Thursday, October 20, 2016

Chuck Berry to Put Out First Album in Four Decades



After nearly four decades, Chuck Berry (who just celebrated his 90th birthday), the one man who in my opinion beats out Elvis Presley as the King of Rock n' Roll is putting out a brand new album filled with primarily new original material. You read that right. This is NOT a joke.

According to a press release put out by Berry's people, the album which will be titled Chuck is due out next year. Berry's backing band will consist of: his children Charles Berry Jr. on guitar and Ingrid Berry on harmonica, plus Jimmy Marsala (Berry’s bassist of forty years), Robert Lohr on piano, and Keith Robinson on drums.

Berry commented on the record, saying:

“This record is dedicated to my beloved Toddy (his wife Themetta Berry). My darlin’ I’m growing old! I’ve worked on this record for a long time. Now I can hang up my shoes!”

His son says:

“What an honor to be part of this new music. The St. Louis band, or as dad called us ‘The Blueberry Hill Band,’ fell right into the groove and followed his lead. These songs cover the spectrum from hard driving rockers to soulful thought provoking time capsules of a life's work.”

Quite frankly I'm astonished that Berry after all these years is putting out another album. I thought that after the 70's he had kind of decided that writing new tunes wasn't his bag any more and was just going to coast the rest of his life on the hits he wrote in the 50's. I'm glad that he has decided to do one last record, though. I'm interested to hear what Chuck Berry in the 21st century will sound like. I'm sure it will be rad, though. Anything by one of the key people who inspired me to be a guitar player will be awesome.

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