{"id":392259,"date":"2026-01-27T01:33:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/392259\/"},"modified":"2026-01-27T01:33:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T01:33:12","slug":"keith-richards-12-favourite-albums-of-all-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/392259\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Richards\u2019 12 favourite albums of all time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mick<\/p>\n

(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Mon 26 January 2026 17:06, UK <\/p>\n

The eternal Keith Richards<\/a> is undoubtedly one of the biggest names in rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. <\/p>\n

The Rolling Stones guitarist has made such a valiant attempt to be the embodiment of everything that makes the genre so alluring that, more often than not, his incredible songwriting ability is too often overlooked. He has an ear for dynamic playing and acute musicianship that has been shaped not by the pursuit of artistic evolution but by the refinement of what he considers the timeless beauty of music.<\/p>\n

As Tom Waits once said of his pal, \u201cThere\u2019s nobody in the world like him.\u201d Yet, he\u2019s not angling to be different. Richards seems to recognise that originality is one thing, but the alchemical magic of making music, firmly \u2018in the zone\u2019 is quite another. <\/p>\n

He strives for this mercurial energy both when he\u2019s making music, and when he\u2019s listening to it. As he writes in his memoir, \u201cThere\u2019s something beautifully friendly and elevating about a bunch of guys playing music together. This wonderful little world that is unassailable. It\u2019s really teamwork, one guy supporting the others, and it\u2019s all for one purpose, and there\u2019s no flies in the ointment, for a while. And nobody is conducting, it\u2019s all up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n

As such, whenever Keith Richards is asked for a list of his favourite records it is usually a changing, morphing regurgitation of a similar set of blues legends, reggae rulers and ultimate rock icons who have woven this \u2018wonderful little world\u201d onto a record. When Q Magazine<\/a> asked the guitarist to pick a selection of his favourite records, he didn\u2019t disappoint.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>Keith Richards in rose-tinted glasses. (Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n

Across 12 LPs, Richards provided an extra potent dose of superb delta blues, reggae music to make your soul quiver and the foundation stones of what made not only him but an entire generation fall in love with rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. What\u2019s more, we have the perfect playlist to go with it, too.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re not here to say that the list below is a definitive vision of Richards\u2019 favourite albums, as any true music fan will tell you, the idea of a favourite anything is, at best, a transient one. But what we are provided with is a distinct and clear distillation of the albums that helped to shape the legendary man often known simply as \u2018Keef\u2019, as Q bases questions around the music that made him.<\/p>\n

It means his selection of Billie Holiday\u2019s record from 1954, Lady Day, a compilation of some of her hits, is given extra gravitas, as it was a way for Richards\u2019 mother to introduce him to some of the finer things in life. It certainly helped too<\/a>: \u201cI really have to thank my mum,\u201d he recalled. \u201cShe was playing Billie on the radio whenever possible, which was not a lot because the BBC were not that hip.\u201d Another record selected also came from an important person in Richards\u2019 life: Brian Jones.<\/p>\n

The founding member of The Rolling Stones got Richards \u201chooked\u201d on one of the formative albums of the guitarist\u2019s life when he introduced him to Robert Johnson. The 1961 compilation album King of the Delta Blues Singers saw Richards utterly captivated by the mercurial figure of Johnson. \u201cWhen Brian pulled out that Robert Johnson record, I immediately said to myself, \u2018I want to work with Brian,\u201d recalled Richards, going on to talk about his appreciation for Johnson. <\/p>\n

Speaking about the mystic blues legend<\/a>, he continued, \u201cThe subject matter of his songs took you into another area of possibilities. That you can write a song about anything. You don\u2019t have to confine it to the popular norms, and that was a turn-on with Robert.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I found about the blues and music, tracing things back, was that nothing came from itself,\u201d remembers Richards in his autobiography Life. Selecting McKinley Morganfield A.K.A. Muddy Waters as the album that \u2018keeps him classy\u2019, he says: \u201cWhen it comes to Muddy, I get emotional. He had one of the most powerful, almost indefinable voices, and he was shaping music.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>Keith Richards, somewhat shocked. (Credits: Alamy)<\/p>\n

