New John Anderson Music Coming After Health Scare
At 65-years-old and coming off serious health issues, John Anderson is feeling a little reflective these days. The caramel-voiced country crooner who we could talk about having a strong candidacy for the Country Music Hall of Fame in the coming years is being coy about what exactly the health scare was, but you can tell by the new pictures of the Florida native, he’s lost some weight.
“We went in the studio, and I remember saying, ‘I’m going to do this like it might be my last,’” Anderson says, “It still could be, but now the chances of that are getting slimmer and slimmer every day. I’m doing better so I’m not hardly thinking that way anymore. There’s a few things that I came out of this whole deal better with. Part of it is my love for music and part of it is my appreciation for my family. But the biggest part is knowing that I might die here any minute, for who knows what reason, but I know that the good Lord already came down and touched me. There’s not a doubt in my mind.”
These thoughts are very much embedded in John Anderson’s new song “Years” (listen below), which is the title track off his upcoming record due out on Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound label on April 10th. According to Anderson and Auerbach, the collaboration came about when the Black Keys frontman approach Anderson simply as a fan. They got to talking, and next thing they knew were booking a songwriting session of which “Years” was the result of.
Now they have an entire record on the way, with Dan Auerbach acting as producer, and co-writing all the songs with Anderson. Other songwriters who appear on the record include Paul Overstreet, Pat McLaughlin, fellow Easy Eye Sound signee Dee White, Joe Allen, Bobby Wood, Larry Cordle, and David Ferguson, who also co-produces the effort. Blake Shelton also appears on the track “Tuesday I’ll Be Gone.”
“I booked the session and here I’ve got a room full of musicians, and I really didn’t know if he was going to be able to hear in the headphones,” says Dan Auerbach. “But we got him behind the microphone, he started singing and it was pure magic. John will sing it as many times as you want. He wants it to be great, but the thing is, once he starts singing, it’s almost right there, right from the first lick. I feel incredibly lucky that I even had to the opportunity to make a record with John Anderson, let alone have all this meaning to it.”
Anderson did announce on August 2nd, 2017 that he was dealing with some “serious medical issues” and had to cancel an upcoming appearance, but again, left it vague what the issue was at that time. However he did return to the stage a short time after. Whatever he was dealing with, he’s back now, and ready to tell his story in song.
Years is set to be released April 10th.
Track List:
1. I’m Still Hangin’ On (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Paul Overstreet)
2. Celebrate (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach)
3. Years (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Pat McLaughlin, David Ferguson)
4. Tuesday I’ll Be Gone ft. Blake Shelton (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, David Ferguson)
5. What’s a Man Got To Do (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Dee White, David Ferguson)
6. Wild and Free (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Joe Allen)
7. Slow Down (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Bobby Wood)
8. All We’re Really Looking For (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, Larry Cordle)
9. Chasing Down a Dream (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach, David Ferguson)
10. You’re Nearly Nothing (John Anderson, Dan Auerbach)
January 20, 2020 @ 1:01 pm
To say I’m greatly anticipating this would a huge understatement. I’m hoping for a vinyl release.
January 20, 2020 @ 1:05 pm
Great news, glad he’s back, a good friend of mine played steel for him for about tens years.
Looking forward to April.
January 20, 2020 @ 10:18 pm
One of the best COUNTRY songs of all time…..I Just Came Home to Count the Memories….saw him play in Michigan at the DTE or Pine Knob is what the real name was….cold misty night but the show was really good…..
January 20, 2020 @ 1:17 pm
I’ll order the new John Anderson disc as soon as it’s available. I don’t need to hear any clips.
I actually never heard of John Anderson in his first go-round, but I was listening to country radio when he had his ’90s comeback with classic songs like “Straight Tequila Night,” “When It Comes to You,” “Seminole Wind,” “Money In the Bank” et al. Great singer and still writes/co-writes a lot of his material. I remember reading once that Lionel Delmore pushed him to write and that he thinks that that saved his career.
