Slash has released a fiery rendition of Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well” featuring country star Chris Stapleton, the second single off his upcoming blues covers album Orgy of the Damned.
You can listen to the song below.
Written by Fleetwood Mac founder Peter Green, “Oh Well” was originally released as a single in 1969 and later appeared on the amended U.S. edition of that year’s Then Play On. Several rockers have covered it over the years, including Rick Springfield, Billy Gibbons and Deep Purple. The song has also been part of Slash’s repertoire since the ’90s, when he performed it with his touring outfit Slash’s Blues Ball.
“I knew from the beginning I wanted to do [‘Oh Well’] on this record,” Slash said in a statement. “It was also one of the songs that I was trying to figure out who would be the right vocalist for it, and one of the ideas I had was Chris Stapleton, who is one of the most brilliant singer-songwriters today. He’s also got such a gritty and distinctive voice, so I called him up and he did an amazing job. I mean, his voice is so cool.”
READ MORE: How Slash’s First Solo Album Rekindled His Love of Music
Details on Slash’s ‘Orgy of the Damned’
Scheduled for release on May 17, Orgy of the Damned will show Slash paying homage to some of his earliest influences with help from his famous friends. The Guns N’ Roses guitarist will put his spin on a variety of genre staples and lesser-known gems, including Robert Johnson’s “Cross Road Blues,” Willie Dixon’s “Hoochie Coochie Man” (first recorded by Muddy Waters) and T-Bone Walker’s “Stormy Monday.”
Slash first previewed Orgy of the Damned with a cover of Howlin’ Wolf’s “Killing Floor” featuring Brian Johnson on vocals and Steven Tyler on harmonica. Like his self-titled 2010 solo album, each track will feature a different singer, including Chris Robinson, Billy Gibbons, Iggy Pop, Paul Rodgers and more. The album also features former Blues Ball bassist Johnny Griparic and keyboardist Teddy Andreadis alongside newly recruited drummer Michael Jerome and singer/guitarist Tash Neal.
“The most important thing about it was just having fun with it,” Slash told UCR about making the album. “When we’re playing the songs through, [we’re] not trying to emulate them. They would just sort of naturally take a certain arrangement course on their own. Once you start doing that, then you’re like, ‘OK, well let’s make this work this way.’ But you keep the integrity of the main throughline and make sure that the riff, melody and all of that stuff stay intact. So you’re not trying to have too much artistic license and it’s not too self-indulgent. You want to make sure that you’re respecting the original to some extent.”
Slash Solo Albums Ranked
The top-hatted guitarist has kept busy outside of Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver.
Gallery Credit: Bryan Rolli
