the stones haven’t released a studio album since 2005’s ‘a bigger bang’, and they entered mark knopfler’s british grove studios in west london in december of 2015 with the intent of laying down some tracks for a new one. struggling with the room and hitting a dead end on a particular track, keith decided to take a break and had the boys rip out a version of little walter’s ‘blue and lonesome’. they did one more take and asked legendary producer don was if they recorded it. luckily the answer was yes. they so much enjoyed the playback that they tried a few more old blues covers before calling it a day. mick went home and compiled a wish list of more standards that night. they then returned a month later, finishing the rest of the tracks in two days, keeping the same theme going. eric clapton, who was also recording an album in the room next door, joined them on two of the numbers.

the end result was a collection of tributes to the genre and artists that had inspired their music so long ago. no originals and no overdubs, just a bunch of flat out grungy tracks by a bunch of crusty veterans. they are all in fine form here, especially mick. in a rolling stone interview, keith said this might be mick’s best album. not sure about that, but the comment might be partly driven by the fact that mick plays a ton of blues-harp on this one, and keith has always been a big fan of his playing. apart from clapton, the band is rounded out by darryl jones on bass and chuck leavell on piano. they never got around to finishing the album of originals (at least not yet), and so they decided to release this one for the time being. twelve tracks, in varying blues styles, all very good.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/inside-the-rolling-stones-new-album-blue-lonesome-w450645