Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman, who starred together in Steven Spielberg’s 1997 film Amistad, are each preparing new music releases through Decca, according to Stereogum.
Freeman’s 12-song project, Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience, is set for August 7. The album was announced on Juneteenth with its first single, “Death Letter Blues,” and Freeman narrated and produced the release, which features Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’, Lawrence “Boo” Mitchell, Shemekia Copeland, and musicians from Ground Zero Blues Club in Clarksdale, the venue Freeman opened 25 years ago.
In a press release, Freeman said he first heard the blues on his grandmother’s porch in the Mississippi Delta and that the music has stayed with him ever since. He said Taj Mahal’s cover of Son House’s “Death Letter Blues” was the right way to introduce the project.
Hopkins has signed to Decca Classics as a composer and will release Life Is A Dream on August 21. His project, which includes the first single “Bracken Road,” is inspired by his family, Wales, and a lifetime of experience, and Hopkins said music was his first desire and that he has been composing all his life.
