Rhyme & Reason Records
Rhyme & Reason Records
For the past 30 years, Bernard Fowler has toured with The Rolling Stones as a backing vocalist, and the singer is now tipping his hat to the rock legends with a new solo album that features reinterpretations of the band’s songs.
Titled Inside Out, the record will be released on April 19, one day before The Stones launch their 2019 U.S. tour in Miami Gardens, Florida.
The first single from the album is a cover of the 1968 Stones classic “Sympathy for the Devil,” but most of the other tracks are versions of lesser-known tunes, including “Tie You Up,” “Dancing with Mr. D” and “Sister Morphine.”
Vocally, Fowler’s renditions of the songs were inspired by politically minded spoken-word artists such as Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets.
Fowler says he was inspired to make Inside Out after Mick Jagger complimented him on his funky conga playing and spoken vocals during an impromptu jam session at a Stones sound check.
“[Mick said], ‘Bernard, I’ve heard Rolling Stones songs played in many different ways but I’ve never heard it like this before,” Fowler recalls.
Discussing the project in the album’s liner notes, the singer writes, “I had an amazing time rediscovering these songs. Even though making this recording wasn’t easy to do, I’d gladly do it all over again even if I knew the bumps in the road ahead.”
Among the musicians who contributed to Inside Out were longtime Stones touring bassist Darryl Jones, frequent Keith Richards collaborator Steve Jordan, and Ray Parker Jr. of “Ghostbusters” fame.
Prior to hitting the road with The Stones, Fowler will be a featured singer on the latest North American leg of the A Bowie Celebration David Bowie tribute tour, kicking off February 6 in Mesa, Arizona.
Here’s the Inside Out track list:
“Tie You Up”
“Dancing with Mr. D”
“Undercover of the Night”
“Time Waits for No One”
“Sister Morphine”
“All the Way Down”
“Must Be Hell”
“Sympathy for the Devil”
“Dancing with Mr. D” (bonus track)
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