The Pretenders have been on a break from touring since their May 2025 Latin American trek. According to a new post on her social media pages, frontwoman Chrissie Hynde is missing being on the road, but she says she’s keeping busy with a number of new recording projects.
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Hynde began her message by commenting that not being on tour felt “pretty weird,” noting that she had to “set my own agenda for the year.”
The 74-year-old Rock & Roll Hall of Famer continued, “I realize how spoiled we are on tour. And I miss it. I miss the band. I miss the backstage. I missed the dressing rooms. I miss the scaffolding. I miss the crew.” She then quipped, “[M]ost of all, I miss the CATERING,” before adding, “Naw … I’m just f—ing with y’all – most of all I miss YOU.”
Hynde then noted, “I’m using this time to finish projects I started and never got around to finishing.”
Among the projects she’s working on is a new Pretenders album. She reported that she and Pretenders guitarist James Walbourne “have been writing for the next one… provisionally called Outlaw.” Chrissie added, parenthetically, “Yes, I know there’s probably 1000 albums titled Outlaw.” She revealed that the band will start recording the new album “in the next couple [of] months.”
The Pretenders most recent studio effort, Relentless, was released in September 2023. Hynde also released a collaborative solo project in October 2025 called Duets Special that featured her singing select cover tunes with various other well-known artists.
Hynde Also Is Working on Two Side Projects
Hynde also shared details about two albums she’s putting together with side projects.
One is a collaboration with three Brazilian artists Moreno Veloso, Alexandre Kassin, and Domenico Lancellotti, with whom she toured Brazil back in 2004. Veloso, Kassin, and Lancellotti have recorded together under the moniker The +2s. Hynde referred to the record she’s making with them as “The +3 album.”
Chrissie explained that after the 2004 tour, “We always said we would get together and do something else and now we have. I’ll be going to Rio [de Janeiro] soon to finish it up with the guys.” She added, “If you aren’t familiar with these artists, I think you will love them as much as I do.”
The other side project is a second volume of Valve Bone Woe, the jazz-influenced covers album she released in 2019.
“I don’t know if you ever heard the original album … … as we didn’t do any promotion because of [the global health crisis],” Hynde wrote. “Still, we enjoyed making it … and we’re now working on Volume Two.”
The new album again finds Hynde collaborating with producer-composer-keyboardist Martin De Vries and the Valve Bone Woe Ensemble. She reports that she’s “[h]oping to finish it this year.”
Chriss also pointed out that Valve Bone Woe reached No. 1 on the U.K. Jazz & Blues Albums chart.
Hynde Is Also Planning a New Exhibition of Her Artwork
Hynde also revealed that she’s planning to announce a new exhibition of her artwork soon. Her paintings have been displayed at a variety of exhibits in the U.K. and the U.S. over the last eight years.
Regarding her work as an artist, she wrote, “I’m not trying to make a name for myself as a painter[.] I just like painting, and there’s no point in just stacking them up in a warehouse, which is what I have been doing.”
(Photo by Robin Little/Redferns for ABA)
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