Chrissie Hynde & Pals – Duets Special
Celebrated music icon Chrissie Hynde has announced a new album as Chrissie Hynde & Pals titled Duets Special, due for release digitally as well as on black vinyl LP, and CD on Friday, October 17 via Rhino.
The album consists of 13 extraordinary duets featuring a host of world-class collaborators, including k.d. lang, the late Mark Lanegan, Dave Gahan, Cat Power, Brandon Flowers, Debbie Harry, Shirley Manson, Alan Sparhawk, and more. The first single, “Always On My Mind (Feat. Rufus Wainwright),” is streaming everywhere.
Speaking about the origins of the Duets Special album and “Always On My Mind,” Hynde says: “I never thought about doing a Duets album before. I think the idea came about in 2023. I was talking to Jörn, Rufus Wainwright’s husband, on the phone. I think we were recommending novels to each other, and for some reason, I said Hey, maybe Rufus and I should do something, and quickly scribbled out 10 songs off the top of my head. So Jörn asked Rufus, who was up for it, and that’s how it started. A spontaneous and what I thought would be a fun thing.”
The artists that perform with Hynde on Duets Special celebrate 13 uniquely distinct voices through stripped-down, intimate arrangements and minimal, refined instrumentation. The theme connecting all of the songs is simply great melodies.
Duets Special isn’t just Chrissie Hynde’s fourth studio album under her own name. The new record presents an exciting and unexpected left turn amidst one of the most creative chapters of her career. Duets Special closely follows The Pretenders’ latest studio album, Relentless – described as “at their melodic best” by The Guardian. The world tour that followed also created a new live record, Kick ’em Where It Hurts. When Hynde performed at the Mark Lanegan 60 Celebration Concert at the Roundhouse last year, The Times suggested her voice “should have Unesco world heritage status by now.”
Outside of the studio, painting has become an inseparable part of Hynde’s creative life. In the last seven years, her artwork has been exhibited to acclaim in London, New York, and Massachusetts. It has also graced the sleeve of her 2019 album of cover versions, Valve Bone Woe, as motifs on garments in Vivienne Westwood’s Spring-Summer 2021 collection, and most recently through a new exhibition of paintings titled Hynde Sight. The latest installment, Hynde Sight II is currently open at Harvey & Woodd, Edinburgh, until 23 August.
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