Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan has joined forces with Mark Lanegan, and members of Death Cab For Cutie, Foo Fighters, The Afghan Whigs and Modest Mouse to record a cover of Jimmy Webb’s outlaw country classic The Highwayman in support of SMooCH 2020, this year’s virtual edition of an annual benefit show to support the Seattle Children’s Hospital.
Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel, Death Cab For Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Modest Mouse frontman Isaac Brook are among those contributing to the cover, which has previously been recorded by country legends Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Glen Campbell.
In unrelated Duff McKagan news, Pearl Jam guitarist Stone Gossard is releasing 1982, a previously unheard album from McKagan’s old band, The Living, on his Loosegroove label in 2021.
Speaking about the album recently, Gossard told of his excitement at releasing the album for the first time, claiming that it shows how McKagan was absolutely central to the birth of the grunge scene in Seattle, prior to his move to Los Angeles and his subsequent decision to join Guns N’ Roses. “He was the guy,” says Gossard, “and clearly this record proves that.”
