Van Morrison will release his 37th studio album on September 22nd.
Roll With the Punches is a 15-song set that mixes originals with covers of rhythm and blues classics by Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke, Lightnin' Hopkins and others.
Morrison says, "From a very early age, I connected with the blues. The thing about the blues is you don't dissect it -- you just do it. I've never over-analyzed what I do; I just do it. Music has to be about just doing it and that's the way the blues works -- it's an attitude..."
Among the musicians playing on the album are his longtime sidekick Georgie Fame, Jeff Beck and former Manfred Mann singer and harmonica player Paul Jones.
Morrison will plug the disc with a handful of dates in September and October.
Roll With the Punches Track List:
- Roll With the Punches (Van Morrison & Don Black)
- Transformation (Van Morrison)
- I Can Tell (Bo Diddley & Samuel Bernard Smith)
- Stormy Monday/Lonely Avenue (Stormy Monday -- T-Bone Walker/ Lonely Avenue -- Doc Pomus)
- Goin' to Chicago (Count Basie & Jimmy Rushing)
- Fame (Van Morrison)
- Too Much Trouble (Van Morrison)
- Bring It on Home to Me (Sam Cooke)
- Ordinary People (Van Morrison)
- How Far From God (Sister Rosetta Tharpe)
- Teardrops From My Eyes (Rudy Toombs)
- Automobile Blues (Lightnin' Hopkins)
- Benediction (Mose Allison)
- Mean Old World (Little Walter)
- Ride on Josephine (Bo Diddley)