The Waterboys have announced a new album, which will feature the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Fiona Apple and others.
This album which is titled, 'Life Death And Dennis Hopper', will arrive on April 4 via Sun Records, and will also be their 16th studio release overall. It will tell the story of the late American actor and rebel, Dennis Hopper, looking at his life story through the songs, and the past 75 years of Western pop culture.
Overall, the album will feature 25 tracks, following Hopper's life, starting with his upbringing in Kansas, right through to his various marriages, hefty fall and subsequent redemption.
The Waterboys will preview this album with the release of the single, 'Hopper's On Top (Genius)', which will be released this Friday (January 10).
The album will also be produced by The Waterboys frontman Mike Scott, alongside bandmates James Hallawell and brother Paul Brown.
“The arc of his life was the story of our times. He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol", Mike Scott said in a press release.
He continued: “He was part of the counter-culture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the ’60s. In the ’70s and ’80s he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him".
“It begins in his childhood, ends the morning after his death, and I get to say a whole lot along the way, not just about Dennis, but about the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet earth", the musician added.
As well as Springsteen and Apple, the album will also feature Steve Earle, Kathy Valentine of The Go-Go's, Nashville-based Alt Americana artist Anana Kaye, Barny Fletcher, as well as Dawes' Sugarfoot Taylor Goldsmith.
News of this album comes months after The Waterboys announced three shows for next Summer, including one at Dublin's 3Arena next June. More on this from Nova here.
