Blue & Lonesome is a cover album by the Rolling Stones—their 23rd British and 25th American studio album—released on 2 December 2016. It is the band's first album to feature only cover songs, and 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 time length of just around 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 6 October. The name of the album is from a song which Little Walter wrote, "Blue and Lonesome".
Though there had been an eleven-year gap between albums, the Rolling Stones kept the same basic 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 contributed guitar on two tracks and drummer Jim Keltner plays percussion on another.
Recorded over a marathon three-day session in December, 2015 the album was released a year later to robust sales; reaching 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 high critical praise, receiving 4- and 5- star ratings from many top music journalism outlets, and accolades from jazz and blues publications. The album was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 2018, the band's first Grammy in 23 years.
Tracklisting[]
- Just Your Fool
- Commit a Crime
- Blue and Lonesome
- All of Your Love
- I Gotta Go
- Everybody Knows About My Good Thing
- Ride 'Em on Down
- Hate to See You Go
- Hoo Doo Blues
- Little Rain
- Just Like I Treat You
- I Can't Quit You Baby