Keith Richards: Under the Influence

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville, whose music film 20 Feet from Stardom won him an Oscar in 2013, filmed Keith Richards during the recording of Crosseyed Heart, his first solo album in 23 years. In between the recording sessions Richards talks enthusiastically about his musical preferences – influences that also color his new album. Without the blues there’d be no Rolling Stones, and Richards, born in 1943, cites Chuck Berry’s “devil may care attitude,” the rawness of Howlin’ Wolf and the powerful music of Muddy Waters. When he visits the old Gran Ole Opry in Nashville, he talks of his love for country music, particularly the music of Hank Williams. He also reminisces about when he lived in Jamaica and heard reggae artists like Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff for the first time. In Chicago he visits the well-known Chess Records studio and the house of Muddy Waters. He also tells in detail how classic Stones songs like “Street Fighting Man” and “Sympathy for the Devil” were shaped and recorded. Under the Influence is also about his “bad boy” image and aging: “I’m not getting old, I’m evolving.”