Pretenders announce new album, 'Alone,' recorded with Dan Auerbach
by Jay Gabler
September 06, 2016
The Pretenders have announced their next album. Alone, due for release Oct. 21, was produced by Chrissie Hynde's fellow Akron, Ohio native Dan Auerbach (the Black Keys, the Arcs) — recorded at his Easy Eye Studio in Nashville. It's the first all-new Pretenders studio album since 2008's Break Up the Concrete, and follows Hynde's solo debut Stockholm (2014).
"Holy Commotion," a song from the new album, will debut on The Current and elsewhere tomorrow (Sept. 7) — Hynde's birthday. Tune in to Mary Lucia's shift (2:00-6:00 p.m. CDT) to hear Looch talk with Hynde about the new music.
The album features Nashville session musicians including Dave Roe (bass), Russ Pahl (pedal steel), Kenny Vaughan (guitar); in addition to Leon Michels (keyboards) and Richard Swift (drums) of Auerbach's band the Arcs. Auerbach also plays guitar on the album, which features a guest turn by the legendary Duane Eddy on the song "Never Be Together." In a burst of inspiration, Hynde recorded all the vocals for the album in just 48 hours.
"We were in the studio hanging out," said Hynde, addressing the album's title in a press release, "and the guys were talking about their families and their wives and I said, 'Well, I do everything alone. I go to the cinema alone. I go to restaurants alone. I live alone. I pretty much do everything on my own. I don't mind.' Dan says, 'Write a song about it.' The more I thought about it, I thought, I've heard 1,000 songs in my life, they're all about, I am so tired of being alone. I can't live without you. Since you've left my world has fallen apart. When am I going to see you again? Marry me and be with me for the rest of my life. I have never heard anyone celebrate being alone in a song. I couldn't think of one."
Just a few days after Alone is released, the Pretenders are hitting the road with Stevie Nicks. The tour begins on Oct. 25 in Phoenix, and stops at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul on Dec. 6.
Alone track listing
Alone Song
Roadie Man
Gotta Wait
Never Be Together
Let's Get Lost
Chord Lord
Blue Eyed Sky
Be The Man That You Are
One More Day
I Hate Myself
Death Is Not Enough
Holy Commotion