On Sept. 18, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards will release his first solo album Crosseyed Heart in 23 years in conjunction with his first official Netflix documentary, Keith Richards: Under the Influence. And now the trailer for that film has arrived online.
"I know who I am," Richards explains in the clip for his upcoming Netflix venture. "But I realize that people think Keith Richards is smoking a joint, bottle in his hand, cursing the fact that the liquor store's closed." The teaser clues fans in on the rock and roll icon's musical influences as well as previewing the recording sessions for his impending solo album, Crosseyed Heart.
"I grew up with American folk music, jazz, blues," Richards divulges in the video clip." Johnny Cash, Muddy Waters: rock and roll's got nothing on those guys." Elsewhere, he hypes his own ambitions as a guitarist ("Not a lot of guys want to play like Chuck Berry because it's like taking on the devil. I'll take it on.") and reflects on staying youthful as he ages. "Life's a funny thing," he continued. "Nobody wants to get old, but they don't want to die young, either. You just got to follow this thing down the path."
The 71-year-old musician, fresh off of the Zip Code Tour with Mick Jagger and company, is hardly shy when it comes to opinions on fellow artists. Richards is known for his brash statements concerning his contempt for music pioneers like the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Lou Reed and the Grateful Dead.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville, known for his work on 20 Feet From Stardom and Best of Enemies, helmed Under the Influence, which follows Richards' rise to fame, his musical journey and successes with the assistance of rare archival materials and countless hours of interview footage, UltimateClassicRock notes. Neville trails the Rolling Stones veteran to a total of three locations: Nashville, Chicago and New York City, where he recorded his latest solo venture alongside collaborators Waddy Wachtel and Steve Jordan.
"If there's a Mount Rushmore of rock and roll, Keith's face is surely on it," Neville said in a recent statement. "He has always represented the soul of rock music - for all of the light and dark shades that implies. To my relief, Keith Richards turned out to be a real man - full of humor, knowledge and wisdom. That's the real Keith we've worked to capture in our film, and I'm honored to bring it to a global audience via Netflix."
According to a statement form Netflix, the documentary also boasts "an additional dose of inspiration from a long-time friend, Tom Waits," who recently crafted a surreal poem as a tribute to Richards for Rolling Stone.
