George Thorogood Talks First Solo Album
George Thorogood goes it alone, literally, on Party Of One, his first-ever solo album, which comes out today (August 4).
The “Bad To The Bone” man covers 15 songs by himself on the set, including tracks by Robert Johnson, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker, Willie Dixon, Brownie McGhee, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, The Rolling Stones and more.
Thorogood tells us that the album has been a long time coming and was, in fact, an idea hatched during the earliest days of his career:
“A long time ago when I first started…prior to putting the Destroyers together I worked sporadically as a solo performer…and I had in my mind I was gonna do a solo record to kick off my career, so to speak. Well, that kind of got sidetracked after I saw Hound Dog Taylor, and plus I wasn’t all that…I won’t say I wasn’t good but I wasn’t really cut out top lay alone. My hands got tired after one or two songs. I said, ‘Yeah, you’d be alright to make a record but as a performer you’re gonna need electric guitar, drummer and bass player…It was a foregone conclusion…I would some day make a record solo acoustic, just never seemed to get around to it and time went ona dn we kept it in mind…I ran into the Rounder (records) people a few years ago; They said, ‘Y’know, you still haven’t done that solo record yet,’ and I said, ‘Well maybe now’s the time to do it,’ so there you have it.”
Despite having a solo record out, however, Thorogood is on the road this summer with the Destroyers and has no plans to do solo shows to promote Party Of One.
Gary Graff is an award-winning music journalist who not only covers music but has written books on Bob Seger, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
