Shore Fire Media

Bernie Taupin Shares Sweeping New Single “Come On California” Featuring Brandi Carlile

LISTEN HERE

Love Letter To His Adopted Home Reflects On More Than Five Decades Of Love, Life & Music In California

Taupin & Carlile Reunite On Single Following Keynote Conversation At Taupin’s Debut AMERICANAFEST Appearance This Week

The Sea Has No Mercy Arrives October 23 Via Vertigo Records & MCA Nashville

Bernie Taupin and Brandi Carlile during AMERICANAFEST 2026 at The Embassy Suites Nashville on September 16, 2026 in Nashville, Tennessee. 

(Photo by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music Association)

September 18, 2026: Today, legendary songwriter Bernie Taupin shares “Come On California,” a sweeping new single featuring Brandi Carlile and a deeply personal love letter to the place he has called home for more than five decades. The track arrives just days after Taupin and Carlile took the stage together in Nashville for the 2026 AMERICANAFEST Keynote Conversation, part of Taupin’s first-ever appearance at the festival. “Come On California” appears on his forthcoming album, The Sea Has No Mercy, out October 23 via Vertigo Recordsand MCA Nashville.

Taupin first arrived in Los Angeles in 1970 as a wide-eyed 20-something, beginning a relationship with California that would become inseparable from his life and work. “Come On California” looks back across the decades that followed, capturing the places, relationships and music that shaped him through the ecstatic rush of memory.

“It’s intensely personal,” says Taupin. “California is in my blood. I’ve spent so much of my life here and seen so many different relationships during that time. And ultimately, the relationship that changed my life, which is the one the song is about. The line, ‘California, turn your radio on’ is LA to me – driving down Highway 101 in a rented Mustang, listening to the radio. This song is me listening to my own songs on the radio, and being able to program what I hear.”

Joining Taupin on the track is Brandi Carlile, who he calls “an extraordinary singer and an extraordinary human being – I love her to death and what she did on this song was generous to a fault.”

“When I put pen to paper as a child it was because of the lyrics Bernie Taupin has given us,” says Carlile of the collaboration. “I dreamed that one day I might meet him and that with a little luck we might even write a song together. What I never imagined was that I’d get to sing with Bernie Taupin. That was beyond my wildest dreams. How wonderful life is.”

Listen to “Come On California” featuring Brandi Carlile here: https://bernietaupin.lnk.to/comeoncalifornia 

Pre-order The Sea Has No Mercy here:

https://bernietaupin.lnk.to/TheSeaHasNoMercy

(Photos by Erika Goldring/Getty Images for Americana Music Association)

 

The collaboration arrives on the heels of a milestone week for Taupin, who made his AMERICANAFEST debut in Nashville. On Wednesday, September 16, he joined Carlile for the festival’s 2026 Keynote Conversation, an intimate, moderator-free discussion exploring songwriting, collaboration, artistic longevity and storytelling. Taupin also took the stage at the Americana Honors & Awards at the historic Ryman Auditorium, where he presented the Song of the Year Award to Carlile for “Returning to Myself."

“Come On California” offers another window into the personal storytelling at the heart of The Sea Has No Mercy, Taupin’s first solo album in almost 40 years and the first album he has entirely self-written. Across its 10 songs, he draws on 76 years of lived experience to look back on the people, places and experiences that have shaped him.

Recorded in Nashville with producer Frank Liddell, the album features Taupin alongside guitarist Adam Wright, bassist Glen Worf and keyboard player Michael Rojas, collectively nicknamed The Tennessee Stone Cutters. In addition to Carlile, the album features guest vocals from Taupin’s daughter Georgey Devon Taupin, with contributions from Lee Ann Womack, the Jeremy Jordan Ensemble and percussionist Jay Bellerose.

Taupin says, “I couldn’t have made this album as a younger man. I couldn’t have written any of these songs. They’re all completely indicative of Bernie Taupin at 76-years-old. They need the life behind them. Everything on this record is hugely personal. Every single line, every word, means something to me, whether from a past, present or storytelling perspective.”

The album was inspired by Taupin’s acclaimed 2023 autobiography Scattershot and a retrospective documentary that has been in development for several years, with all three projects innately interlinked.

The Sea Has No Mercy is available to pre-order / pre-save HERE. In addition to its digital release on October 23rd, the album will be available on vinyl and CD.

 

Tracklisting

  1. Fisherman
  2. Old Church Road
  3. The Sea Has No Mercy
  4. Elephant Boy
  5. Ghosts of Greater Men
  6. Joker
  7. Come On California featuring Brandi Carlile
  8. The Favor
  9. Old Dog
  10. One Hundred Ways featuring Georgey Devon Taupin

 

Follow Bernie Taupin:

Spotify | Apple Music | Instagram

 

For more information on Bernie Taupin, please contact:

Allison Elbl & Taylor Perry at Shore Fire Media