Chrissie Hynde is set to release a Bob Dylan covers album recorded “almost entirely by text message”.
The 69-year-old star has revealed that ‘Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan’ will feature nine renditions of Dylan’s songs and was developed via text with the help of her Pretenders bandmate James Walbourne, whose voicemails inspired the tracks.
Speaking about their unusual creative process, Chrissie explained: “A few weeks into lockdown last year, James sent me the new Dylan track ‘Murder Most Foul’. Listening to that song completely changed everything for me. I was lifted out of this morose mood that I’d been in.
“I remember where I was sitting the day that Kennedy was shot – every reference in the song. Whatever Bob does, he still manages somewhere in there to make you laugh because as much as anything, he’s a comedian.
“He’s always funny and always has something to say. That’s when I called James and said, ‘Let’s do some Dylan covers’ and that’s what started this whole thing.”
The covers album is set to be released on May 21, shortly before Dylan’s 80th birthday.
Meanwhile, Chrissie previously insisted she had no interest in performing socially distanced shows amid the coronavirus pandemic.
However, she thinks that some musicians have overplayed their own importance during the global health crisis.
She explained: “Why do artists think that they’re going to heal everybody, and their music is so important? It’s a little bit pompous.
“But who knows? If we’re locked down like this for another five years, I might be doing a striptease on Zoom. I don’t know how desperate people can get.”