Fully independent and fiercely guarding artistic control, Hannah Wicklund turns personal battles into a sweeping, rocking call to arms. War On Women; Calling All Good Men is a bold, compassionate and technically dazzling manifesto for change.
Hannah Wicklund – War On Women; Calling All Good Men
Release Date: Out Now
Words: Liz Medhurst
Hannah Wicklund first came to the attention of UK audiences with her 2018 album Hannah Wicklund And The Stepping Stones, which contained gems such as Bomb Through The Breeze, Ghost and Mama Said. Bluesy, rocky and soulful, she captured many hearts and minds with her incendiary live shows, demonstrating mesmerising vocal and guitar work.
Born in South Carolina into an artistic family, Hannah formed her first band when she was eight and started touring when she was sixteen, so music is a way of life. Composing has been, too. Last year’s The Living Vault contained some songs written when she was a young teenager, showing a maturity in her craft that some never reach in a lifetime.
Hannah Wicklund is very much her own artist, but you can hear parallels to musicians like Susan Tedeschi, Tom Petty and Melissa Etheridge. There is also something of Tori Amos in her stance, not stylistically of course, but in the way she stands firm in her artistry, issues direct challenges through songs and speaks out against injustice in the industry and wider world.
In 2024, Hannah released The Prize, a stunning album which ought to have sent her stratospheric, especially combined with high-profile opening slots for Deep Purple, Yes and Greta Van Fleet. At the time, she was speaking out about battles with record companies and management that led her to release independently on her own Strawberry Moon label to keep artistic control.
Unfortunately, those battles were not yet over, and a further fraught period followed, bringing breakdowns of personal and professional relationships and a fight to retain her rights.
Still in her twenties, and now fully independent, Hannah Wicklund has returned with a self-produced album that continues where The Prize left off in a no-holds-barred declaration of who she is as an artist and a woman.
Doing things on her own terms extends to honouring the cycles of the moon. In a bold move, each track will be released to streaming services only on the Full Moon, meaning it will take a whole year for the full album to appear there.
She also releases an eclectic community-based arts magazine, The Strawberry Moon Tribune, at each New Moon. In the meantime, the full album is available directly from Hannah’s website.
Bookended by two acapella harmonised tracks which make up the album title, War On Women; Calling All Good Men is simultaneously a call to arms, a cautionary tale and a manifesto for hope.
As easy as it would be to launch a withering attack and leave it there, Hannah does things differently. There is a huge amount of grace throughout. She gives her detractors space for redemption and wishes positive change while making boundaries strongly clear.
“I want it to be abundantly clear that I am not anti-men,” Hannah says of the closing track Calling All Men. “These are not just women’s issues; they are society’s issues, and finding a solution will involve all of us… my olive branch to all the good men out there to use their power and their voices to not just create a safer world, but to make space for women and girls to truly shine.”
Hannah is undoubtedly one of the best guitarists on the scene today, who plays with an instinctive passion to match her technical brilliance. The album showcases her full dynamic range, from shredding electric intensity to the most elegant of acoustic work. There is plenty of variety here, with gear changes in tempo and style, and a vocal range equally as stunning in every register and dynamic.
The hard-rocking tracks hit home, with the environmentally conscious anthem Red Gorilla and the driving Marionettes. Cowards And Kings is the centrepiece of the album, which contains the best solo by a country mile, an absolute soul-bearing maelstrom of notes that tells its own story.
Other highlights include The Pier, yearning and sorrowful but with a beautiful melody and a firm and proud assertion of “if I’m to be the moon you need to be the sun.”
Check out Diamonds too, overlaid with fluid proggy flute providing a lush counterpoint to a track which sounds straight out of the Laurel Canyon scene, or the gloriously sleazy Evil Is A Corporation.
It is heartbreaking at times to listen to some of these songs knowing that they are autobiographical. However, there is also a sense of awe in recognising Hannah’s strength, resilience, courage and wisdom in putting her experiences into such a breathtaking and affirming piece of art.
A rock ‘n’ roll barefoot fairy queen, fiery, passionate and intense, Hannah Wicklund burns with the flame of righteousness and justice but also with all things love and beauty.
She is creating a movement. Her immersive live shows are attended and equally lauded by heavy rock and blues fans, mothers and daughters, and everyone in between.
Hannah returns to the UK in October for The Red Gorilla headline tour, with international dates to follow throughout 2027.
Hannah Wicklund released War On Women; Calling All Good Men via Strawberry Moon Records on 28 August 2026. For more details, visit hannahwicklund.com.
Hannah Wicklund will be touring War On Women; Calling All Good Men on an extensive headline world tour throughout 2026/2027, starting in October with the Red Gorilla Tour of the UK, a preview of the impending War On Women World Tour to kick off in 2027. Tickets are available from https://hannahwicklund.com.
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