Brother Cane Announces Winter 2026 Tour Dates

Brother Cane announced that they'll continue to promote their latest album with a new round of tour dates starting in December.

The most recent additions to their schedule will find them visiting Texas for a four-pack of concerts, including a Dec. 4 stop in Austin where the '90s rockers will share the stage with previous tourmates Kansas. Tickets and VIP packages are on sale now.

More information is available at the band's official website and they say that fans can expect additional shows to be announced.

The New Brother Cane Album

In one sense, we can thank John Waite for the fact that there's a fresh Brother Cane record on the shelves here in 2026, nearly 30 years after the rockers, known for songs like "Got No Shame," released their last album, 1998's Wishpool.

After the band dissolved at the end of the '90s, frontman and songwriter Damon Johnson found himself playing guitar in the early 2000s for the Babys and Bad English singer, who had also scored his own solo hits, including the '80s classic, "Missing You."

Waite had some pointed advice for his new collaborator. "John was the first person that said to me, 'Damon, don't ever give up the name Brother Cane,'" Johnson remembers. "He goes, 'You've invested real time in that. You were the songwriter, you were the singer. You never know what the future holds.'"

We can see the future now and it's one that includes a new Brother Cane album, against many odds. Magnolia Medicine, the Alabama-bred group's fourth album arrived this spring. It follows a series of strong solo releases from Johnson in recent years. By the time he released 2021's Battle Lessons, produced by Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters), it was clear he'd come full circle.

Listen to Brother Cane's 'This Means War'

The Road Back to Brother Cane

"Wishpool was so great. It was an amazing record and we all believed that that was going to be a game-changer for us," he says, reflecting on the start of the long journey that would eventually wind back around to Brother Cane and Magnolia Medicine.

"Instead, it went the total opposite direction. People were apathetic. Radio had changed. The record company had changed," he explains. "We were just beaten up, physically, spiritually, mentally." A wilderness period of sorts followed, but he got some good gigs out there in the woods. In addition to playing guitar with Waite, he'd written with Sammy Hagar leading up to the Brother Cane hiatus. Additional writing gigs followed with Skid Row, a song for Carlos Santana and Steven Tyler, Queensryche, Stevie Nicks and even a short-term stint with a reunited Damn Yankees.

He'd spend longer stretches of time with Alice Cooper, Thin Lizzy (and the related Black Star Riders) and since 2021, he's been playing guitar for Lynyrd Skynyrd, a role which became sadly permanent after founding member Gary Rossington passed away.

Brother Cane in Concert — John Montgomery / Courtesy of Brother Cane

How He Honors Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gary Rossington on the New Album

Johnson pays a worthy tribute to his guitar mentor with "Prince Charming," one of many standouts on the new album. He wrote it as an homage to Rossington and the emotional track features Skynyrd's Johnny Van Zant and Rickey Medlocke, plus two of the band's "Honkettes," Carol Chase and Stacey Michelle, on backing vocals.

"I just played the song randomly for Johnny one day when we were on the road with Skynyrd, because I was working on finishing some Brother Cane lyrics while I was traveling," he recalls. "I don't know what possessed me to play it for him. I did feel like 'Prince Charming' was a great song, but I just thought, 'Well, it's about Gary Rossington, of course, it's a good song. I'd love for Johnny to hear it.'"

He played "Prince Charming" for Van Zant on acoustic and the singer started to join in as Johnson hit the second chorus. He knew. "It was definitely the universe saying, 'Oh man, you need to get your new boy, Van Zant to sing on this,'" he says. "Because it just lifted it and took it into, like 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' territory."

"He started playing the song and by the end of it, I was like, 'Hey, I want to be a part of this if it's going to be on your record," Van Zant details in a separate conversation. "Honestly, all of my parts probably took me 20 minutes. I was on the way to the airport to go do something else. But I was like, I'll give it a shot. We came in and it just came naturally. It's such a great tribute to Gary. Damon's just a fantastic guy and the album's great."

READ MORE: Top 10 Gary Rossington Songs

"You know, having him on it," it gave me more chutzpah to deliver the lyrics with a different kind of focus," Johnson shares, remembering the goosebumps he'd felt in the moment. "It's such a blessing, man, to have him on it. He just killed it."

