Tom Waits is working on a new studio album, “Real Gone,” expected to be released in the fall via Epitaph’s Anti label. The iconic singer/songwriter has been recording material described as primal rhythmic blues, written with his wife and frequent collaborator Kathleen Brennan, in an old school house in Mississippi.
“Feelin’ good about it all,” Waits says. “Songs about politics, rats, war, hangings, dancing, automobiles, pirates, farms, the carnival and sinning. Mama, liquor, trains and death. In other words, the same ‘ol dirty business!”
To realize the new recordings, Waits has tapped the talents of Larry Taylor (guitar, bass), Marc Ribot (guitar), Primus alums Les Claypool (bass) and Brian “Brain” Mantia (drums) and Shotgun Messiah’s Harry Cody (guitar, banjo). Also contributing percussion and turntable work is Waits’ son, Casey, who last appeared on the artist’s 2002 Anti album, “Blood Money.”
Waits’ recording relationship with former Canned Heat bassist Taylor dates back to his famed 1980 Asylum album “Heartattack and Vine.” Ribot first collaborated with Waits on 1985’s “Raindogs” (Island). Waits and Brennan are co-producing the album, which is being engineered by Mark Howard (Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams).
Source billboard.com.
