Chuck Berry’s songs codified the sound, rhythm, and language of rock and roll, influenced The Beatles and Rolling Stones, and earned him induction into the inaugural class of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. But they were never the subject of a music video – until now. Here we have the first-ever official video for a Chuck Berry song, “Big Boys,” the lead single from the forthcoming album CHUCK, due out June 9 on Dualtone Records, an Entertainment One Company. CHUCK is the final studio album and first new music in nearly four decades from the founding rock and roll legend, who passed away in March at the age of 90. Directed by Matt Bizer and Curtis Wayne Millard (Old Crow Medicine Show, Shovels & Rope), the video revisits the culture of hot cars and sock hops that Berry helped create, with choreography that blends swing and hip-hop.
Comprised of ten new recordings, eight of which were written by Berry, CHUCK is his first new album since 1979’s ‘Rock It.’ It was recorded and produced by Berry in various studios around St. Louis and features his longtime hometown backing group – including his children Charles Berry Jr. (guitar) and Ingrid Berry (vocals, harmonica), plus Jimmy Marsala (Berry’s bassist for forty years), Robert Lohr (piano), and Keith Robinson (drums) – which supported him for nearly two decades on over two hundred residency shows at the famed Blueberry Hill club. In addition to Gary Clark Jr., the album includes guest performances from Tom Morello, Nathaniel Rateliff, and Chuck’s grandson Charles Berry III. Acclaimed author and historian Douglas Brinkley contributes liner notes.
Following the release of first singles “Big Boys” and “Wonderful Woman,” early praise began pouring in for CHUCK. The New Yorker says that CHUCK shows that “after all those years of duck-walking, crisscrossing the United States on tour, and giving his disciples and imitators hell, the man still had it.” Rolling Stone said the album finds Berry “raging against the dying of the light, but in a vulnerable and tender way his earlier music had not prepared us for,” while The Guardian raved that CHUCK “proves the late rock ‘n ‘roller was brimming with energy until the very end.” Uncut remarked that “Berry has as much to say about life and death as Cash and Bowie and Cohen did on their final albums.”
Track List:
Wonderful Woman
Big Boys
You Go To My Head
3/4 Time (Enchiladas)
Darlin’
Lady B. Goode
She Still Loves You
Jamaica Moon
Dutchman
Eyes Of Man
