Keith Richards, legendary guitarist of The Rolling Stones, and Chuck Berry’s punching bag, says that The Rolling Stones are nowhere near packing it in, and are in fact heading to the recording studio to work on their next album very soon.
In a video entitled ‘Ask Keith Richards’ on his official YouTube channel, Richards addressed the question of whether the group are still inspired to get back into the studio. “Yes, in fact we are, very, very shortly,” Richards replied. “Cutting some new stuff and considering where to take it next. Blue & Lonesome caught us a little bit by surprise in that we figured it was something we had to do, but we didn’t expect the response.”
Richards continued his answer by stating that a covers record such as Blue & Lonesome inevitably results in a second volume being recorded to continue the successful theme. “I don’t think we’re going to sucker into that straight away,” Richards continued. “But it wouldn’t take a twist of the arm to do some more of that. It’s such fun to record, and there’s plenty more where that came from.”
Blue & Lonesome was released back in December of last year, and serves as the group’s 23rd record. It was the first album of newly-recorded material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang, but it also served as the group’s first ever cover album; something they had frequently hinted at over the years.
While it’s clear that Keith and the boys have got a lot more left in the tank, its not exactly clear whether we’ll be getting new original material, or whether we’ll be getting a second cover album. A recent Instagram post by English grime musician Skepta showed him in a recording studio with Mick Jagger, though details of that collaboration have not yet been released.
Could we be seeing a Skepta collaboration on the new Rolling Stones record, or is Mick Jagger just lending Skepta some guidance from his decades in the music industry? Either way, with the sort of legacy that The Rolling Stones have behind them, we’re just excited to see what the next chapter holds for the group.
Check out The Rolling Stones’ cover of Buddy Johnson’s ‘Just Your Fool’ from 2016’s Blue & Lonesome below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PacX2YgdLOo
