Melinda Schneider Embraces Vulnerability on New Album Tender

The Australian music icon brings her most intimate work yet to Geelong, St Kilda and Belgrave this March, blending lived experience, powerful songwriting and unmistakable heart.

One of Australia’s most enduring and emotionally resonant voices is entering a new creative chapter. Melinda Schneider will release her eleventh studio album, Tender, on February 6, 2026, ahead of a national tour that brings her to Victoria with headline shows in Geelong, St Kilda and Belgrave this March.

A fixture of Australian entertainment for more than four decades, Schneider’s career spans music, theatre, television and mental health advocacy, united by a rare authenticity and emotional intelligence. Tender marks a deeply personal evolution, capturing the many shades of love, vulnerability and connection with a warmth and honesty that feels both timely and timeless.

Melinda Schneider Tour Dates

Saturday January 24, 2026: Capitol Theatre, Tamworth, NSW
Thursday February 05 2026: Camelot Lounge, Marrickville (Sydney), NSW
Sunday February 08, 2026: Flamingos Live, Newcastle, NSW
Friday February 13, 2026: Robertson Public House & Kitchen, Robertson, NSW
Friday February 20, 2026: The Carrington Hotel (Baroque Room), Katoomba, NSW
Sunday February 22, 2026: Avoca Beach Theatre, Avoca Beach, NSW
Friday March 13, 2026: Bellarine Estate Winery, Geelong, VIC
Saturday March 14, 2026: Memo Music Hall, St Kilda, VIC
Sunday March 15, 2026: Sooki Lounge, Belgrave, VIC
Friday March 20, 2026: Ballina RSL, Ballina, NSW
Saturday March 21, 2026: Nambucca Heads RSL Club, Nambucca Heads, NSW

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The album follows a string of 2025 singles, including ‘Open Up’, ’25 Hours’, and ‘The Woman’, each offering a glimpse into the album’s emotional landscape. Across eleven tracks, Schneider draws directly from lived experience, exploring motherhood, partnership, self-discovery and resilience with her trademark clarity. Two intimate duets anchor the record: the title track ‘Tender’ featuring Diesel, and ‘Together We Belong’, a wedding song recorded with Choirboys frontman Mark Gable, who is also Schneider’s husband.

Musically, Tender is rich and expansive, blending country roots with soul, folk and contemporary influences. The album features an impressive roster of Australian and Nashville collaborators, including producers Rod McCormack and Wayne Connolly, legendary pedal steel player Bruce Bouton, and musicians Ian Lees, Clayton Doley and Pete Drummond. Schneider’s voice has never sounded stronger. She does not simply perform these songs; she inhabits them.

“I’ve always believed that vulnerability in songwriting has the power to connect and heal us,” Schneider says. “This past five years, in many ways, I’ve felt more tender than ever, and this album reflects that.”

That tenderness extends beyond music. Schneider has created a series of original paintings responding to each track, with the full collection to be exhibited at Tamworth Regional Gallery from December 2025 to February 2026, offering a visual companion to the album’s themes.

Victorian audiences will have the chance to experience Tender live across three intimate settings: Bellarine Estate Winery in Geelong on Friday 13 March, Memo Music Hall in St Kilda on Saturday 14 March, and Sooki Lounge in Belgrave on Sunday 15 March. Each venue offers a fitting backdrop for an album built on closeness, storytelling and emotional exchange.

As Schneider brings Tender to the stage, she invites audiences into a space of connection and reflection. It is an album, and a tour, that honours softness as strength, and positions one of Australia’s most beloved artists exactly where she belongs: singing from the heart, with nothing held back.

Tender drops on 6 February. Find out more information and book ticket to her upcoming shows here.