Keith Richards stars on the January 2024 issue of Uncut, the magazine celebrates the great guitarist’s 80th birthday this month.
“Our paths first crossed when the first American Folk Blues tour came through Manchester [October 21, 1962]. To the true and faithful, it was a clarion call for all blues collectors and enthusiasts. There was an Epsom contingent that travelled up there, and that’s where I first met Keith and Mick. Read the full story on Uncut Here
There they were and there I was, and I’m sure he remembered meeting me from that. Later, there was a gathering of people at this record collector’s house, which was a treat because he put on the Howlin’ Wolf album with the rocking chair on the cover [Howlin’ Wolf, 1962], which had stuff like ‘Down In The Bottom’, ‘Going Down Slow’, ‘You’ll Be Mine’. None of us had even heard that album yet. Can you imagine?
“Then I’d meet Keith along the way during the ‘60s. I went to hear the Stones when they did a night at the Flamingo club and I’d see them at various venues around London. They were truly faithful devotees of the Chess catalogue and they could play it all really well. Later I’d bump into them at Immediate Records, when I did a few bits and pieces, though they were more like demos.
The first time I was actually playing with Keith was when we were on the same Chris Farlowe sessions that Mick was producing. ‘Yesterday’s Papers’ [1967] was a really good one.
I’m playing acoustic on that. We were sitting next to each other and I got on really well with Keith because there was a great mutual respect.
You could see that he was really disciplined in the studio, because you know what those sort of sessions were like – it’d be a three-hour session or whatever, where they get as much done as possible. And he was on the nail all the way through.
“The next time I got a chance to play with him was in New York, when I was invited to the studio during Dirty Work [1986]. We had a couple of days to have a bit of a play and a jam, then I did the soloing over ‘One Hit (To The Body)’. Keith sent me a magnum of champagne afterwards, which was very sporting.
‘One Hit (To the Body)’ was released on The Rolling Stones’ Dirty Work album. ⠀⠀
@ronniewood had got in touch with me while I was staying at the Plaza Hotel in New York and invited me to come to the studio and lay down some guitar on a track of @officialkeef. I was really up for this idea as I had done some studio work before on a track playing with Keith at Ronnie’s studio at The Wick in Richmond, England.
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Actually, the session was not for Keith’s album, it was for @therollingstones, and I overdubbed a number of solos over the track. I think it worked out pretty good. Keith kindly sent me a magnum of champagne after the session.
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