In 2016, when The Rolling Stones released their album Blue & Lonesome, it had been decades since Brian Jones’ tragic passing. It was their first album comprising exclusively of cover songs. A nod to their early musical roots, the title referenced the 1959 song by Little Walter that the band also covered for the album.
In the age of streaming, this record of soulful blues covers with classic blues guitar, harmonica solos, and emotive vocals from Mick Jagger was a move only an established outfit like them could take up. The album charted at number one in the UK and peaked at number four in America. Recorded over three studio sessions from 2015, it also features Eric Clapton on guitar on the band’s covers of ‘Everybody Knows about My Good Thing’ and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’.
Keith Richards’ favourite song on the album is ‘Little Rain’, a Jimmy Reed number, originally released in 1957. The last time Richards played the track before the 2016 release was with Brian Jones, about which he was quoted as saying, “The last time I ever played Little Rain was with Brian Jones. Now I’m playing Little Rain in the studio and suddenly Brian is looming in front of me…” The pair initially bonded over their shared love for blues, playing Muddy Waters and Jimmy Reed songs.
Brian Jones started one of the most important bands in history when he brought Richards and Jagger into a blues group that would become The Rolling Stones. In the band’s early days, the three of them shared a flat in Chelsea, playing blues covers at small gigs while figuring themselves out. Before the ‘Glimmer Twins’ took over as the group’s main songwriters, it was Jones’ multi-instrumental talents that shaped much of their early sound. You can hear his fingerprints all over albums like Aftermath, Between the Buttons, and Their Satanic Majesties Request.
It’s no secret that tension developed between Jones and the rest of the band before his ultimate departure in 1969, shortly preceding his untimely passing. His position in the band had shifted to becoming increasingly unreliable, which was intertwined with his recreational use of drugs and alcohol, eventually complicating the band’s ability to tour in the US, which was a major contributing factor to the separation. Alongside this, Richards and Jones’ relationship was dealt a unique blow after the former started dating Anita Pallenberg, who left Jones for Richards after two years of a complicated relationship. The band went on to play with guitarist Mick Taylor while Jones released a public statement about the move, citing creative differences. A month after the official severing, he was found unresponsive in his swimming pool at Cotchford Farm.
Remembering Brian Jones through The Rolling Stones’ blues roots
The tune ‘Little Rain’ is a stand-out track. Slower in tempo than some of the other songs featured on the album, the song feels deliberate and sensual. When asked about his favourite track on the record, Richards said, “For myself, ‘Little Rain Falling’, the old Jimmy Reed song. Just because it’s an atmospherically different sound, but it only squeaks through on Blue & Lonesome.”
Playing the songs of the greats that come before is a unique responsibility, a sentiment echoed by Jagger, saying, “Exactly! You can feel them around you. Keith probably thought, ‘I’d better get this right’. I just wanted to get the harmonica solo right. I must have learned that from Brian.”
Though at the time of his death, the relationship between Jones and the other members of the Stones was strained, over time, the understanding the members had of him has grown. In 1989, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame as an original member of The Rolling Stones.
In the book The Rolling Stones, released in 2002, Bill Wyman stated, “As the years go by, I become even more convinced that he’s entitled to a free pardon. Brian Jones is a legend, and his legacy is there for all to hear. While The Rolling Stones damaged all of us in some way, Brian was the only one that died.”
