State Radio

State Radio is back and the timing feels anything but accidental.

The politically charged rock trio led by songwriter and activist Chadwick Stokes recently returned to the stage after an extended hiatus, performing at Tom Morello’s Power to the People festival alongside Foo Fighters, Joan Baez, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen and others. This winter, the band heads back on the road for a run of shows centered around Us Against the Crown, the album that first established State Radio’s unmistakable collision of rock, punk and reggae with music built to say something.

Songs written about war, corruption, inequality and the responsibility to speak up have found renewed resonance in the current moment. Rather than looking backward, State Radio’s return feels like a continuation of the conversation the band started from the beginning.

That sense of purpose has always extended beyond the stage. State Radio became known not only for relentless touring and an intensely devoted live following, but for organizing service projects in the communities where they played. That work helped fuel Calling All Crows, the nonprofit Stokes co-founded with Sybil Gallagher in 2008. For nearly two decades, Calling All Crows has used music as a vehicle to engage music fans in feminist movements, reaching and mobilizing millions of people along the way.

Stokes has continued to move between music, storytelling and activism throughout his career. As a member of DISPATCH, he has played some of the world’s most iconic venues and wrote the platinum-selling song “The General.” More recently, he has spent years developing 1972: A Rock Opera, a new musical set before Roe v. Wade about a young woman searching for a safe abortion and the unlikely community she encounters along the way. 1972 receives its world premiere at the American Repertory Theater in fall 2026.

Now, State Radio returns at a moment when the questions at the heart of its music feel as urgent as ever.