Willie J Healey has announced his new album Lucky, set for release on 12th March 2027 via V2, alongside the arrival of its lead single, Benjamin, and details of an extensive UK headline tour in April.
Willie J Healy
The forthcoming record marks the Oxford-born songwriter’s first full-length release since 2023’s Bunny and finds him embracing a more acoustic, personal approach to songwriting. Working alongside a close circle of friends, Healey has created a collection that draws on his instinctive melodic sensibility while exploring life, relationships, faith, mortality and the experiences that shape who we become.
On Lucky, Healey continues to bring vintage musical influences into a contemporary setting, with echoes of artists such as Neil Young, Yo La Tengo and Wilco informing a sound that feels warm, unvarnished and reflective. The album captures an artist taking stock of his life so far, balancing moments of introspection with the humour and easygoing charm that have become hallmarks of his songwriting.
Rather than pursuing an overly polished production, Healey has focused on directness and emotional honesty. Much of the record was written in a small studio at the back of his new home, overlooking a nearby park, allowing him the space to work through his thoughts with an acoustic guitar at the centre of the process.
Speaking about the album and its lead single, Benjamin, Healey explains: “It felt good for me to get back to some real deal stuff. I really sat down and worked through everything on an acoustic guitar, feelings too — which is why most of the songs have very little electric guitars on them. “I moved house and live by a park now, I set up my studio in the back of the house and wrote most of the songs in that little room, pretty isolated in a nice way.”
The new single arrived quickly during the writing process, with Healey describing it as one of those rare songs that seems to emerge fully formed. Built around acoustic guitars and an expressive vocal performance, Benjamin carries an atmosphere of hopeful desperation, with its central sentiment reaching towards something beyond the self for reassurance or salvation.
“I wrote Benjamin really quickly, it was one of those gifts. Just came right to me!” he says. “We tracked all of these acoustic guitars and I did this big gasp at the beginning because I think the song kinda feels like somebody who’s asking to be saved by whatever’s out there saving things. It’s got this hopeful desperation thing going on.”
That instinct for capturing complicated emotions without overcomplicating the music runs throughout Lucky. The album brings together personal reflection and broader questions about life, death, God and religion, allowing Healey to approach weighty subjects with characteristic wit and melodic ease. With more life experience behind him, he finds himself able to revisit difficult moments with greater perspective, turning them into songs that feel both intimate and relatable.
The recording process reflects that same philosophy. Healey deliberately resisted the temptation to make the material sound too slick, instead favouring performances that preserve the immediacy of the songs.
“There’s nothing too fancy about the recordings we got, which I’m very happy about,” he says. “I felt slightly caught up in making things slick — I didn’t want to do that this time. I couldn’t be bothered. To me it feels direct and simple! Which is weirdly hard to do sometimes.”
The release of Lucky will be followed by a 16-date UK headline tour throughout April 2027, taking Healey from Exeter and Cardiff through Portsmouth, Oxford, Norwich and Birkenhead, before heading to Glasgow, Sheffield, Huddersfield and Manchester. Further dates include Leeds, Hebden Bridge, Nottingham and Birmingham, with the tour concluding at London’s KOKO on 28th April before a final show in Bristol the following evening.
The run offers audiences the opportunity to hear the new material live as Healey enters the next chapter of his career. Lucky is released on 12th March 2027 via V2. The new single Benjamin is available now, with its accompanying video also released alongside the announcement.
Upcoming 2027 UK Live Dates:
APRIL
10th – Exeter, The Cavern
11th – Cardiff, The Globe
12th – Portsmouth, KOLA
14th – Oxford, O2 Academy
15th – Norwich, Arts Centre
16th – Birkenhead, Future Yard
17th – Glasgow, King Tut’s
19th – Sheffield, The Foundry
20th – Huddersfield, Parish
21st – Manchester, Band on the Wall
23rd – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
24th – Hebden Bridge, The Trades Club
25th – Nottingham, Rescue Rooms
27th – Birmingham, Castle & Falcon
28th – London, KOKO
29th – Bristol, Electric
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