Rolling Stones announce new blues album
October 5, 2016
"Coming October 6" read The Rolling Stones' tweets this week. The simple statement came with a 10-second clip of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards jamming guitar-heavy music accompanied by a blues harmonica.
The same promising but cryptic message was also posted on YouTube.
While the band has yet to disclose further details, their US producer Don Was told French newspaper "Le Figaro" last week that they'd recorded the album containing Chicago blues songs in just three days using a simple microphone set-up and without further studio tough-ups. They were aiming for a raw and authentic feel, he added.
Guitarist Eric Clapton is also said to have taken part in the sessions with The Stones.
Back to the blues
Also in the blues vein, "A Bigger Bang" was the group's 24th and most recent studio album, released over a decade ago in 2005. Since then, concert recordings have been released, but fans have hotly anticipated new sounds from the band that's been in the business for over half a century.
Stones guitarist Keith Richards says he has always had an affinity for the blues. In 2009, he wrote for "The Guardian": "My mum was playing me jazz - a lot of Billie Holiday, Billy Eckstine, Sarah Vaughan. I mean, it's not your country blues but, as I went on, I realized that I was brought up on a broad basis of blues music without even knowing it, so, in a way, I'm a result of what my mum played."
The blues was developed by African-Americans in the Deep South of the United States during the late 19th century. It draws heavily on work songs and spirituals and incorporates call-and-response patterns.
Chicago blues, which is supposedly the style represented in the new album, stems from the Great Migration, which saw millions of African-Americans relocated from the rural South to urban hubs to the North during the mid-20th-century.
Stones inaugurate new California festival
The announced release date of The Stones' new album coincides with a new California music festival, Desert Trip, which sees The Rolling Stones headlining together with other rock legends like Bob Dylan, Paul McCartney, Neil Young, Roger Waters and The Who.
The Stones are to open the first-time event in Indio, California - the same location as the Coachella Valley Festival - on October 7. Concerts take place from October 7-9 and 14-16.