''Have Guitar, Will Travel'' is the fifth solo album by

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of lead vocalist Steven Tyler, bassist Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarists Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry and B ...

guitarist Joe Perry, released on October 6, 2009, on Roman Records. In addition to Perry (lead guitar, vocals), the album features German vocalist Hagen Grohe, Joe Perry Project bassist David Hull, pianist Willie Alexander, Hammond organ player Paul Santo, and drummers Marty Richards, Ben Tileston and Scott Meeder. According to Perry, one of the reasons for releasing another solo album is "because you can get out there and do whatever you want and you don't have to answer to anybody." The album's first single was "We've Got a Long Way to Go." The title is a

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of the phrase "

Have Gun – Will Travel ''Have Gun – Will Travel'' is an American Westerns on television, Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Ri ...

", and also possibly a reference to the 1960 album of the same name by

Bo Diddley Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known professionally as Bo Diddley, was an American guitarist and singer who played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll. He influenced many artists, including Buddy ...

. The album cover was painted by John Douglas and features Joe Perry playing the "Billie" guitar. John Douglas was the one who originally painted Billie Perry on the front and back of the guitar in 2001. John Douglas stated in an interview with Michael Murphy Gallery "I thought it would be cool for me to paint a portrait of Joe playing that guitar...a portrait of Joe playing the "Billie" guitar painted by the guy that painted the "Billie" guitar." According to Douglas, when he sent the painting to Perry to autograph for Douglas, "Joe took one look at the painting and said 'That's my album cover!' The Hard Rock now owns the original." In February 2010, the album received its UK release alongside issue 142 of ''

Classic Rock Classic rock is a radio format that developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, it comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the early-1990s, primarily focusing on comm ...

'' magazine. Editor Scott Rowley states that: "To our knowledge, it's the first time that a music magazine has given away a complete album." The issue featured an exclusive interview with

and a 'track-by-track' interview with Perry about ''Have Guitar, Will Travel.''

Background and recording

For Joe Perry's next solo album, he originally planned to contact notable musicians and record an album featuring 'guest appearances'. Perry states that he considered contacting the likes of

Jimmy Page James Patrick Page (born 9 January 1944) is an English musician and producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the Rock music, rock band Led Zeppelin. Page began his career as a studio session musician in Lo ...

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, Scott Weiland,

Robin Zander Robin Wayne Zander (born January 23, 1953) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist for the rock band Cheap Trick, but is also a solo artist. Zander was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 as a ...

but ultimately decided not to. Following aborted plans to record

's fifteenth studio album with producer Brendan O'Brien, Perry decided to record another solo album with his newly assembled band which included vocalist Hagen Grohe, bassist David Hull, pianist Willie Alexander, organ player Paul Santo, and drummers Marty Richards, Ben Tileston and Scott Meeder. Perry's wife, Billie Perry, discovered vocalist Hagen Grohe on

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after hearing about Journey discovering their vocalist Arnel Pineda in a similar manner. In early 2010, Perry stated that "after

Steven Stephen or Steven is an English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; he is widely regarded as the firs ...

blew the friggin' Aerosmith record we got on a bus and headed down south to play Brendan O'Brien the new material and he said, 'Yeah, agen Grohehas pipes.' So we thought, 'Fuck it, let's put out our own record. We can't count on Tyler anymore, he's a fuckin' burnout.'" The track "Do You Wonder", was originally written for Aerosmith's thirteenth studio album, '' Just Push Play'', by Perry and frequent producer Marti Frederiksen, but was never finished. Upon showing the track to producer Brendan O'Brien, whilst working on material for

's fifteenth studio album, O'Brien is said to have "loved" the track, and pushed for its inclusion on the forthcoming album. However, when the album sessions never came to fruition, Perry decided to include the song on ''Have Guitar, Will Travel''. Perry's wife, Billie, wrote the track's lyrics. Perry stated in a recent interview with ''

'': "Fuck it! It's been almost ten years, Brendan thinks it's got potential, I think I'll put it on my record."

Reception

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

critic

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

described the album as "the sound of Joe Perry cutting loose in his home studio," and stated that the album "has a warmth that latter-day Aerosmith albums have often lacked."

Track listing

''Music and lyrics by Joe Perry unless otherwise noted'' #"We've Got a Long Way to Go" – 4:34 #*The first track to feature

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

work by Joe Perry. #"Slingshot" – 4:20 #"Do You Wonder" - 5:14 (Music: Joe Perry, Marti Frederiksen; Lyrics: Billie Perry) #"Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked in Tonite)" - 4:10 ( Jeremy Spencer) #"Heaven and Hell" – 7:19 #"No Surprise" - 4:53 #"Wooden Ships" – 4:56 #*An

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

track dedicated to

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

. #"Oh Lord (21 Grams)" – 3:27 #"Scare the Cat" – 4:47 #"Freedom" - 3:50

Bonus tracks (Japanese Pressing)

Revolution In political science, a revolution (, 'a turn around') is a rapid, fundamental transformation of a society's class, state, ethnic or religious structures. According to sociologist Jack Goldstone, all revolutions contain "a common set of elements ...

(

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

Cover) #" Dream On (Reggae Mix)

Personnel

The following people contributed to ''Have Guitar, Will Travel'':Have Guitar, Will Travel liner notes

Musicians

* Joe Perry - guitar, vocals, synth, percussion, programming, sound effects, production *Hagen Grohe - vocals * David Hull - bass *Ben Tileston - drums, percussion, glockenspiel *Marty Richards - drums *Scott Meeder - drums *Willie Alexander - piano * Paul Santo - Hammond organ, pipe organ, percussion, engineer *Glen McCarthy - sound effects *Choir on "Oh Lord" - Brian Greenwood, Vivian Doughty, Kerri McLennan, Charlotte Cipolletti, Kelly McElduff, Mike Bernard, Phil DellaNoce, Dan Creed, Pat Dauwer, Lauren Mack, Roman Perry, Hagen Grohe

Recording personnel

*Pablo Arraya - recording, engineer, mixing *Tom Tapley - basic track recording *Daniel Imana - mixing assistant *Dave Kutch - mastering

Artwork

*John Douglas - cover painting *Stephanie Alexander - The photograph cover is based on *Billie Perry - photography *John Bionelli - additional photography *John Shipp - additional photography * Ross Halfin - back cover photograph,

headstock A headstock or peghead is part of a guitar or similar stringed instruments such as a lute, mandolin, banjo, ukulele and others of the lute lineage. The main function of a headstock is to house the tuning pegs or other mechanism that holds the s ...

photo *Rena DeBortoli - design

References

External links

Official Website
{{Authority control 2009 albums The Joe Perry Project albums