Listener discretion is advised.

When you're- when I'm thinking about album covers, there's all kinds of ways to go.

There's, like, you can ask artists to do something for you, or you can ask an artist, "What, do anything you like," you know? Whatever.

And of course, the, we never have the title.

We have the title.

That's the thing.

The title's are always the co- I mean, that's why I wish I had the title.

But the Stones believe in maximum effort all the time.

But he got off to a rocky start in his youth.

Well, about 12 or 13, um, friends used to play on Scout Scar, which is close to where we are now, and we were told off for throwing stones by, um, a lady voluntary warden.

Um, and I thought, "That's a good idea.

I'll get into that when I'm older." So I made inquiries, and I could become a warden when I was 18.

So I applied about three months before I was 18, and accepted as a voluntary warden, um, three weeks before my 18th birthday.

And Ron's passion for this landscape has never waned, even after witnessing many changes over the decades.

There's plenty of room for tourists, but not enough room for the cars.

So best thing to do is to come by public transport.

Keith Richards.

I think Mick had had it around for a while.

Um, I don't know, I, I don't think it was quite ready for, for the Diamonds, because I do remember hooking around with the idea and the, and the style.

But by the next time I saw him la- early last year, um, he had it, so I said, "Okay, now we can do it," and, uh, it's a, it's a beautiful song and- and if you wanna know more, ask Mick.

On this version, they're stripping it back.

Beautiful Delilah, a great Chuck Berry song.

I mean, the lyrics are amazing, and also we wanted to, like, just say, "Bam, look, you can screw around with songs.

Bam.

We had

quite an experience making the album, starting in Electric Lady, getting the feel there in New York, going over to Hanson Studios in LA for a little bit of Muppet and Kermit value, and then coming to Chiswick into Metropolis and getting back home, you know, it had that feel of the old Olympic studios that

I said, if we're gonna do another cover version, Amy's the one.

I'm sad because she didn't do her full span.

We lost her early and it was like saying goodbye to Billie Holiday again.

Ronnie Wood.

And we always like to work in a studio that has that kind of big capacity, and Metropolis just about gets away with it.

The big room there is quite inspiring.

There's enough room for lots of instruments, lots of different experiments, and drums, and different keyboards, and amps, and vocal facilities, and stuff.

Let me, let me take you down south for a second.

[laughs] Bum, it's like no time's gone by.

It's the jokes, the warm feeling, the creativity bursting at the seams, you know? It's just a matter of gathering everyone together, you know? And it's like when you're, you're trying to do a project with, with people, and you have to make sure they're all available, and they step up to the plate.

And with the Stones, we don't need any encouragement other than to get the word of like, "Okay, we're going in.

I've never spoken to you in the context of the Stones and what it is to be standing opposite Ronnie and your tunings and know that there's a pocket waiting for you two, you know?

Uh, Ronnie, Ronnie and I have fell into playing together.

I started playing with Ronnie, uh, in the '70s, uh, when he, when he was doing a, a, a solo album.

Uh, and I had nowhere to sleep and, uh [laughs] so I, I, uh, wormed my way in.

And, uh, I spent about six months with Ronnie at his house.

Uh, and that's where we started to hone our thing down.

'Cause we looked at each other and listened to each other and said, "You know, if you hadn't have played that, I would have." [laughs] And, uh, so, you know, uh, yeah, Ron- Ronnie's a comfortable, comfortable foil to play with, you know? And, uh, you know, bless his heart, you know?

And just kind of hearing yourself in the context of this Stones record, what was that day like when you, when you cut that with Andrew and everybody in the, in the room?

These days, things are different, but when Mick and Keith start writing, they still rely on that shared language, a creative closeness that goes beyond geography.

It's usually thousands of miles apart, and then we get together for a day or two and say, "What do you got?" And then we shatter again.

We've got so used, after all these years, of, of actually, like, working apart.

We can do that, and as, as long as we, uh, every couple of months or so get together, and we'll get into a little studio to, uh, say, "What do you got?" You know what I mean? [laughs] "I ain't got nothing, man" [laughs].

And Mick will go, "Look, I got this," or whatever which way around it goes, you know? It's really impossible to put your finger on it.

It's so, "I like that thing you played on, on that track." "Yeah, but it wasn't that track.

It was the other track." [laughs] "In that case, we should move that," [laughs] you know.

Every process is about one thing: creating the opportunity for inspiration to strike.

Ronnie Wood.

He's kind of regenerated the drive that The Rolling Stones hadn't had since Jimmy Miller.

Jimmy Miller used to make them work and turn out album after album, and then there was a lull.

We had great producers like, uh, Chris Kimsey and Don Was.

He, he was a bit hesitant as well because he played on our weaknesses, which was like, "Oh, I don't, you know, I don't fancy going in the studio." Go, "All right then." But Andrew Watt won't have it.

None of that.

He's like, "You're in the studio whether you like it or not, and you're gonna finish your parts by the end of next week." And you go, "All right, Andrew." [laughs] And we're all like that, and we love it.

For more than half a century, he'd been the clockwork that made everything tick.

yes yeah there's andrew watt i don't know if everyone appreciates whatever his magic is he's a young guy who's worked with just about everybody he did hackney with you guys

well paul mccartney told me about him at dinner one night because i said we need someone to kick us in the shape like jimmy miller used to do right before my time but i used to love what they did and i love the regularity of the albums you know And then that subsided.

And Paul said, why don't you give Andrew a try? He's this young kid I've been working with.

He said, no harm in it, you know.

If it doesn't work, you haven't lost anything.

I said, right.

And so I said, I'm going to tell Mick.

its changes, you know? There's one of the beautiful parts about the new album is that we get some of the drums from Charlie recorded in 2021 before his passing.

I think people were shocked there was even a record at all.

I think it's a step up, a bar raised.

I mean, it's even better than the one before.

So know that you can

You get, like, completely out of your mind and then play till five in the morning.

I love the challenge.

It's nice to have someone like Andrew Watt that knows the way I play.

And he says, hey, Ronnie...

[laughs]

[laughs][upbeat music] Pre-order.

Out July 10th.

More tonight, so after the break, come on back.

[audience cheering] Yeah.

[singing] Got no fair meaning, not an L, that's K.

Do bad damage and never walk out your path.

Thank you.

So you're kind of peeking through the hole, looking at what's going on, really?

Yeah.

Well, they let me in because they knew, th- they could see something in me that was a spark, you know? I could play the kazoo or the washboard, my first instrument actually, with them.

Anyway, the guitar section was Jim Willis on banjo and, uh, Lawrence Schief, who is still alive, who's now a professor in America, and he played note for note this first choice of mine, which is, uh, Big Bill Broonzy, the Guitar Shuffle.

And, uh, I would watch him totally glued to his approach, and he would draw out the numbers on the strings on the diagram, where to put your fingers, and that's how I first started to play the guitar.

But anyway, he would play this song, Guitar Shuffle, and it's very earthy, and this man, Broonzy, was just an inspiration.

I'm mind-

Oh, you're gonna hear a, a very inspirational, fantastic track by Jimmy Reed, Shame, Shame, Shame.