January 20, 2020 @ 1:27 pm
You don’t remember “Swingin’” during it run? I was a toddler dancing around to that one! Seminole Wind was releases in my high school years. All my friends had that on cassette.
January 20, 2020 @ 1:31 pm
And don’t forget Black Sheep! Same era of John.
January 20, 2020 @ 3:04 pm
I was not listening to country radio when “Swingin'” came out in the early ’80s. And notwithstanding what’s been written about it over the years, it was not a crossover hit. “Swingin'” peaked at #43 on the Billboard Pop/Rock chart. And Anderson did not appear on prime-time or late-night network TV shows in the era (like the “Tonight Show”) singing that song or anything else. I did not hear the song when it came out-though I was familiar with country artists and songs from Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson, to Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbitt, Johnny Lee, etc.
I suppose “Swingin'” must have been more prominent in the South, but it did not make an impact in the Northeast, outside of country radio.
I frequently read in articles about John Anderson that “Swingin'” was the biggest selling single in the history of Warner Brothers; that appears to be a concoction that gets repeated over and over based on the same source. WB Records had superstar international acts like The Association, (“Never My Love”); Carly Simon (“You’re So Vain”); America, (“A Horse with No Name”; Fleetwood Mac, Rod Stewart, etc. In the Wikipedia entry on Warner Brothers Records, the song “Swingin'”–or the name John Anderson–are not even mentioned.
January 21, 2020 @ 7:08 am
Amazing, considering that anyone who hears Swingin’ must instantly recognize that it may be the coolest song ever recorded.
September 21, 2020 @ 8:48 am
Iv’e listen to John’s music for years seen him in concert but I feel like I’ve known him my whole life.I love his music and his one of a. Kind voice.if he’s likes fishing and hunting especially turkey hunting than I know why I’ve felt like I’ve known him all my life.His songs go along with my life.Im so glad he’s feeling better.John keep that beautifull country voice a coming.god bless your fan.
January 20, 2020 @ 1:17 pm
I’m weary only because of the Tanya Tucker/ Brandi Carlile project was a huge letdown. Can Auerbach (which is spelled with a “k” in your article) be trusted to make a country album? Carlile failed (the finished product was a predictable, boring, flat Americana album). I like the fact notorious country writers were included, hopefully giving the album more flavor. Also, “Years” is fantastic. It has a Jonny Cash/“Hurt” feel.
Auerbach has recorded some country sounding cuts in the past. The Black Keys “Things Ain’t Like They Used to Be” is way more country than anything on country radio today (and way more country than anything Carlile created).
I’ve lived long enough to (hopefully) see two John Anderson comebacks.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:06 pm
I too am getting a little leery of these Americana producers coming in and getting a songwriting credit on every song they produce, and taking a heavy hand in a project as opposed to letting the artists own original expressions come forth. We’ve also seen this from numerous Auerbach-produced records lately (only put a ‘k’ on his name once in the article, btw, but thanks for point out), including the new Marcus King album. Everything Auerbach touches has to have this mid 70’s soul vibe to it. It’s cool for certain artists and songs, but when you have six different records from six different artists from across the roots spectrum and they all sound the same with the sappy organ and glockenspiel tings shadowing the melody, it just loses its luster.
All that said, I think John Anderson could probably use a little change of pace. Maybe this collaboration will be tits. I look forward to hear what they came up with.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:27 pm
They all act like they only have one tool in their tool box. I said below, everyone likes to bitch about Dave Cobb, but he gets out of the artists way, let’s the production develop, doesn’t force circles into squares.
I am very, very excited about this project… and I like “Years.” And there is something to be said for even getting the opportunity to even hear new John Anderson or Tanya Tucker music. Because if it was up to Nashville, they would continue to collect dust on a shelf. I just don’t want to be disappointed about this one.
