Tonky


Tonky is a studio album by American musician Lonnie Holley. It was released on March 21, 2025, by Jagjaguwar. Produced by Irish multi-instrumentalist Jacknife Lee, the album consists of fourteen songs and features collaborators such as Alabaster DePlume, Angel Bat Dawid and Jesca Hoop.

Background

The second collaboration by Holley and Lee, the album focuses on the reflection of abuse and suffering faced by Holley in his early years. The title is reflective of his nickname from his childhood, derived from a honky-tonk owned by his caretakers. The album's lead single, "Protest with Love", incorporating elements of electronic pop and rock, was released on March 21, 2025.

Reception

Paul Simpson of AllMusic summarized the album in his review of the album, stating "In general, Tonky covers much of the same lyrical and musical ground as Oh Me Oh My...reflects on his tumultuous life as well as other people's reactions to his art and music, while offering messages of peace and hope, urging the audience to never give up."
Describing it as "an album whose big heart matches its lush palette, which emphasizes rumbling rhythms, layered beats, and familiar instruments abraded to sound almost but not quite unrecognizable," Pitchfork assigned it a rating of 7.5 out of ten.
Paste gave the album a rating of 8.6 out of ten, describing it as "poetry set in motion through fluid, emotional and inventive music." Uncut Magazine remarked "Holley's personal story is gripping enough. But a big part of what makes Tonky compelling is how he stitches his tales into a wider fabric of African-American experience," rating the album four stars. The Line of Best Fit noted "This makes it all the more astounding that Holley leads new record Tonky with a straightforward directive of love; not boundless love, not unconditional love, but a pointed, militant caress of the hope our species can't shake," giving it a rating of nine out of ten. The New York Times described the album as "hypnotic, soulful, and genre-bending, which incorporates jazz, blues, hip-hop and electronic music."

Personnel