Ronnie Wood talks catching the blues bug and curating compilation album Confessin’ The Blues with the Rolling Stones
Ronnie trawls through his memories for anecdotes about blues legend mates like Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, whose songs feature in the album
“HE’S gonna be, he’s gonna be a rollin’ stone. Sure ’nough, he’s a rollin’ stone.”
These lines are credited to the father of modern Chicago blues, Muddy Waters.
They come from his 1950 hit Rollin’ Stone and were delivered in an imperious, elemental rumble.
Taken literally, the lyrics could apply to the skinny teenager, “looking like Cleopatra,” who pitched up at Richmond Athletic Ground in 1963 to see the Rolling Stones.
His name was Ronald David Wood, known to you and me as lovable rogue Ronnie.
It was a moment that shaped the life of the Hillingdon boy who was destined to “be a rollin’ stone.”
Today, he recalls: “I was a member of the audience, obviously, and I had my first brainwave that night. I thought, ‘Yeah, that’s my band. I wanna be in that band.’”
He’d witnessed a high-octane show by the Stones’ line-up consisting of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts, a band on the brink of becoming The Beatles’ biggest pop chart rivals.
It took place in the grounds of the South West London sports venue because their usual haunt, The Crawdaddy Club at the nearby Station Hotel, was too small for their growing army of fans.
The Stones peppered their set with blues covers including first hit, a turbo-charged take on Chuck Berry’s Come On, as well as songs by Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed.
“I was last one out of the tent,” recalls Ronnie. “And I had set my sights.”
Twelve years later, after catching the blues bug from his older brothers and stints with The Birds, The Jeff Beck Group and The Faces, sure ’nough the guitarist became a Rolling Stone.
Wind forward to 2018 and the Stones have lovingly curated a 42-track compilation album by their blues heroes called Confessin’ The Blues.
It follows their authentic, full-blooded blues covers collection Blue & Lonesome, a huge critical and commercial success.
Now Confessin’ The Blues serves as a handsome trawl through stone-cold classics by the greats, from pioneer Robert Johnson to the still-alive Buddy Guy.
Proceeds go to Willie Dixon’s Blues Heaven Foundation, run by Dixon’s daughter Jacqueline to promote, protect and preserve the blues for future generations . . . including Dad’s greatest compositions such as Little Red Rooster and I Just Want To Make Love To You.
The cover painting is by Ronnie, a wonderfully expressive depiction of a singer lost in the blues, clutching an acoustic guitar. It’s a further enhancement of his “other career” as an artist and he enthuses: “I love the fact they’ve used it!
“He’s a generic bluesman off the top of my head. I drew him in New Orleans 20 or more years ago. I’ve done a few bluesmen in my time.”
Muddy was the godfather of the blues... the boss
Ronnie Wood
It explains why I find myself perched on a small sofa next to Ronnie in the cramped basement of a recording studio not far from the bustle of London’s Oxford Street.
He’s accompanied by his theatre producer wife Sally, mother of his twin girls Gracie and Alice, and is in great form, sporting black jeans, a jumper with black and yellow flecks and that familiar shock of black spiky hair.
With the latest leg of the Stones’ massive No Filter world tour behind him, he’s enjoying family time and lots more painting.
He describes his two-year-old daughters as “incredible” before calling over to his wife, “They’re great artists, aren’t they?” She smiles back: “And they get covered in paint!”
Ronnie continues: “We give them big canvasses. Forget about Gilbert and George when you’ve got Gracie and Alice . . . they are fantastic.”
With Ronnie in his 72nd year, he says the girls “keep me on my toes. We’re also blessed because they sleep from about ten till ten.”
Helping them nod off is the Stones’ cover of Jimmy Reed’s Little Rain from Blue & Lonesome. “They love that because it’s like a lullaby,” he reveals.
As for his latest artistic endeavours, Ronnie says: “Now we’ve just come off tour, I’ve been using my new studio to paint landscapes with guitars growing out of them. I’m combining my music and art.
“I’m on a really exciting adventure at the moment and have done about 20 oil paintings since the tour finished. I feel the same way about painting as I do about making music again.”
Not forgetting the day job, or should I say night job, he’s looking forward to the Stones completing their highly anticipated album of original material, their first since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.
“I’ve got a feeling we’ll be carrying on back in the studio within the next few months,” says Ronnie.
