Photo by Scott Dudelson
Legendary Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan taps producer Shooter Jennings for his new solo record in the works. The two came together earlier this spring to begin the recording process in Los Angeles. The unnamed album is due out next year. It is a musical supplement to McKagan’s 2015 book, How To Be A Man (And Other Illusions), a New York Times bestseller. A followup book was put on hold for the time being as these songs seemed to write themselves. These new songs were inspired by McKagan’s experience traveling the world with Guns N’ Roses’ on their extravagant Not in This Lifetime tour. McKagan stated “The heartbreak, anger, fear, confusion and divide I have experienced over the last two and a half years of traveling this globe of ours coerced these words into songs that tell my truth, and one that I hope will spread and help us all. I do this for my daughters … I do this for my love of where I grew up …I do this because I truly feel it must be done and said right now.”
Shooter Jennings is best known for his own country albums, production namely in said genre with Marilyn Manson as an exception, as well as his famous father, Waylon Jennings. As the two are longtime friends, it is no surprise they are working together on Duff’s solo record. Jennings, a self proclaimed “massive Guns N’ Roses fan” was both humbled and delighted to take on the production gig. Jennings also went on the record saying “From the first night we sat together at my piano hashing out arrangements of his songs, before going into the studio to record them, I felt it was a really important record that had to be heard. The songs have so much heart and are so musical that I could just hear all the arrangements immediately and I could really feel them.” Be on the lookout in 2019 for the release of Duff McKagan’s solo album.