January 20, 2020 @ 4:51 pm
That’s just how it goes. We’re in the Auerbach era where everything sounds like Auerbach. There was the Dave Cobb era where everything had his distinctive sound. The T Bone Burnett records. The Daniel Lanois productions. Rick Rubin. Don Was. You can’t call a record like Emmy’s Wrecking Ball “iconic” when it’s served up slathered in heaping layers of Lanois reverb and then take issue with Auerbach’s particular aural clichés. Record’s like Bob Dylan’s Time Out of Mind and Johnny Cash’s American Recordings simply wouldn’t have existed if these guy’s hadn’t pushed to get them made. So we have to deal with a few production embellishments. Worth it. Heavy hands =/= firm hands. Gotta push these difficult artists sometimes. We’d still be knee deep in a Tanya drought rn if Brandi didn’t kick T in the äss.
January 20, 2020 @ 5:28 pm
Yeah, but Auerbach has more of a niche sound than all of them. Dave Cobb has put out some pretty damn diverse records, from Colter Wall and Ian Noe, to hard rock with Whiskey Myers, to singer songwriter stuff with Jason Isbell. Everything Dan Auerbach seems stuck in 1975. Again, I don’t want to discount this album before we hear it. I’m really looking forward to it. But that’s just my take on his production style which has made some records for me go from great to just good.
January 22, 2020 @ 12:57 pm
Rival Sons: they are very much a hard rock band. I think it’s a totally different sound than he gets with even Whiskey Meyers. The only sameness I hear there is the fact that Cobb records the performance mostly live with few retakes (versus assembling it later from multiple takes like most other current producers). Result= Actual real music made by musicians.
January 20, 2020 @ 8:41 pm
Tried listening to that Marcus King album and my face got sore from the cringing.
January 21, 2020 @ 5:11 am
What is it about Marcus King album that makes you cringe? The production of the album itself or something else? Personally I havn’t heard the album but listened/watched a number of live performances on YT and my opinion is although I love his guitar playing I find his singing really grates on my nerves.
January 21, 2020 @ 9:48 am
#1. Its slathered with Black Keys type production. Definitely been Auerbach’d.
#2. His voice.
#3, His image plus some of the smoove R&B Vandross like love songs is like Boxcar Willie trying to pull off Conway Twitty style love makin’ songs.
January 20, 2020 @ 6:31 pm
Check out Kendell Marvel’s latest album if there are any doubts. Very good album that Auerbach produced
January 21, 2020 @ 5:54 am
Easily the most under the radar release of 2019.
January 21, 2020 @ 10:46 am
Very good album indeed but you can hear the heavy Auerbach influence on the way it sounds
January 20, 2020 @ 1:28 pm
I saw him in November of 2017, and he did not sound very good at all. He supposedly had a cold, and he was giving it his best, but … I was just glad to see him so didn’t really care what he sounded like! I had not heard he had canceled a performance a couple months before so I wonder if something more was going on when I saw him. I am greatly looking forward to the new album, and if he plays around here again, I will definitely get a ticket!
January 20, 2020 @ 5:35 pm
Saw his this past September playing acoustic with one other guy playing guitar with him. He sounded fantastic and put on a great show.
January 20, 2020 @ 1:29 pm
Huge John Anderson fan here. (Man he’s lookin like Buffalo Bill Cody in that picture!) Exciting to hear about this and his voice sounds as good as ever! Song is pretty great too.
I should preface this by saying, I love Auerbach’s music, especially Black Keys. And hes struck gold with Yola as well as some of his other productions. However, is it just me or does the blues rock guitar soloing in this tune sound well….not very country? Honestly, it’s not the kind of sound you typically expect on an Anderson record. And it’s got me wondering if the rest of the record is the same and it ends up being like the Tanya Tucker record, more Americana than Country. I mean, listening to that guitar tone, it’s very much a typical Auerbach sounding , nasty , raw, dirty, blues overdriven, tube sound , like he’s known for. Really cool, for blues and Rock and Roll …but Country? Here’s hoping there’s fiddle and pedal steel on the album.
