For the first time in his career, George Thorogood is releasing an album without his Destroyers.
Party of One, out on August 4 on Rounder Records, will feature fourteen tracks (fifteen on the CD edition) mixing traditional, classic and modern blues songs from artists as diverse as John Lee Hooker, Hank Williams and the Rolling Stones.
Produced by Jim Gaines, who has previously worked with Hooker, Luther Allison and Stevie Ray Vaughan along with a number of Thorogood’s albums, the album features Thorogood on, mainly, acoustic instruments including slide, Dobro and harmonica.
Thorogood said of the album “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, but I think Destroyers fans – and hardcore blues fans, too – are ready for the unexpected. My whole career, I’ve always said, ‘Just give them what you are, and they’re either going to dig it or not.’ This record is what I was, what I am, and what I always will be.”
George recorded for Rounder at the beginning of his career. Label co-founder Ken Irwin said “George’s coming back is a nice completing of the circle. This record shows his talent as a storyteller in a very different setting, with all the emotion in his guitar and vocals. It’s a really intimate record, but it’s unmistakably a George Thorogood record, too.”
Rounder VP of A&R, Scott Billington, said “This wasn’t an easy record for George to make. He had to viscerally reconnect with a time in his life when he was discovering who he was. But as you listen to these songs, you realize that he is, and always has been, an authentic blues player. This album is George Thorogood claiming his legacy.”
George Thorogood Party Of One track list
I’m A Steady Rollin’ Man
Soft Spot
Tallahassee Women
Wang Dang Doodle
Boogie Chillen
No Expectations
Bad News
Down The Highway
Got To Move
Born With The Blues
The Sky Is Crying
The Hookers (If You Miss ‘Im…I got ‘Im”)
Pictures From Life’s Other Side
One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (Recorded in 1999 on Rockline and dedicated to the memory of host Bob Coburn)
Dynaflow Blues (bonus track available on CD version only)
