Tesla will release Homage, an album of soul and R&B covers, in July via Frontiers Music Srl. Built around the vocal abilities of frontman Jeff Keith, the record features interpretations of classics by Sam Cooke, Etta James, and James Brown, alongside a new original Tesla track, “Never Alone”.
Guitarist Frank Hannon confirmed the details in a recent interview with Evan Toth, saying (via Blabbermouth): “Tesla is releasing an album of R&B classics that showcase our lead singer’s voice, singing Sam Cooke and Etta James, and James Brown. It’s called Homage. And that album is gonna come out in July. It’s a very interesting record, and it’s got some really cool songs on it, as well as a new Tesla song called ‘Never Alone’.”
Hannon had first flagged the project during a November 2025 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, explaining the thinking behind it to host Eddie Trunk: “Well, you were talking about [Tesla frontman] Jeff Keith being a singer who can still sing compared to a lot of our other comrades from our era. And so we’re doing a collection of songs that showcase Jeff Keith‘s singing ability. And it’s coming out really great, man. Some really obscure classic songs that you would not expect to hear from Tesla. And it’s centered around his ability to sing and his soulfulness in his voice.
“[Tesla bassist] Brian Wheat has been working really hard at producing it. These guys were just in the studio for a week. I did some recording in Las Vegas in my hotel room with Jeff, and we’re working on it. It’s a work in progress.”
Hannon also revealed the tracklist would include Tesla‘s take on Supertramp‘s “Give A Little Bit” — a song the band has been playing live recently — as well as a new version of Climax Blues Band‘s “I Love You”, which has racked up significant streaming numbers and become effectively part of the band’s regular repertoire. He said:
“That’s one of the new ones we’re doing. And we’re doing another version of [Climax Blues Band‘s] ‘I Love You’, which got millions of views on Tesla‘s Spotify, I think, or YouTube or something. So that’s almost like one of our own hits, the song ‘I Love You’. But there are some really obscure tracks on this new batch of recordings — songs by The Temptations… Jeff picked most of ’em. And Brian, as I said, Brian‘s been spearheading this project.”
This summer, Tesla will support Mötley Crüe on “The Return Of Carnival Of Sins” tour alongside Extreme. The band’s most recent release was the six-song EP All About Love, out in November 2024, which included four versions of the title track, a live take on “Walk Away”, and an instrumental, “From The Heart”, written by Hannon.