He firmly believes the album will be released and that “it’ll prompt another tour. You know me, I’m always hopeful!”
My twin girls love our version of Little Rain... it’s like a lullaby
Ronnie Wood
So what keeps the band going? “The key is keeping the bike well oiled,” he decides.
“If you let anything stand for long, it will go sour. Look at Mick, he doesn’t let things stand. He’s always working out and he keeps his voice in great shape too. I don’t exactly know how he does it but he certainly keeps doing it.”
Anyone who’s seen Ronnie on stage with the Stones will have witnessed his infectious enthusiasm that spreads through the rest of the band and audience.
“I love to watch people enjoying the shows,” he says. “Everybody’s From previous page
got smiles on their faces when we play and it’s so lovely to make people happy.”
As a musician from rock’s top table, Ronnie’s one of the best connected in the business and the blues compilation is a prime opportunity for him to regale me with stories of his encounters with legends of the genre . . . like the time the Stones joined Muddy Waters on stage at the Checkerboard Lounge in Chicago for songs such as Hoochie Coochie Man and Mannish Boy.
“He was the godfather of the blues and we were under his spell,” says Ronnie. “We had deep respect for him and I remember thinking, ‘I can’t believe I’m playing with the man who started all this.’
“On stage, he was the boss. He said to me at one point, ‘Start the song.’ I’d never heard it before and I had no idea how it went.
“I said, ‘Can I borrow your slide guitar?’ and it was the tiniest, shortest little slide bottleneck.
“So I had a go and luckily it was the right tempo and the right beat. He came in and just started singing. After the song, he said, ‘I want my slide back.’ I was like, ‘OK, Mr Waters!’”
Ronnie trawls through his memories for anecdotes about other blues legend mates.
“John Lee Hooker was a great buddy of mine, always with a young girl by his side,” he reports.
“He was an old man by the time I knew him but he was lovely and he’d say, ‘What do you think of my nurse?’ A lot of them were on their way to their graves when I was still a young boy.
“Bo Diddley was wonderful and I did a lot of work with him. He was like a circus performer, just magic.
“And Willie Dixon was this big lumbering man who always wore a white hat and used a stick. He was very polite, very loving.”
There was the time he persuaded BB King to visit the Stones’ rehearsal studio in Shepperton to the disbelief of his bandmates. “When I said he was coming, they said, ‘Yeah right, so is Frank Sinatra.’
“Just as I was about to give up, the door swung open and BB came in going, ‘Hey, where’s my man Ronnie?’ We played Rock Me Baby then he said, ‘I’m outta here, gotta go to the airport.’”
Then there were the occasions Ronnie hooked up with Chuck Berry and experienced two sides of his character.
“He didn’t give a lot away and we all know he had a weakness for women,” he says.
“I knew he could be an asshole to work with. He was terrible to people, really rude. “He wouldn’t play unless the promoter put money in his guitar case.”
Ronnie recalls one particular conversation: “He told me, ‘Why they steal my money? Why they steal my licks?’ And I said, ‘I know you’ve got a chip on your shoulder but you shouldn’t be so rude.’
“Often he’d leave straight from the stage with the money in his case, just walk through the audience without any warning. ‘Time’s up! I’ve done my slot, I’m off’ was his attitude.”
And yet Ronnie adds: “Backstage, Chuck was very nice to me. I got on really well with him, even towards the end. I last met him in the cinema and he called me over and said, ‘Hey Ronnie, don’t tell anyone but I’ve been wearing these red pants on stage for 17 years.’ Remember those horrible bell bottoms he always wore live?
“I said, ‘Chuck, don’t worry about it. It’s no secret!’”
Occasionally, Ronnie would find himself in the company of more than one legend at a time.
“Another classic pinnacle for me was in New Orleans where I had the best seat in the house,” he says.
“Ray Charles, Fats Domino and Jerry Lee Lewis were all playing piano in front of me and I’m the guitar player.
“It was totally surreal and they were so lovely backstage.”
He remembers a time in Chicago when former Stones bassist Bill Wyman said: “Woody, I’ve got a few blokes I want you to meet.”
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“In the room were Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Buddy Guy all sitting there, all sparring with each other and saying things to me like, ‘Don’t talk to him, he knows nothin’ about the blues.’ They had a good sense of humour.”
Hearing all these tales, it’s no wonder that Ronnie and his fellow Stones are masters of the blues.
“The blues is what we do,” he says. “It just flows.”