I will say though, that John Andersons voice is as Country as biscuits and gravy, so there’s still great potential for this album.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:19 pm
I always thought Charlie Hannam resembled Anderson especially in Cold Mountain.
https://giphy.com/gifs/charlie-hunnam-137vHwMStpdN0Q
My fears exactly (see my above comment). Hopefully that guitar style is isolated to this one song (and that would be ok). But, I want a country sounding album, too. I can’t believe it’s that hard to find producers for country albums. Everyone bitches about Dave Cobb, but at least he’s producing country sounding albums.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:00 pm
Almost Jack Daniel’s Drowned is a top 10 classic in my book…..But why is he looking like Morgan Freeman.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:07 pm
Because he’s been sick and lost a lot of weight.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:46 pm
I just went to buy the mp3 version of Seminole Wind at Amazon and iTunes and it’s not available. The track “Seminole Wind” is available in mp3 format off of Anderson’s Greatest Hits. Also, I can’t find Seminole Wind on any streaming service except for Spotify.
January 20, 2020 @ 4:19 pm
I actually can’t find the Seminole Wind album on Spotify, either. That’s my favorite album of his, too! I’m surprised it’s not available to stream or download, since it’s one of the most successful albums in his career.
January 20, 2020 @ 4:25 pm
Trig … do they do this for a reissue? Does BNA records not have a streaming/ mp3 deal? All other albums in his catalogue are available for stream and mp3 purchase.
January 20, 2020 @ 5:28 pm
I’m not sure. I’ll have to look into it.
January 22, 2020 @ 5:36 pm
Seminole Wind has that song Look Away, with its recurring snippet of Dixie. I’d like to think that couldn’t possibly have anything to do with the album’s absence, but nowadays, who knows..
January 20, 2020 @ 2:54 pm
Had a chance to meet him in 2007 when a promotions company I was a partner in booked him in San Antonio at a dancehall. His band and crew and John Himself were all class acts and consummate professionals. I look forward to new music but most of all wish John the best of health. Truly a good human being.
January 20, 2020 @ 2:56 pm
In Senior Rec class we had a couple weeks of bicycling. In order to bring along a little entertainment, I mounted a spare tractor radio (speaker was built in, and loud) and motorcycle battery on the back of my ten speed. Three fun songs stick out in my recollection: Baby Got Her Blue Jeans by Mel McDaniel, Where’s the Dress? by Moe & Joe, and Swingin’ by John Anderson. We rednecks in the group enjoyed some sing alongs.
Hoping John’s health continues to be on the upswing, and the new record prospers. It’s definitely on my buy list.
January 20, 2020 @ 4:12 pm
Always loved John Anderson! Like Luckyoldsun above, my first exposure to his music was during his 90’s comeback. I was only 6 when “Straight Tequila Night” first came out, and I remember thinking then that he was a new artist. Then I remember watching the video for “When It Comes To You” with my dad not too long after that. Ever since then I’ve always enjoyed his music and his unique vocals and style. Seminole Wind is a classic album, especially! It wasn’t until I was in my teens that I discovered his 80’s stuff and heard “Swingin'” on the radio. I’m sorry to hear about his recent health problems, and I hope he continues to recover nicely. Always glad to hear some new music from John! “Years” is a pretty good song, but like some other commenters above, I hope to hear some countrier sounding tunes on the record that are closer to his signature sound.
January 20, 2020 @ 5:08 pm
If that ain’t Country I’ll kiss your ass! Way to go John!!
January 20, 2020 @ 6:12 pm
Big fan.
Has a lot of lesser known songs in his catalog that are underrated
January 20, 2020 @ 6:27 pm
He toured with Blake Shelton and is set for round 2 this year touring with him again alongside the Bellamy’s. Keep rockin’ John.
January 20, 2020 @ 10:59 pm
I love to hear him still sounding so good.
