Madison Cunningham’s Ace: Guitar Fire, Fractured Love

Madison Cunningham’s third studio album, Ace (out October 10), is set up as her boldest yet. The Los Angeles songwriter and guitarist—championed by John Mayer as a “monster guitar player” and praised by Hozier as “one of the most talented creative forces of our generation”—dives straight into heartbreak, healing, and the dangerous intimacy of telling the truth through tone. Co-produced with Robbie Lackritz, Ace is Cunningham in full control of her craft, unafraid of jagged edges or moments of collapse.

Her latest single Wake, featuring Fleet Foxes’ Robin Pecknold, distills that emotional landscape. The song loops in the circular ache of arguments, refusing to resolve. “Frustration is always the tipping point,” she says. “It either goes to defeat or it goes to something very productive. I refused to give up on this one. It felt like the linchpin of the record, describing the heartbeat of its narrative.” With Pecknold’s voice woven in, she avoided the trap of singing at someone, turning the track into a dialogue where both sides ache equally.

Tone as the Real Language

For her, tone isn’t surface—it’s the skeleton of every song. “Tone is everything. It communicates sometimes more than words,” she explains. “You can play a thousand notes, but without good tone, it doesn’t leave the stage the way you want.” That obsession shaped Ace. Songs like Shatter and Deform carry no lyrics but ache like a confession, while Break the Jaw erupts with an anger she admits always feels fresh: “I’m always angry about something, so it’s great to put it into that feeling of song.”

Even the album’s cutting-room process revolved around chasing tone. One track, she says, had to be recorded twice because the first attempt didn’t hit the right emotional note. Only when the sound aligned with the message did it feel real.

The Trap of Titles, The Freedom of Curiosity

Madison has been called a “musician’s musician,” a phrase that flatters but threatens to cage. “It’s definitely a trap,” she admits. “It’s like being called a folk artist. These expectations can weigh on you. The most artistic I feel is when I don’t give a shit about titles—when I just endorse my own curiosity.”

That curiosity is what she hopes her fans feel when they see Ace live. Each song is raw, but never sealed off. “I hope the audience takes their own story away from it,” she says. “That’s what matters. Lofty titles don’t carry a show—honesty does.”

With Ace, Madison Cunningham proves that honesty can shred, whisper, and burn all at once.