Listen: Ritchie Blackmore records blues song with William Shatner
A spoken word version of 'The Thrill Is Gone'
Deep Purple and Rainbow legend Ritchie Blackmore has joined forces with Star Trek actor turned musician William Shatner for a cover of blues song ‘The Thrill Is Gone’.
After recording his first spoken word album ‘The Transformed Man’ in 1968, William Shatner revived his unorthodox music career this millennium with six studio albums between 2004 and 2018.
Predominately featuring covers, the albums also feature a series a blockbuster guest performers – 2018’s ‘Shatner Claus – The Christmas Album’, for example featured Todd Rundgren, Artimus Pyle, Rick Wakeman, Billy Gibbons, Henry Rollins, Iggy Pop, Ian Anderson and many more.
Now, William Shatner, who turns 90 in March, is embracing blues music with his newly aptly entitled album ‘The Blues’, which lands on Friday 2nd October.
As a taster for the album, Shatner has premiered his collaboration with Ritchie Blackmore and his wife and Blackmore’s Night bandmate Candice Night, a cover of the 1950s blues song ‘The Thrill Is Gone’ later made famous by B.B. King’.
Listen to William Shatner ft. Ritchie Blackmore ‘The Thrill Is Gone’:
‘The Blues’ also features guest performances from Tyler Bryant on ‘Born Under A Bad Sign’, Albert Lee on ‘In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company’, and Harvey Mandel & Canned Heat on ‘Let’s Work Together’.
The full track-listing is as follows:
1) Sweet Home Chicago feat. Brad Paisley
2) I Can’t Quit You Baby feat. Kirk Fletcher
3) Sunshine of Your Love feat. Sonny Landreth
4) The Thrill Is Gone feat. Ritchie Blackmore
5) Mannish Boy feat. Ronnie Earl
6) Born Under a Bad Sign feat. Tyler Bryant
7) I Put A Spell on You feat. Pat Travers
8) Crossroads feat. James Burton
9) Smokestack Lightnin’ feat. Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
10) As the Years Go Passing By feat. Arthur Adams
11) Let’s Work Together feat. Harvey Mandel & Canned Heat
12) Route 66 feat. Steve Cropper
13) In Hell I’ll Be in Good Company feat. Albert Lee
14) Secrets Or Sins