Since his parting of ways with the Red Hot Chili Peppers in 2019, Josh Klinghoffer has kept plenty busy, joining Pearl Jam as a touring member while separately lending a hand to Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder onstage and in the studio.
On his own, Klinghoffer's also issued two albums under the Pluralone name, 2019’s To Be One with You and 2020’s I Don’t Feel Well. Over the weekend, on New Year's Eve, Klinghoffer took to Pluralone's Instagram page to share an acoustic cover of Thank You For Being A Friend, the theme song for the television show The Golden Girls.
The cover was a tribute to Golden Girls star Betty White, who died on New Year's Eve, less than three weeks shy of her 100th birthday.
Demonstrating both his vocal and fingerpicking chops, Klinghoffer gives the Andrew Gold-penned tune a homespun, heartfelt, and folky feel. You can check out the cover below.
“There has been a lot of loss lately, a lot of endings,” Klinghoffer wrote in the video's caption. “It’s happening all the time everywhere, but these past few weeks have seen the loss of a few important people in my life. I rarely feel like I have any wisdom to share, but the son of the creator of the show I have included the theme song to said this, and I think it’s just brilliant. He said (something like), ‘We are all experts at being exactly who we were the day before.’
"As it’s a beginning of sorts, tomorrow, perhaps try and do something differently," the guitarist continued. "Make that call. Start that book. Go and breathe outside. Put an end to that fight. Feel. Try and mend some of the broken things you see around you, inside and out. Live life knowing you don’t have forever as all lives tend toward ending.”
Klinghoffer is scheduled to hit the road with Eddie Vedder in February as part of an all-star band that includes Ozzy Osbourne producer Andrew Watt and The Frames' Glen Hansard on guitar, Jane's Addiction's Chris Chaney on bass guitar, and Klinghoffer's one-time Chili Peppers bandmate, Chad Smith, on drums.
The eight-date American run is in support of Vedder's forthcoming solo album, Earthling, which was produced by Watt. Featuring Klinghoffer, Smith and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench, among other big names, the album is set for a February 11 release via Seattle Surf/Republic Records.
