Jimmie Allen Keeps the Family Theme Going With Personal New Album, ‘Tulip Drive’
Jimmie Allen is once again returning to his roots. He announced a new album called Tulip Drive on Monday (April 4), and the project takes its name from the street where his late grandmother spent her childhood.
Paying homage to family memories is something from a theme for Allen, who named his debut, Mercury Lane, after the street he grew up on, and his Bettie James project after his grandmother, Bettie Snead, and his father, James "Big Jim" Allen. Both are homages to people no longer living: Allen's grandmother died in 2014, and his dad died in 2019.
The lead single off the project, "Down Home," is also a tribute to his father. He performed the song on the ACM Awards stage in March, also using the moment to celebrate his mom's birthday.
In a statement, Allen explains that "Down Home" is an indicator of more deeply personal songs to come off of Tulip Drive. "This is the first album where a lot of the songs are actually written based off a lot of my own personal life experiences — from relationships, the hardships of life, to the parties & the good times," he notes.
Specifically, many of the tracks will deal with lessons he learned with the help of his grandmother. "I wanted to honor her by naming this album Tulip Drive, after the street she lived on in Lewes, Del.," the singer adds.
Allen will share more details about the new album in an upcoming CBS Mornings interview, set to air April 11. The project is due out in full on June 24. Meanwhile, he's currently on the road for his first-ever headlining Down Home Tour, which continues through the spring and concludes Aug. 13 with a performance at Allen's own Bettie James Fest.