Jack Johnson has dubbed his new collaborator Blake Mills “one of the greatest guitar players alive right now”.
The US singer-songwriter is gearing up to release his eighth studio album, ‘Meet The Moonlight’, which is released June 24 via Brushfire/Republic Records. During a recent interview he talked about working on the record with producer Blake Mills.
“I really, really can’t say enough about the guy, Blake,” Johnson told Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “We were texting this morning, just joking around stuff. It’s just nice to have a new friend. I feel like we’ve just, we’ve developed a friendship over the course that was really great. Same with Joseph Lorge, the guy who’s the engineer on the record, just beautiful humans.”
He continued: “What I liked about him is we started talking about what it would all mean, and I didn’t know him too well yet, so I didn’t know, ‘Are we agreeing we’re doing a record or what are we doing here?’ He was really cool, because he said, ‘You know what? Let’s not even let all that other stuff that happens between the managers and whatnot, let’s just get together and make music for a week, and let’s just decide if we like hanging out and everything.’ So, I was like, ‘Oh, okay, good. He’s like that, that’s great,’ and so we got together.”
Mills, besides being a songwriter, producer and composer, is a guitarist who has toured with the likes of Jenny Lewis, Band Of Horses, The Strokes‘ Julian Casablancas and more. He has also collaborated with Conor Oberst, Lana Del Rey, Weezer and Pink.
Heaping praise on Mills’ guitar skills, Johnson said: “Anybody who knows or has seen him play, he’s one of the greatest guitar players alive right now, he’s so good.
“He just doesn’t always show it off, but when you see how easily his pinky goes all the way to the other side of the neck while he’s playing. It’s just the most just very subtle thing that he’s doing, but it’s so hard when you watch his hand, I can’t believe the chords he can do and stuff.” You can check out Johnson’s interview above.
Johnson has previewed ‘Meet The Moonlight’ – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘All The Light Above It Too’ – with the release of two singles: ‘One Step Ahead’ and the LP’s title track.
Johnson’s new music comes after he recently announced that he’d be heading out on a North American tour this summer. Starting on June 21 in New Hampshire, he’ll be on the road through to October 7.
The tour will see him joined by a variety of guests on select dates, including Durand Jones and the Indications, Ziggy Marley, Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals, Ron Artis II and Thunderstorm Artis, and Lake Street Drive.
You can get tickets for any remaining dates and see the full tour schedule here.