Morgan Freeman announces blues album and releases first single

Morgan Freeman is in his blues era.

On Friday, June 19, the Oscar-winning actor announced his venture into music with Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience, which is set for release on Aug. 7 via Decca Records. Watch a trailer for the record here.

According to a press release, the 12-track album is a 100-year cinematic journey through blues. Freeman, a producer and narrator on the record, is joined by Taj Mahal, Keb' Mo', Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, and Shemekia Copeland. The Chineke! Orchestra is also featured on the record.

“I heard the blues for the first time on my grandmother's porch in the Mississippi Delta, and it has never left me," the Million Dollar Baby actor, 89, said in the release.

To celebrate Juneteenth, Freeman released the first single off the album, "Death Letter Blues." Mahal is featured on lead vocals and guitar, and the song was originally recorded in 1965 by Delta blues legend Son House.

"Having Taj Mahal kick off this album with a cover of Son House's classic 'Death Letter Blues' strikes the perfect tone for the introduction of this album. Releasing this on Juneteenth is not just symbolic — it is the truth of where this music comes from and who made it. I hope people listen and remember," he added.

“Juneteenth felt like the only right date to introduce this powerful single. This music was born from the same history that Juneteenth commemorates," Eric Meier, a producer on the album, added in the press release. "'Death Letter Blues' is one of the rawest, most honest pieces in the American songbook, and hearing Taj Mahal inhabit it with a full symphony behind him — recorded between the hallowed walls of Royal Studios and Abbey Road — is something that is groundbreaking and unique. We're incredibly proud to introduce our album with this track."

The actor also set a three-date tour in support of the album with a show on Aug. 7 in Houston, a show on Sept. 26 in Memphis and a show on Oct. 17 in Gulfport, Miss.

In addition to the forthcoming record, Freeman is currently starring in the Paramount+ show Lioness. He also recently narrated the Netflix documentary series The Dinosaurs.

See the tracklist for Morgan Freeman's Symphonic Blues Experience below.

1. Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground - Morgan Freeman ft. Keith Johnson

2. Crossroads - Super Chikan

3. Death Letter Blues - Taj Mahal

4. Dust My Broom - Lady Adrena

5. The Thrill Is Gone - Alvin Youngblood Hart

6. Cadillac Assembly Line - Keb' Mo'

7. Somebody's Knockin' - Anthony Big A Sherrod

8. Traveling Riverside Blues - Shemekia Copeland

9. I'll Take You There - Tiernii Jackson ft. Stax Music Academy Choir

10. Love Me Or Leave Me - Anthony Big A Sherrod

11. Someday - Anthony Big A Sherrod

12. I Lied To You - Keith Johnson

-People