Rolling Stones legend Keith Richards has contributed a a cover of Jimmy Reed’s Bright Lights, Big City to the forthcoming soundtrack album for Grand Theft Auto VI.
The guitarist's cover of the 1961 blues classic is one of 34 songs set to appear on the album, which is designed to "capture the electric energy of Grand Theft Auto VI’s world of Vice City and Leonida", according to a statement.
The game developers are promising that the soundtrack album, due for release on November 19, the same that the much-anticipated latest edition of GTA is set to drop, will feature a "genre-defying roster of the most exciting artists in the world".
In total, six songs set to feature on the album are now available on streaming platforms. The other five songs revealed are Sexy Magic by PinkPantheress, Fred again.., CA7RIEL and Paco Amoroso, and Etienne de Crécy, Travis Scott's RHYNO, Morgan Wallen's Last Thing You Need, Rauw Alejandro's Macacoa 2000 and That's It by Yung Lean.
Originally released on the 1961 album Jimmy Reed at Carnegie Hall, Bright Lights, Big City features in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of '500 Songs That Shaped Rock and Roll'.
There are no details yet as to exactly where or when Keith Richards' take on the song was recorded. But the guitarist has been singing Reed's praises for years.
"I love Jimmy Reed," Richards once told Planet Rock radio. "He was totally unique even amongst all of the other '50s and ’60s bluesmen out of Chicago. He had no pretensions. He has such a distinctive sound, such a simplicity of sound, so stark, so beautifully natural. There are thousands and thousands of Blues players out there and to find a unique sound and a way to play it is an extra touch of genius."
