Ratboys: 2026

This  FUV Live session is also available as a podcast, "FUV Live Sessions." We're elevating WFUV's long history of live sessions and interviews via a podcast that you can find on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Amazon Podcasts. New episodes drop every Monday.

Earlier this year, Chicago's Ratboys released their sixth  album, Singin' to an Empty Chair.

The quartet — singer and guitarist Julia Steiner, guitarist Dave Sagan, bassist Sean Neumann, and drummer Marcus Nuccio —  blends power pop, alt-country, indie rock, and a handful of moving ballads on this record, highlighting their impressive musical range and tight chemistry. For this FUV Live session, they were joined by touring pedal steel guitarist Andy Krull.

The introspective album takes its title from the "empty chair" therapeutic technique, in which a person speaks to an imagined loved one seated across from them, expressing thoughts and feelings that can be difficult to say face-to-face. 

Steiner, Sagan, Neumann, Nuccio, and Krull reflected on the making of the album, including the experience of recording it in a cabin in southwestern Wisconsin, a setting that helped shape the record's intimate, reflective mood.

[Recorded: 3/2/26. Engineered by Jim O'Hara, Erin Merriman, Thomas Lapus, Alessandro Badalamenti, and Connie Bartoli Pineiro. Produced by Meghan Suma. Videographers: Nikki Phillips, Lily Crean, and Erin Malley.]