The full list of collaborators is KD Lang, Mark Lanegan, Lucinda Williams, Dave Gahan, Cat Power, Rufus Wainwright, Carleen Anderson, Brandon Flowers, Julian Lennon, Debbie Harry, Alan Sparhawk, Shirley Manson, and The Black Keys frontman Dan Auerbach.
With recordings such as The Kinks’ Stop Your Sobbing with The Pretenders and Sonny & Cher’s 60s hit I Got You Babe with UB40, and her 2019 solo covers album Valve Bone Woe, she’s wrapped other people’s stories in her velvety, incorruptibly cool voice over the years and made them her own.
Duets Special will arrive on October 17th through Parlophone Records. To tease the release, Hynde has shared ‘Always On My Mind’ with Rufus Wainwright.
The track with Wainwright kick-started the creative process for the record, according to Hynde. She said in a statement, “I never thought about doing a Duets album before. I think the idea came about in 2023. I was talking to Jörn, Rufus Wainwright’s husband, on the phone.”
The Pretenders frontwoman went to see one of the huge Oasis Live ‘25 reunion shows at Wembley Stadium in London earlier this month, alongside the former Smiths guitarist and his daughter Sonny, as well as Pretenders lead guitarist James Walbourne.
Now, Hynde has posted on Instagram about her experience at the show. “James and I went with @johnnymarrgram to see @oasis the other week,” she wrote. “They were great as one would expect.”
“Saw a bunch of old pals in the audience and was dancing with Kate Moss to support act, the excellent voiced @richardashcroftofficial.”
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Chrissie Hynde prefers playing smaller venues with The Pretenders because they are better "for the audience and for the band".
In a post on Instagram, she wrote: " Over these past years, people often ask why we aren’t playing in bigger venues i e. arenas? The simple answer is: Clubs and theatres are better venues for the audience and for the band.
"Personally, I have never stayed for a three hour show, and I like to see the band on stage rather than on screens if I’m in the audience.
"And if I’m on stage, I like to see every audience member right up to the back of the balcony."
She went on to add: "So yes, we could be playing bigger places, making more money, and in some people’s eyes, garnering more prestige ... but we really don’t give a s*** about that stuff.
"We have loved supporting Stevie Nicks, Phil Collins, Guns N’ Roses, and now the Foo Fighters in huge venues, but for our own shows we like to keep it reined in."