Watch Brother Cane's 'Prince Charming Video Featuring Johnny Van Zant

How Van Halen Made an Important Connection

Skid Row bassist Rachel Bolan is among Johnson's peers who are singing the praises of what he and Brother Cane have accomplished with Magnolia Medicine. Bolan and Johnson first met when Skid Row and Brother Cane were out opening for Van Halen in the '90s on the latter's Balance tour. They struck an instant bond with each other.

"I tell Damon all of the time, 'Got No Shame' [a hit at rock radio for Brother Cane in the '90s] is in my Top 10 of favorite songs in my life," Bolan says via Zoom. Johnson ended up playing a substantial number of solos on the bassist's new solo album, Gargoyle of the Garden State, which came out in early June. "He just sits there looking at you, playing guitar, and he doesn't even look at the neck," he laughs. "It just blows my mind."

But he points out that the guitarist and songwriter has a lot of other things that he brings to the table as well. "The stuff that we wrote for Skid Row [for their 1996 album, Thickskin], he was a good organizer," Bolan shares. "We'd have so many ideas. He organized thoughts and he's like, 'Man, maybe you're working that riff a little too much.' Being a vocalist, with some lyrics I'd write, he's like, 'That's a really hard sing. Can we say it in a different way?'"

"I learned a lot working with Damon and he's a natural, man," Bolan concludes. "Brother Cane, their new record, it's so good. It's the real deal. I called him and I'm like, 'Dude, this is crazy, crazy, crazy, good.'"

Listen to Brother Cane's 'Nothing to Lose'

The Other Missing Link

Marti Frederiksen is the other part of the Brother Cane equation, a piece of the puzzle that goes all of the way back to the band's first album in 1993. The pair wrote "Got No Shame" together (among the many they penned for the album) and Johnson says the producer and songwriter has always been an essential piece of the Brother Cane story.

"There would have never been a Brother Cane in the first place, had it not been for the songs that Marti and I wrote together," Johnson confirms. "Yes, the band did an amazing job of recording and playing them in the studio. Of course, we all worked our tails off, touring relentlessly and the record company did a good job. None of that machinery happens without those songs. So yeah, Marti and I have a chemistry that is rare."

He's got a special blend, too, being reunited with original Brother Cane bassist Glenn Maxey, plus his longtime collaborators, guitarist Tony Higbee, drummer Jared Pope and keyboardist Buck Johnson, a trio he has a deep bond with "As you know I've been making music with [them] really, for twice as long as the original Brother Cane was ever together. So just being with my friends and having their trust, [means so much]."

Gratitude is something he keeps coming back to throughout the conversation with UCR. "I was so grateful, man, to get to play guitar after [Brother Cane parted ways at the end of the '90s] for John Waite, to get the Alice Cooper call and on and on and on," he says. "This is all wild stuff. It's just wild that here I am in my early 60s, bumping up against getting a Social Security check one day soon, and I just made my favorite record of my whole career. Magnolia Medicine. It's my favorite record of my entire career. No contest."

What Else Has Brother Cane Been Doing This Year?

The band spent part of the first half of 2026 touring with Kansas and 38 Special, playing to packed houses. "Both of those bands were big on my turntable as a kid, so we're excited to play for their audience and turn them on to Brother Cane," he told UCR prior to the run of dates.

The summer found Johnson back in Lynyrd Skynyrd mode as the Southern Rock legends hit the road with Foreigner in July and August. He also shares that in addition to further activity with Brother Cane, he'd love the chance to make another solo acoustic album. For now, he's just thankful with where things are at for him and his career. "I've got the full support of [my wife] Linda and the kids with everything I'm doing," he says.

"I'm not having to get on a plane and be gone for [many] weeks, like I was with Alice and like I was with Black Star Riders," he explains. "I don't want to ever do that again, man. So I think there's a path for me to to reach all my musical goals and still be home, to be with my family. It feels like it's my best life."

Listen to Brother Cane's 'The Wolf on the Mountain'

Brother Cane, Winter 2026 Tour Dates

Dec. 02 - Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Midtown
Dec. 03 - San Marcos, TX @ Ragnar's
Dec. 04 - Austin, TX @ Austin City Limits Live at the Moody Theater
Dec. 05 - McKinney, TX @ The Sanctuary Music & Events