The Rolling Stones go back to their roots on their new album, ‘Hackney Diamonds,’ which features an acoustic cover of the song that inspired their band name. The album, produced by Andrew Watt, contains 11 original tracks and a rendition of Muddy Waters' "Rollin' Stone," which Mick Jagger and Keith Richards renamed "Rolling Stone Blues."
Richards explains how the song represents their musical origins and their connection to the blues. He says that he and Jagger met with a Muddy Waters album in their hands, and the first track on it was "Rollin' Stone Blues." He adds that the song is "as basic as you can get."
The meeting he refers to took place on October 17th, 1961, when Jagger and Richards ran into each other at the Dartford railway station outside London. They bonded over their shared love of blues music and decided to form a band. The band name came from another coincidence, when guitarist Brian Jones was asked by a Jazz News writer what they called themselves. Jones saw a Muddy Waters album on the floor that had the song "Rollin' Stone" on it and gave that as his answer.
The song also influenced another legendary musician, Bob Dylan, who titled his 1965 hit "Like a Rolling Stone." The Stones paid tribute to Dylan by covering his song on their 1995 live album, Stripped.
Jagger's admiration for Dylan is evident in his recording process with Watt, who says that Jagger tries to emulate Dylan's vocal style of "anti-singing" and "almost speaking." Watt praises Jagger's attention to detail and his willingness to "throw away" his voice instead of making it sound too good.
[Source: Classic Hits Today]