

The album’s lead single, the rhapsodic Lennon-meets-Orbison ‘I Believe In Love’ is out today with a video by Ballgame’s friends and roommates Joey Casale and Victoria Gagnaire Stein. Recorded live, the song is the first one that Ballgame wrote explicitly knowing there would be a record and that it would change his life. “I had met [producer Jonathan] Rado and he told me to write the biggest song in the world, so I sat down at my kitchen table for two days and put the puzzle of the composition together. It’s turned into an anthem about love of love and the fools it makes,” he explains.

For the First Time, Again was recorded with acclaimed indie producer-multi-instrumentalists Jonathan Rado (Foxygen, Miley Cyrus, Weyes Blood) and Ryan Pollie (Los Angeles Police Department). Known as unapologetic “analog fetishists,” Rado and Pollie shape the sonics of Ballgame’s work with propulsive acoustic guitar, soulful rhythms, colorful keyboards, occasional horns, and lush harmonies, all rendered with the same recording technology as in classic albums of the ‘60s and ‘70s. Drummer Amy Aileen Wood (Fiona Apple) and bassist Wayne Whitaker contribute mightily to the pulse and character of the album.

Ballgame traces the genesis of For the First Time, Again to a pivotal moment that almost didn’t happen. Stuck in his native New England, depressed and isolated during the pandemic, living in his parents’ basement, Ballgame knew in his heart he was destined for a life in music. He’d known it since he was a child growing up with a classically trained music teacher mom, who encouraged him to joyfully perform anytime, anywhere – which he did, to great effect. He’d known it when he obsessively downloaded classic rock from Napster, and when more than one teacher at the prestigious Berklee College of Music told him he had the goods, as both songwriter and vocalist. As Ballgame says, “I think I’m meant to sing for people.”

Artwork by Tauni Western

Tyler Ballgame