Blue & Lonesome is a studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released December 2, 2016. Consisting entirely of blues music, it is the band’s first album to feature only cover songs. The album is also their first studio release since 2005’s A Bigger Bang, with its eleven-year gap being the longest between two albums from the band. Despite the short running of approximately 43 minutes, the album was released as a double LP. “Just Your Fool”, a Buddy Johnson cover (though the Rolling Stones version is based on Little Walter’s arrangement) was released as the first single from the album on October 6. The name of the album is from a song which Little Walter wrote, “Blue and Lonesome”.
The album included the same production and musician team as A Bigger Bang. Joining vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards as producers was Don Was, who had been working with the group for most of the prior two decades. In the studio were band members Ronnie Wood (guitar) and Charlie Watts (drums), alongside contract players Darryl Jones (bass), Chuck Leavell (keyboards) and Matt Clifford (multi-instrumentalist). Eric Clapton played guitar on two tracks and drummer Jim Keltner plays percussion on another.
The album was recorded during three sessions in December 2015 and sold well after its release a year later. It reached number one on the album charts in the UK and over a dozen other countries, and number four in the US. It was certified gold or platinum in several countries. The first Stones album of the streaming media age, many of the songs from the album charted on several top-40 digital music charts, and the lead single “Just Your Fool” was a top-40 hit on several airplay and genre-specific charts. The album received four- and five-star ratings from many music journalists, and accolades from jazz and blues publications. It was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2018, the band’s first Grammy in 23 years.
It was the final studio album to be released before the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021.
- “Just Your Fool” 2:16
- “Commit a Crime” 3:38
- “Blue and Lonesome” 3:07
- “All of Your Love” 4:46
- “I Gotta Go” 3:26
- “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing” 4:30
- “Ride ‘Em on Down” 2:48
- “Hate to See You Go” 3:20
- “Hoo Doo Blues” 2:36
- “Little Rain” 3:32
- “Just Like I Treat You” 3:24
- “I Can’t Quit You Baby” 5:13
Mick Jagger – lead vocals, harmonica
Keith Richards – electric guitar
Ronnie Wood – electric guitar
Charlie Watts – drums
Darryl Jones – bass guitar
Chuck Leavell – Piano ( tr. 1, 2, 4, 6 ), Hammond B3 ( tr.3, 5 )
Eric Clapton – slide guitar on “Everybody Knows About My Good Thing”, lead electric guitar on “I Can’t Quit You Baby”
Matt Clifford – Wurlitzer piano ( Tr.1, 2, 3, 5 ), electric keyboards (tr. 4), Hammond B3 ( tr. 6 )
Jim Keltner – percussion on “Hoo Doo Blues”
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