Why the Rolling Stones made 'Blue & Lonesome' – and the Chicago blues legend behind the title

The album’s name comes from a 1959 Little Walter B‑side, “Blue and Lonesome.” Little Walter, the harmonica genius who rewrote Chicago blues in the 1950s, gave the Stones not just a title but a guiding spirit: raw, live‑in‑the‑studio grit.

By 2016 the band had spent decades as stadium headliners. They booked three days at British Grove Studios with no setlist, no overdubs, just old amps and the same kind of spontaneous session that defined their early‑60s club years. The result was an all‑covers album – not a nostalgia play, but a return to the muscle memory that made them a band in the first place.

They cut eleven tracks in three days. Besides Little Walter, they covered