Van's latest album sees him simultaneously hand-picking a selection of rhythm and blues classics (by the likes of Bo Diddley, Mose Allison, Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Lightnin Hopkins among others) and recording a set of new self-written songs. Its an album that features raw, intimate interpretations of some of the cornerstones of Rhythm & blues alongside five new numbers by one of our most consistently brilliant recording artists.From a very early age, I connected with the blues. The thing about the blues is you don't dissect it you just do it. I've never over-analysed what I do; I just do it. Music has to be about just doing it and that's the way the blues works it's an attitude. I was lucky to have met people who were the real thing people like John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Witherspoon, Bo Diddley, Little Walter & Mose Allison. I got to hang out with them and absorb what they did. They were people with no ego whatsoever and they helped me learn a lot.Van Morrison