Home Featured ROB HALFORD Is ‘Excited’ To Get To Work On His Upcoming Blues Solo Album

ROB HALFORD Is ‘Excited’ To Get To Work On His Upcoming Blues Solo Album

rob halford blues solo album, ROB HALFORD Is ‘Excited’ To Get To Work On His Upcoming Blues Solo Album

JUDAS PRIEST singer Rob Halford says that he is “excited” about working on his debut blues solo album.

Halford is collaborating with the same lineup of players that he used for his 2019 Christmas album “Celestial”, which includes his brother Nigel and his nephew Alex (son of PRIEST bassist Ian Hill).

Speaking to Long Island, New York radio station 102.3 WBAB, Halford said about his upcoming blues record (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I love the blues. Without the blues, we wouldn’t have rock and roll. The blues was born here in the United States and then slowly mutated into all these incredible styles and different dynamics and variations. Man, I think back to those originators, like Little Richard, Bill Haley, the anchor of the blues like Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, all these great people. So I was listening to those great performers as I was growing up as a kid. I love the blues, man. And I think most metal musicians would acknowledge the blues for playing such an important role.”

Halford continued: “So, here’s the deal. I made a Christmas album with my brother and my nephew and some friends recently called ‘Celestial’, and while we were there, I was saying to the guys, ‘I’ve got this thing about knocking around some blues ideas.’ And that’s all the guys needed. So they went away while I’ve been busy with PRIEST and we put together a substantial amount of material. And when I find time, we’re gonna bang it out. I’d love us to play in a room live together, ’cause they’re really talented. My brother is a drummer. My nephew is a bass player; he’s the son of the great bass god, Ian Hill [of JUDAS PRIEST]. And then we’ve got J.B. [Jon Blakey] on guitar, who was with us on ‘Celestial’. So we’re gonna keep it simple. But I’m excited. I’ve got all the stuff on my phone, like we do — that’s a danger — and I listen to it, and I get stoked about the possibility. So it’ll happen eventually, I’m sure.”

Halford told Newsday.com back in 2015 that he was interested in recording a blues album and pursuing other styles of music to find out what his voice can do. He said: “I’ve always felt that [the blues is] very much a part of my background and musical roots. I don’t know what kind of blues album I could do because there are so many different facets [to explore]. Maybe I’ll just mix it up. As far as stuff out of the metal world, I’m a fan of people like Michael Bublé and Michael Feinstein. I’ve always been a fan of [Frank] Sinatra and Tony Bennett and Elvis [Presley]. I’d love to hear what my voice would sound like in that kind of musical mix, with wind instruments, trumpets and sax, piano, just that big-band sound.”

Halford said that his vocal abilities are the main reason he was “so interested in trying other types of music, saying: I think if I had a voice that was different to what it is and was a little more in one focus, maybe I wouldn’t be as adventurous about my ideas. But because my voice is able to do those different things, it’s instinctive and natural to see what else I can do.”