In a roundabout way, The Rolling Stones have Mark Knopfler to thank for their new album of blues covers, Blue and Lonesome, which was released on Friday.
The Stones entered the former Dire Straits founder’s British Grove Studios in London last December with the goal of recording an album of original material.
“In new studios it takes a while to get the sound together and everything. So I said, ‘Ronnie, let’s hit this blues track.’ We hit it [and] suddenly the sound came together. Mick turns around and says, ‘In that case, let’s do this one…’ and then before we knew it we were cutting track after track after track.”
Despite coming out with a collection of 12 tracks, Mick Jagger needed a little convincing that they should release them as an album. He finally agreed after their record label said it wanted to put the project out.
Blue and Lonesome is on target to be the number-one album of the week in England. If it tops the chart, it will be their 12th U.K. number-one and first in 22 years, since 1994’s Voodoo Lounge.
The album also sits at number-one in 39 other countries.