Honky Tonk Foo Fighter Chris Shiflett Returns With Long, Long Year

by | Jul 28, 2022

Punk veteran, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee, alt-country songwriter and modern-day guitar hero, Chris Shifflet has released new single Long, Long Year, a first taste of new solo music from the Foo Fighter since 2019’s Hard Lessons.

Chris Shiflett (Jarrod Anthonee)

Chris Shiflett (Jarrod Anthonee)

For more than 25 years, Foo Fighters six-stringer Shifflet has blurred the lines between genre and generation, balancing his full-band projects with an ongoing solo career.  With Long, Long Year, Shiflett turns a new page, building a bridge between his native California and Nashville, Tennessee, where he recorded this new tune with legendary producer Vance Powell and a small roster of Americana all-stars: bassist Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs, Jack White, Wanda Jackson), drummer Julian Doro (Eagles of Death Metal, The Whigs), keyboardist Mike Webb, steel guitarist Luke Schneider, and mandolinist/harmony vocalist Sierra Hull.

Foo Fighters @ Glastonbury

Kicking off with a swaggering drum pattern, Long, Long Year’s mid-tempo, piano and pedal steel-filled arrangement is a windows-down, let-it-all-out singalong. “I spent a lot of time alone at my studio in L.A. during the first part of the lockdown just woodshedding tunes,” says the 51-year-old.  “The line ‘It’s been a long, long year’ was rattling around my head for obvious reasons, but I framed it as a love song.”

Chris Shiflett

The resulting tune feels like a release, sung with uplifting emotion and forward-looking, both in the intended love song framing and through the greater, pandemic-induced dread lens. Check out the lyric video for the new tune below:

“My trip out to Nashville in March of 2021 was my first time recording any solo material since I made Hard Lessons. I hadn’t done much traveling post-covid lockdown so I was a little nervous heading out there to work with a producer and roomful of musicians I didn’t really know.  In true Nashville style we made our introductions and got right down to work, hammering out the basic tracks in a few hours.  Vance was great and made me feel right at home, and the group of players he put together were on point.  Next day we did some overdubs and Sierra came in and added mandolin and harmony vocals on Long, Long Year and the tracks started coming together,” Shiflett said of recording the new single.

Chris Shiflett @ Omeara

Expect more new music from Chris Shiflett in the months ahead. In the meantime, he will join the rest if his Foo Fighters bandmates alongside a plethora of special guests during tribute stadium shows in London and L.A. in September in celebration of the life of Foo Fighters drummer and oftentimes singer and co-frontman Taylor Hawkins who sadly passed away suddenly earlier this year.

Read our own interview with Shiflett ahead of Foo Fighters’ triumphant Glastonbury Festival headline slot: Interview: Chris Shiflett, Honky-Tonk Foo Fighter. And we caught up with Chris when he brought his Hard Lessons tour to London’s Omeara venue: Chris Shiflett Shares The Hardest Lessons At Omeara

Feature image by Jarrod Anthonee, remaining photography by Kalpesh Patel.

 

First Wave Of Acts Announced For Taylor Hawkins Tribute Show – Updated

Lake Street Dive @ The Roundhouse (Abigail Shii)

Lake Street Dive Are Better Than Ever At The Roundhouse In London

Boston’s genre-blurring quintet Lake Street Dive brought their signature blend of soul, pop, and jazz-infused rock to a sold out Roundhouse in London’s Camden to promote their GRAMMY®-nominated 8th studio album, Good Together. The “free country” band, who formed back in 2004 by Rachael Price, Mike “McDuck” Olson, Bridget Kearney, and Mike Calabrese brought keyboardist Akie Bermiss into their fold in 2017, allowing for a permanent expansion of their sound.

Black Sabbath Announce Final Show Alongside Metal Royalty!

This morning, at the home of Aston Villa, Sharon Osbourne and Tony Iommi announced that the original Black Sabbath –...
Mark King of Level 42 @ Royal Albert Hall (Kalpesh Patel)

Level 42 Add Extra Shows To ‘World Machine’ 40th Anniversary Tour 2025

Level 42 have announced four extra shows for their  World Machine 40th Anniversary Tour, which will now visit 32 UK...
Chesney Hawkes (Ed Henderson)

Chesney Hawkes Teases More From LP ‘Living Arrows’ With New Single ‘Loud’

Chesney Hawkes became one of the biggest pop stars of his era with his irresistible mega-hit The One And Only. But...
Modern Liv (Wilson Douglas)

Rising Star Modern Liv Shares New Single ‘The Revenge Of An Ugly Teenager’

26-year-old East London artist Modern Liv puts her own distinct slant on the indie rock sad girl scene, bringing elements of jazz, soul and chanteuse elegance into the mix. It’s a style which made last year’s independently released debut EP Boy Band such an engaging listen. Now Modern Liv kicks off 2025 with a bang as she prepares for even bigger things, with the release of new single The Revenge Of An Ugly Teenager and prepares to play Strongroom in London on the 19th February.

Jacob Banks (Press)

Jacob Banks Releases ‘Yonder: Book II’

MOBO Award winning trailblazer Jacob Banks has released his new project Yonder: Book II, the second instalment in an ambitious three-part anthology series. It features the new focus track Blind, which has already picked up 6 Music airplay from Chris Hawkins and Craig Charles, and comes ahead of his upcoming Yonder European headline tour which calls at London’s O2 Forum Kentish Town.

Jack Valero (Press)

Jack Valero Drops Latest EP ‘Not In Kansas Anymore’

Jack Valero has dropped his new EP Not In Kansas Anymore, which features the new song and focus track Innocent Light....
Gustaffson (Press)

Gustaffson Release Soulful New Single ‘Underground’

Gustaffson have released new single Underground, the third and final offering before their highly anticipated debut album Black & White Movie, out Friday 21st March 2025. Underground embraces the untold, everyday stories of the people travelling on London’s Underground. Gustaffson lead singer & lyricist Andrew Gower implores listeners to open their eyes to the magical tales of London life.

Pin It on Pinterest

Share This

Share Thing