Guitar World recently chatted with blues-rock slide-guitar maestro George Thorogood about his new album, 2120 South Michigan Ave.You can check out that interview right here.
The new disc, which pays tribute to Thorogood's Chess Records idols, features appearances by Buddy Guy and Charlie Musselwhite and came out July 12 on Capitol Records.
Speaking of influences, I also asked Thorogood to name his top five blues albums. Check out his answers -- and the photo gallery -- below:
"I have to say the first two Robert Johnson records," Thorogood said. "Then there's Alone by John Lee Hooker, where he played just by himself with a Les Paul. I listen to that a lot, it's pretty heavy. He made a few of them -- Alone, Moanin' and Stompin' and Goin' Down Highway 51, but Alone, as a blues record, really got to me.
"Then there's The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions. That's a great record -- maybe the best blues album ever made. And there was an album I got in England by Elmore James called To Know a Man, a double album. That was a big one. You can't go wrong with that: Robert Johnson, Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker and Elmore James."
I like working Ringo Starr into random conversations, so I tried it out here too. I mentioned to Thorogood that I'd heard that Ringo and Beatle-buddy bassist Klaus Voormann were invited to play on The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions; however, that rhythm section wasn't considered a natural fit for Wolf's music, so Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts were brought in.
"You're the only other person I've heard bring that up," Thorogood said. "Charlie has more experience with that sort of music. With the Stones, he cut 'Little Red Rooster' and things like that, Muddy Waters things. Plus he recorded at Chess Records with the Stones and was on a TV show with Wolf in '65. So he would've been the natural guy they should've asked."
George Thorogood's new album, 2120 South Michigan Ave., came out July 12 on Capitol Records.