I clicked on the article figuring he’d lost his voice like most of them do. I’m glad he didn’t.
January 21, 2020 @ 8:08 am
Looking forward to this one. And how refreshing to see an album with no songs by Shane McAnally and/or Dallas Davidson on it.
January 21, 2020 @ 9:01 am
So happy that he is getting better.
Awesome that he is making music.
The best to he & his family, going forward.
The photo of him in profile – did a double take.
At first i thought it was a pic. of Captain Barbossa, from the Pirates of The Caribbean
January 21, 2020 @ 9:35 am
Judging by listining to the title song and the titles of the others, this sounds like it might be one of those “I’m 65 now, and I’ll do an album of songs about me reflecting on my life and career, rather than try to be relevant and fit in with some sound that isn’t suited for me.” If so, good for him. Ronnie Milsap did something similar in 2006 with his “My Life” album, which was stellar. I hope this one is, as well. The title song is quite good.
January 21, 2020 @ 10:08 am
Damn….I feel old. Glad to hear some new John Anderson music. It’s refreshing.
January 21, 2020 @ 8:51 pm
John puts his heart into everything he does. That’s who he is. He’s Country, and l love it!
February 4, 2020 @ 3:03 pm
I’ve been a John Anderson fan for years. I played his “1959” song again and that sent me back to my past high school years. Now that was a “KEEPER” for me. Loved that song because it brought back so many memories. Wish he’d put that one on his new album again. Also, when he writes about his past, why not tell about his children, wife, or wives, if any. I heard nothing about them. I know they must have been a big part of his life. I saw him in person in Hinckley, MN, years ago and wanted him to sign my CD of his that I had with me, but unfortunately didn’t get him to sign it. God Bless John and hope his health improves and he keeps going and going like Willie. Maybe he needs some Willie Weed. I
love you, John. Good luck with new album, I’ll be buying it as soon as its finished.
February 7, 2020 @ 6:51 am
Saw John on Blake Shelton’s Friends and Heroes tour along with the Bellamy’s and Trace. John was shaky at first, but Blake was standing side stage the whole time, smiling ear to ear, and encouraging him, and fhe ound his stage legs. I’m sure this was not long after his health scare and you could tell the mutual admiration between Blake and John. After the initial shakiness, John was fantastic. Especially liked the acoustic bit all five did together. It was great to see John on stage in front of 20k people. Where he belongs, for sure, and I’m really excited about this album. Not an Auerbach fan, though, but the clip I heard of Tuesday sounded great.
February 7, 2020 @ 11:32 am
I remember in the mid-80’s he did a show at the Crazy Horse in California. It was a two shows per night gig on the weekends. A buddy and I bought tix to the first show, then hid out in the restroom to catch the second show at the bar. I’ve been a fan way too long. Good to hear the health scare has passed and I’ll be adding his latest album to my collection.
February 19, 2020 @ 6:39 pm
Love John Anderson! Met him years ago at the Barn in Sanford Fl. I believe in the mid 80’s.
Good times and great music!
February 25, 2020 @ 12:58 pm
Trigger, lets get a review of “Tuesday I’ll be gone”. The way my buddy put it, “Sounds like a 90’s Sheryl Crow track. It has Auerbach’s stamp all over the production and that’s a good thing. Also if you blacked out the entire 2010’s you’d have to give Shelton serious props for this colab”
March 5, 2020 @ 1:44 pm
I met John Anderson in Dallas Texas thru his manager at the time Ed Morgon back in 1974 , john and his band at the time came to Gunnison Colorado and stayed at the Almont resort ( Almont Colorado ) a few miles down the road from our resort ( Lost Canyon Resort ) John and his band played all over Colorado. This was before he became a big Country Western Star.John and our family The Harral Family spent a lot of time enjoying the Great outdoors of Colorado. John the Harral family wishes you and your family the best. I hope to see you John at your show at the Pepsi Center in Denver Colorado on 3/14/2020.