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<\/a>There was always more to Duff McKagan than just being the punk dude bassist from Guns n\u2019 Roses. That much was evident on \u2018Believe In Me\u2019, his first solo album, released way back in 1993.<\/p>\nThat album was recorded on downtime during the massive \u2018Use Your Illusions\u2019 world tour. Similarly, \u2018Tenderness\u2019 was written and recorded during Guns recent \u2018Not In This Lifetime\u2019 world tour. The difference? 25 years of sobriety, 25 years of losing friends to addiction and depression, and 25 years of life experiences and raising a family in a world that is increasingly dangerous and more fucked up by the day.<\/p>\n
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As the title suggests, \u2018Tenderness\u2019 is a much more sombre and reflective body of work than anything Duff has ever recorded. Observations of life on the road during Guns world tour gave the inspiration, and musically, it\u2019s stripped bare. A rootsy, rock record, more akin to Exile-era Stones than the sleazy, Sunset Strip that made the band (and the man) famous.<\/p>\n
Hooking up with Shooter Jennings to produce and shape his first solo album since those hedonistic days was a masterstroke. Like he did a couple of years back with Leroy Virgil from Hellbound Glory (check out the marvelous \u2018Pinball\u2019 album), Shooter used his own backing band to help sprinkle Nashville style magic all over the album.<\/p>\n
Now, this backing band is like a modern day version of The Band, proper cool cats. I saw them perform 2 sets in a night at The Whisky-A-Go-Go, one with Hellbound Glory and then another with Shooter. They will be doing the same on Duff\u2019s forthcoming European tour. When this rhythm section of bassist Ted Russell Kamp and drummer Jamie Douglass get together with fiddle player Aubrey Richmond and John Schreffler Jr on guitar, some sort of magic happens. It\u2019s no surprise they are Shooter\u2019s go-to guys. He knows what sound he needs and they deliver.<\/p>\n
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The title track opens the album and sets the scene. \u201cBlackened days, we\u2019ve lost our way\u201d sings Duff over Shooter\u2019s haunting piano, it sets the scene for the next 45 minutes. The country-tinged arrangement is perfection and the sentiment delivered with sincerity. The sparse musicianship never overplayed, just enough in all the right places to accentuate the melodies and the vocals.<\/p>\n
By the time the last chorus is played out, you already have the desire to gather the ones you love and sing along in unison. Moving stuff indeed.<\/p>\n
The social commentary Duff is laying out is perfect for these trying times and it\u2019s something we can all relate to. \u201cTurn off the screen, take a long walk and meet your fellow man…it\u2019s not too late\u2019 he sings on the following \u2018It\u2019s Not Too Late\u2019, delivered with sincerity over mournful pedal steel and heartfelt violins.<\/p>\n
The juxtaposition of the sweet music and the honest lyricism is on point and Duff is not afraid to tackle any subject, from addiction and homelessness to school shootings and abuse. Take \u2018Last September\u2019, a hard-hitting, yet beautifully delivered countrified look at the \u2018#metoo\u2019 movement. \u00a0A lone acoustic breaks the silence like a \u2018Nebraska\u2019 outtake, before haunting, choral backing vocals join the lead vocals. Fragile, almost to the point of breaking. \u201cShe said no, he said yes, he held her down and choked her neck\u201d. The hard-hitting lyrics are brutal and to the point, sung over laid-back, bare-bones Americana.<\/p>\n
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On a personal highlight, Shooter teases out Duff\u2019s Johnny Thunders influences on \u2018Wasted Heart\u2019. The soaring vocals and sweet brass courtesy of The Suicide Horn Section (featuring Duff\u2019s brother Matt McKagan on trombone) is sublime to these ears.<\/p>\n
The hard-hitting \u2018Parkland\u2019 name-checks the schools affected by shootings and highlights the crazy US gun laws. It could have easily come across as being cheesy, but it\u2019s handled in just the right way by someone who has bought up daughters in that environment. The more upbeat \u2018Chip Away\u2019 has a killer Rolling Stones vibe, as Duff drawls about smoking crack over Hammond organ, skiffle beats and handclaps that take us to church…divine.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the hickey, hard luck story of \u2018Breaking Rocks\u2019 is brilliant in its simplicity. It fits the bill nicely, as Duff\u2019s wavering vocals meet in a great duet with Shooter himself. Mental wah-wah guitars seal the deal. A song to sit on the porch and drink moonshine too.<\/p>\n
The album closes with the reflective \u2018Don\u2019t Look Behind You\u2019. Riding on acoustic and sparse accompaniment, before veering into almost lounge territory as the brass section are left to their own devices, with even a saxophone solo for good measure.<\/p>\n
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Duff McKagan has nothing to prove. He\u2019s been there and done it all. He\u2019s been (right next door) to hell and back and survived to become a better man. But every great musician needs to create and right now Duff has something to say and recording this album is the best thing he could\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n
For me, it\u2019s as good as, if not better than Izzy\u2019s Ju Ju Hounds, and it\u2019s up there with Gilby\u2019s \u2018Pawnshop Guitars\u2019.<\/p>\n
As with past Guns n\u2019 Roses members solo albums, \u2018Tenderness\u2019 will go largely unnoticed by the music buying (or streaming) public, which is a crying shame, as it is one of the finest releases this year and probably the best thing the man has put his name to since \u2018Appetite For Destruction\u2019.<\/p>\n
Buy ‘Tenderness’ Here<\/a><\/p>\n