George Thorogood Talks Roots Covers Album Party Of One
Courtesy American Songwriter
George Thorogood’s most famous song might be a legendarily boastful anthem (“Bad To The Bone”), but the reality is another story. In a recent interview with American Songwriter, he was unfailingly humble and self-effacing, talking far more about the artists he covers on his new solo album Party Of One than about his own talents. But don’t fall for the aw-shucks bit; this is a record that only a charismatic performer and interpreter could pull off, considering the wide range of material included, from humanistic folk to forlorn country to lascivious blues. Here are some of the highlights of the conversation.
What made you decide that now was the right time not just for a solo record, but also for a deep dive into the types of music that inspired you when you were just starting out?
Well, first of all, I’m a realist. At this point, I hadn’t put out any real product in six years and that’s a long time in this business to try and keep your profile up. And I looked back on all the records that we did and said to myself, “What’s something that you haven’t done?” And there was a demand for it from Rounder and it was something that we were talking about for years to do. The timing was just right. Since I haven’t written “Bridge Over Troubled Water” yet, I gotta put out something. This seemed to make sense.
George Thorogood Exclusive! Listen To A Track From The Legend’s First Solo Album
Courtesy Parade.com
Could it really be that, until this summer, iconic rocker George Thorogood has never released a solo album? With over four decades and more than 15 million records sold, George Thorogood and The Destroyers have created an impressive catalogue of hits, capturing that classic bad boy fun. On Aug. 4, 2017, Thorogood will add “solo artist” to his résumé when his new album Party of One, hits record stores and online outlets.
Party of One includes traditional blues, classics and modern blues songs including John Lee Hooker’s “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer” and The Rolling Stones’ “No Expectations.”
While this album has been a shift for Thorogood, he seems to have embraced the change and the creative journey it sparked. “I think this is a project that’s long overdue. Maybe it should have been the very first album I ever made. After playing with the band for all these years, I had to kind of reverse my hands and my head in order to do this thing justice.”
What will die hard fans of George Thorogood and The Destroyers think? I’m betting Thorogood knows his fans best.
George Thorogood on Party of One, His ES-125 and More
Courtesy Gibson.com
By Anne Erickson
When George Thorogood picks up his ES-125 and starts playing, it’s obvious the sound is coming from George Thorogood. He champions a thick, low-down guitar tone that simply has a great vibe.
“Over my career, two people have come up to me to talk to me about the tone of my guitar,” he told Gibson.com. “One was actually the guitarist for Paul McCartney, and they said they were knocked out by the tone of my guitar, and the other was once the guitar player of Muddy Waters, who was extremely interested in how I got my tone.”
Now, Thorogood and that distinct tone are all over his first-ever solo album, Party of One. The collection, out on Rounder Records Aug. 4, features Thorogood putting his spin on a variety of songs by the Rolling Stones, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams and many more.
Thorogood spoke with Gibson.com about the new record and his beloved ES-125, which he calls “the only guitar I want to play.”
Artist Profile: George Thorogood
Courtesy Huffington Post
George Thorogood is as cool, calm and collected as you would expect from one of Rock and Roll’s stand outs when discussing his current album Party Of One, a 14 track ode to his heroes that are stripped down mostly acoustic solo performances.
Famous for his hard driving powerful rock and blues, and his seminal hits including “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer,” and “Bad To The Bone,” the traditional classics and modern blues he’s chosen for his latest album show a range Thorogood is rarely known for. The heartfelt “Soft Spot’ (Gary Nicholson) or ‘Pictures From The Other Side Of Life” (Hank Williams) ring clear with a kindness in their melancholy you don’t expect from the hard driving Destroyer. His fans will be happy to know his Willie Dixon and Johnny Lee Hooker classics and other blues standards have the hard charging signature style he’s known for. But the acoustic choices on many pieces, like “No Expectations” (Rolling Stones) and “Tallahassee Women” (John Hammond Jr.) are an unexpected pleasure and make these songs feel unusually intimate, as if you had the good luck to be sitting next to Thorogood at home while he pulled out his guitar in a chair beside you to lament his fate.
“It didn’t start that way,” he says. “There was talk for years of doing a solo or acoustic record, but I just never got around to it,“ Thorogood has sold more than 15 million records world wide, and released 16 studio albums which include six gold and two platinum discs. “As the years went on I finally got to the spot where I thought, well I’ve pretty much done everything I wanted to do, and this solo acoustic record was still on my list.”