Jethro Tull Reveal First Album in Nearly 20 Years, ‘The Zealot Gene’

In 2003, Jethro Tull released their 21st album, a Christmas album mixed with some new material, then went on hiatus, marking one of the longest release lulls in the band’s more than 50-year career, before regrouping in 2017 for The Zealot Gene.

Set to release in 2022, the band returns with their 22nd album, a collection of new material, released under a new label InsideOutMusic/Sony Music, with founding member and frontman Ian Anderson, along with guitarist Joe Parrish-James, keyboardist John O’Hara, bassist David Goodier and drummer Scott Hammond.

Anderson teased some of the title track lyrics—Bee buzzing in your bonnet / and a wasp right up the bum / a V8 under hood / a cocked hammer under thumb—in a recent interview, while revealing more on his book Silent Singing, a collection of Tull lyrics from the band’s 1968 debut, This Was, through their upcoming 2022 release.

While it’s the first release for the band in nearly 20 years, Anderson has continued to work on material as a solo artist in the years between, releasing Thick as a Brick 2 in 2012, Homo Erraticus in 2014, and a collection of orchestrated renditions of Tull songs on Jethro Tull – The String Quartets, featuring John O’Hara and the Carducci String Quartet in 2017.

“After 54 years in the world of music recording, it is with great pleasure that I now sign Jethro Tull to a record company which reminds me, in many ways, of the old Chrysalis label, both as an independent and in its later years in partnership with EMI,” said Anderson in a statement. ”Here are real music guys with a passion for the best and most creative in rock music. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship and more releases to come.”