It’s been a sad month for rock star deaths. Alongside Dolly Parton, ZZ Top drummer Frank Beard left us and now his bandmate Billy Gibbons has collaborated on a new single with Sir Brian May honouring the late Steve Cropper. The Blues Brothers band member died less than a year ago, but alongside The Midnight Hour, he recorded the album Watching The Tide prior to his death. The Queen guitarist was already working with Steve on a track, but after he died, it evolved into the soulful ballad My Angels Are Calling. Sporting a cowboy hat, Brian is on his own-penned vocals from Steve’s point of view, alongside Billy with a guitar solo towards the end.
Reflecting on the sessions, Brian remembers: “We were all incredibly sad at Steve´s passing, and I was already collaborating with Steve and his band on a track for this album, which is now his last. The backing track, which Jon Tiven, producer of the album and a very old friend of mine, sent me, includes Steve Cropper´s unmistakable riff in a style which has influenced us all massively over the years. As soon as Steve was gone, I could hear something different in my head – a tribute to Cropper himself. The way I saw it, I wanted to try to step into his mind at the moment when he knew it was time to move on.
Sir Brian continued: “So in the track I’m attempting to speak with his voice, and I felt that spiritually he would find a way of bringing his usual optimism into play. In the song, the angels are calling, and it seems to me that, along with being grateful for his wonderful life, he would imagine heaven to be something like going to back to sitting on the dock of the bay, a moment in time that he shared with Otis Redding creating that immortal hit, ‘Dock of the Bay’. Having Billy Gibbons play a spectaular solo for me is the final wonderful bonus to this experience. The whole band did a terrific job, and I´m very proud to be a part of it.”
Steve Cropper and The Midnight Hour’s new album, Watching The Tide, also features Eric Clapton on the track Ticket First and Ronnie Wood on Until Now, and is out now.
