Jim Allen Shares ‘Maybe Things Will Be Alright’

New album of the same name is out now

June 17, 2026June 17, 2026 Ron Hart 0 Comments Jim Allen, Maybe Things Will Be Alright, New York City, Peter Holsapple, Richard Barone, Steve Goulding

Thirty years after making the scene in the New York City club circuit, Uptown’s own Jim Allen is back with a brand new album called Maybe Things Will Be Alright, released on June 12.

A longtime writer for Rock & Roll Globe, Allen has a vast musical knowledge that molds the development of these dozen songs, which were recorded in Brooklyn by Magic Mike Jun.

Not to mention the proverbial rolodex as well, given the impressive array of guests who appear on the album.

First, there’s the primary studio band featuring C.P. Roth, who played on Suzanne Vega’s debut LP, on keyboards; guitarist Matt Applebaum, who plays alongside Allen in his group The Ramblin’ Kind; bassist Paul Foglino of 5 Chinese Brothers and Mekons drummer Steve Goulding.

Then there are the cameos, including appearances by Peter Holsapple (lead guitar, vocals “Maybe Things Will be Alright”), Richard Barone (lead guitar, vocals “In a Cave”), Dorothy Moskowitz of The United States of America (vocals “Where I Am”), Paul Conly of Lothar and the Hand People (synthesizers “Where I Am”), Rembert Block, Lizzie Edwards, Erica Smith and Byron Isaacs (vocals).

Jim Allen *Maybe Things Will Be Alright*, self-released 2026

Rock & Roll Globe is proud to premiere the video for the title track to Maybe Things Will Be Alright, which fans of the Smithereens will absolutely dig — especially if they grew up watching old cartoons on a movie screen at The Ground Round in the ’70s and ’80s.

“In keeping with the DIY spirit of things, I created the video on my own, with whatever meager skills and tools I had at hand,” Allen tells us. “I had to come up with something decent-looking using only my extremely limited iMovie abilities. I decided public domain ‘found’ footage was the way to go, and being a fan of old-school cartoons, I zeroed in on ones from the ’30s, like Popeye and Betty Boop. There’s something surreal about a lot of that stuff, so I leaned into that feeling as much as I could.

“The song itself is sort of a wary stab at, if not optimism, then at least a worldview that doesn’t rule out the possibility of things taking a positive turn, regardless of the relative likelihood. I always used to joke that I could describe my style in three words: ‘complaining in tune.’ Occasionally, in between all the bitching, I write something to try to make myself feel better. Who knows? Maybe it’ll make somebody else feel better, too.

“But for me, having one of my musical heroes, Peter Holsapple of The dB’s, on the song puts me over the moon about this track. His harmonies and lead guitar parts really just make the whole thing for me, they bring it all together and get it over the goalpost. The core band, which appears throughout the album, is killer, too.”

Maybe Things Will Be Alright can be purchased on Bandcamp.