Shooter Jennings is quietly one of the most interesting cats in the music industry, working to stretch our understanding of what country can be. He's been on the Vans Warped Tour, put out a spoken word record, and recently released a recording of Ron Jeremy noodling around on the piano for Record Store Day. His newest endeavor is Countach (for Giorgio) out in November, an EP consisting of two tracks written by the indomitable Giorgio Moroder, meant to be paired with Shooter's For George EP out August 5, which features the country-rock star taking on classics from George Jones' discography. The song sees its official release tomorrow on his label Black Country Rock.
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Says Shooter about the song:The truth about Countach (for Giorgio), my EP coming later this year that is a tribute to Giorgio Moroder, is that it wouldn't exist if Daft Punk had not included Giorgio on their latest album. As a kid Giorgio shaped my life without knowing it. Producing and composing some of the most influential works in the culture of the 70's and 80's, he defined a sound that was so copied and imitated that the mainstream became saturated with it. This sound was something I always just assumed was the sound of the 80's. From "The Neverending Story" and "Top Gun" to "Cat People" and "Chase" (From the Midnight Express soundtrack which also doubled as the theme song for Art Bell's 'Coast-to-Coast AM'), these songs penetrated my head and influenced my sound. I loved the use of the DX7 synthesizers and the drum machines. It wasn't so much the instruments, it was his choices.Once I heard Random Access Memories, I googled Giorgio and connected all those dots. Along the line, I had never realized that one man was responsible for so much music that I loved. I quickly became an avid fan of his solo records, and one day as I was working on my tribute EP for George Jones, it hit me that I should also do one to Giorgio. It just seemed like a perfect idea. So I began recording the album. I began to tie the two albums together, using DX7s and Linn Drums for the George record, and using more traditional country instruments for the Giorgio record. aking the opposite approaches for the appropriate sound made it fun, challenging, and allowed for some great new ideas to come to life.I'm very proud of the Giorgio EP and I can't wait for folks to hear it. n the meantime, I'm very excited to share "I'm Left, You're Right, She's Gone" with the world and hope maybe it'll reach Giorgio someday and I'll get to have a conversation with him. Then he can file a restraining order on me.