Aerosmith’s Brad Whitford Jams With Amanda Shires & Jason Isbell On ‘I So Lounging’

Aerosmith guitarist Brad Whitford joined Amanda Shires, Jason Isbell and Peter Levin for the August 21 edition of Shires’ I So Lounging livestream. The quartet delivered a couple of blues standards as well as a tune from Aerosmith.

The stream (which experienced a few technical difficulties but also introduced a new camera angle) got underway with guitarists Isbell and Whitford along with Levin on Fender Rhodes kicking around a bluesy jam, which led into the Jimmy Reed blues classic “Baby What You Want Me To Do” sung by Isbell with Shires joining in on backing vocals and fiddle. After noting Peter’s Dolly Parton shirt, Amanda said “a man who can wear a woman’s rock ‘n’ roll t-shirt is a real man.” To which Jason clarified “You don’t mean a woman’s size; you mean a shirt with a woman’s name on it…I can technically wear a woman’s t-shirt,” he continued, “but that is not going to be something you enjoy.”

Isbell and Shires then introduced guest of honor Brad Whitford, “thank you for being tricked and showing up and doing this with us,” Isbell joked. Amanda then asks Brad about how he’s been handling quarantine and they all agree as to the strange times the world is in and Whitford talks about the particularly precarious situation musicians find themselves in. Jason then tells Brad about his “boss in the Drive-By Truckers” Patterson Hood and how Whitford was Patterson’s favorite member of Aerosmith and that Hood believes that Aerosmith’s 1976 album Rocks was “better than any album The Rolling Stones ever made.” After Amanda asks “How do you feel about that?” Whitford reptiles that Rocks is his favorite and gives some inside insight on the LP.

The quartet then played an Aerosmith song, “Cryin,” from the band’s 1993 album Get A Grip with Shires shining on vocals. To close out the session the band gets back to the blues with “You Gotta Move,” which has its origins in the African American spiritual tradition. A number of legends have recorded the song throughout the years including Reverand Gary Davis, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Sam Cooke and The Rolling Stones to name a few. Whitford takes a nice guitar ride on the I So Lounging version which also features Isbell on slide.

Watch the entire August 21 edition of I So Lounging below: