When an artist of Mitch Ryder’s caliber looks back over their storied six-decade career and tells you their latest album is essential listening, you should take that statement seriously. Ryder, as anyone who has followed the roots and branches of American music will attest, is one of the faces carved onto rock ‘n’ roll’s Mount Rushmore, and the spiritual forefather to every bluecollar firebrand – from Bruce Springsteen to Ted Nugent – who ever turned up their amp and hollered their truth. He’s the rock ‘n’ roll pioneer who was there at the flash-point in the late-’50s. He’s the hit-maker who tore up the charts in the mid-’60s with Detroit Wheels cuts like Jenny Take A Ride and his reworking of Devil With A Blue Dress On. Amongst his myriad claims to fame, Ryder was both the last man to play with Otis Redding (in 1967), and the first living white artist inducted into the R&B Hall Of Fame (in 2017).
For many musicians of Ryder’s vintage and status, age heralds a creative slowdown and reliance on the hits. But as he broaches his eighth decade, the Michigan-born singer-songwriter remains in constant motion, his backstory only rivaled by what is yet to come. It’s an attitude epitomized by the new Don Was-produced studio album With Love, being released in February 2025 on Ruf, and packed with tough, tender, personal songs that stand alongside anything in his catalog.
“Out of the 21 studio albums that I have recorded, this one is in the top two,” considers Ryder, reflecting on a catalog that began with 1966’s Take A Ride with The Detroit Wheels. “It is one of the most honest albums I’ve ever made. Not that the other ones were lies, but I was able to access previously hidden feelings.”
The stellar musicianship was certainly a catalyst, but no doubt the real driving force behind With Love are Ryder’s ten new originals: as smart, satirical, witty and wry a collection of songs as the veteran songwriter has ever gathered on an album. From the woozy Latin-rock grooves of Oh What A Night and Pass It To The Right (an ode to joint etiquette at a hedonistic party) to Sanguine’s playful soul and the Stones-y chop of Wrong Hands, there is still no second-guessing Ryder’s song-craft.
“Everything on the album is autobiographical,” he explains of a track-listing that plays out with The Artist’s ghostly self-analysis and the joyous-sounding but morbid R&B of Just The Way It Is, exploring the inevitability of life and death. “One Monkey is about my drug addiction and how I overcame it. Fly is about my career and being happy about it, the trajectory and body of work I was able to produce.”
Incredibly, more than a half-century since Mitch Ryder first lit up the rock ‘n’ roll radar, With Love proves this lifelong visionary still has creative gas in the tank. “Practice makes perfect,” he smiles of a growing discography that is plainly the work of a man still reaching for something greater. “I haven’t gotten there yet but I’m working on it…”
“The songs on With Love are first-rate; a collection of compositions reflecting the smart, satirical, witty, and wry personae that is Mitch Ryder. I was floored by the inventive musical cornucopia that brings each composition to life, enticing sounds that brought to mind some of the finest 60’s soul, horn-driven R&B, crunchy rock, and down-and-dirty blues, a swirling muse that captures your heart and soul. The perseverance and passion of Mitch Ryder is on full display here. He has arrived back on our shores once again, bringing with him a release worthy of many repeated listens. A pure pleasure from start to finish!
John Muller/Blue Notes & ConversationsTRACK LIST CD
1 Lilli May 03:08
2 Pass It To The Right 04:07
3 Sanguine 03:39
4 One Monkey 03:47
5 Oh What A Night 04:58
6 Wrong Hands 04:37
7 Too Damned Slow 05:10
8 Fly 03:39
9 The Artist 03:09
10 Just The Way It Is 03:08
Mitch Ryder – “With Love” – 2025 Ruf Records – www.rufrecords.de / All songs recorded at Rustbelt Studios in Royal Oak, Michigan between August and October, 2024
Produced by – Don Was / Executive producer – Thomas Ruf / All songs written by William Levise, published by Michigan Broadcasting Corporation / “The Artist” – Written by William Levise and Margaret Levise /
Mitch Ryder – Vocals / Luis Resto-Keyboards/Brian “Roscoe” White – Guitar / Laura Chavez – Guitar / Dave McMurray-Sax and Flute / Jeff Canady-Drums/Mahindi Masai-Percussion/Chuck Bartels-Bass/Don Was – Bass (Sanguine) / Background Vocals – Mitch Ryder, Herschel Boone, Terena Boone
Source: dougdeutschPR