Keith Richards tells The Guardian newspaper the album happened pretty much by accident, when the STONES gathered in Mark Knopfler’s British Grove Studios in London in December 2015 to work on some new material. The sound wasn’t gelling, so Richards told the band to play Little Walter’s 'Blue and Lonesome'.

 

Rolling Stones “We cut that, we listened to it back and suddenly the sound is there. Mick turns round and says, ‘I wanna do this Howlin’ Wolf song,’ and then he says, ‘And I’d like to do this Lightnin’ Slim,’ and now I’ve got the man on a roll. When you’ve got the lead man calling the shots and saying, “I want to do that, I want to do this,’ keep the tape rolling.” And they do record on tape, Richards says. “This is not digital crap.”

 

The Stones recorded the bulk of the songs in two days. “Maybe (late keyboard player) Ian Stewart was sending a message from above,” Richards says. “It’s almost like getting something off your chest that had been there for a long time. I’m looking forward to volume two already.”

 

Volume 2, already? We’ll see. After all, the Stones were in the studio supposedly working on an album of new material. But according to Ronnie Wood, the band don’t intend on slowing down now.

 

 “Howlin’ Wolf almost died on stage, plugged into his kidney machine, so there’s no reason why we wouldn’t go exactly the same way,” Wood says. “I saw John Lee Hooker not long before he died [aged 83, in 2001] and he was showing me backstage, showing off his new CD and his new white hat and his new girlfriend – he was rocking right to the end.

 

“In 2017 we’ll shape up these news songs – we’ve got some in the can and then there’s a lot more on the back burner.” Add a volume 2 of blues to keep Keith happy, and the Stones are going to be busy.