A similar selection comes in the form of the inspirational Little Walter and his album Hate To See You Go, about which Richards says: \u201cLittle Walter was Muddy Waters\u2018 harp player, but he had an incredibly powerful, sort of smoky voice and wrote some lovely songs that were hits on his own.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Richards, Walter was a serious inspiration for him and the rest of The Rolling Stones too. \u201cYou can\u2019t really write blues on a sheet of paper, it has to be heard, it has to be experienced, and Little Walter is just one of the best at it,\u201d he proclaims. \u201cI was always fascinated by how they played together, the way they weaved. I\u2019ve been through Brian Jones, Mick Taylor, and Ronnie Wood, and we\u2019ve always been locked into that format.\u201d<\/p>\n

One place Keith Richards has always been happy is in the muck and the grime. The sleazy guitarist has always had a touch of the swamp about him, and his pick of Slim Harpo\u2019s Raining in My Heart is a testament to his devotion. \u201cAhh, swamp music, swamp blues\u2026 just incredible sounds. A lot of people don\u2019t know about this stuff, and it is some of the darkest blues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elvis Presley has also been included on the list, with the singer\u2019s guitarist, Scotty Moore being one of Richards\u2019 favourites of all time. A Date With Elvis showed Richards how to keep things simple: \u201cIt\u2019s minimalism, I suppose, how to get the most out of something with the smallest amount of ingredients, and out comes the best meal you ever had.\u201d <\/p>\n

Another album which inspired Richards was The \u2018Chirping\u2019 Crickets by Buddy Holly, he tells Q: \u201cI remember talking to Lennon and McCartney about Buddy. The fact that he was writing his own songs was a great impetus for us. In those days, you were a musician, and the idea of also being a writer was the difference between the greengrocer and the blacksmith.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s Keef\u2019s definitive Motown record? \u201cFor me, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles epitomise Motown.\u201d The guitarist picks Going to a Go-Go as his record of choice. \u201cYou could hear Smokey\u2019s influence going on through Diana Ross and Michael Jackson. Such a great songwriter. I mean, \u2018The Tracks Of My Tears\u2019 \u2026 you might as well just go and throw yourself in the toilet [laughs].\u201d The rest of the list offers up some searing recommendations.<\/p>\n

One such recommendation comes as an album to \u201csoothe a broken heart\u201d is requested. Richards doesn\u2019t disappoint, picking a compilation LP from the King of soul, Otis Redding. \u201cI would take this around to friends who were having a hard time,\u201d says Richards. \u201cSong such as \u2018Try A Little Tenderness,\u2019 they didn\u2019t die with the guy who wrote them. The point of a great song is that it doesn\u2019t care when it is or where it is, if it\u2019s held in the right way \u2014 and that\u2019s what Otis did.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Keith<\/a>Keith Richards in his shades. (Credits: Far Out \/ YouTube Still)<\/p>\n

As well as being a huge soul, R&B and rock \u2018n\u2019 roll fan, Richards, it would appear, is also a country fan too. For him, there was only one album that really piqued his interest\u2014the Flying Burrito Brothers\u2019 1969 album The Gilded Palace of Sin. \u201cI used to hang out with Gram [Parsons], sometimes not for the good. I survived, Gram didn\u2019t. He turned me onto cats like Merle Haggard and George Jones. He crystallised country for me. Gram reshaped country music. He brought it up to date and made it hip.\u201d<\/p>\n

Country music may be a simple jump to the side for Richards, but his love of reggae goes a little further. \u201cI lived in Jamaica, and I know most of these cats,\u201d said Richards when picking the Harder They Come soundtrack. \u201cI happened to be in Jamaica when the movie came out, and it really reminds me a lot of those days. There was an incredible feeling there at that time because their music was coming to fruition.\u201d It\u2019s a piece of Richards\u2019 life which he has always held extremely dear.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the best songwriters ever\u201d<\/p>\n

One thing that may not always be apparent with Richards is that he is a shrewd operator. Though he would likely be the first in line to tell you that rock \u2018n\u2019 roll is made by the heart and for the hips, he would also be happy to agree that the brain must be involved, too. One album that \u201cforces\u201d him to think is Warren Zevon\u2019s Excitable Boy.<\/p>\n

It is, indeed, a rip-rousing album by a songwriter adored by peers as esteemed as Bob Dylan, Hunter S Thompson, and Tom Petty, about which Richards also claimed: \u201cOne of the best songwriters ever. Really intelligent and another one that made me go, \u2018Why didn\u2019t I write a song about my typewriter?\u2019 You can hear this is a guy that thinks a lot and was troubled, but doesn\u2019t mind laying it out on the line.\u201d<\/p>\n

All told, it is a list of albums which not only offers you a clear image of Keith Richards\u2019 musical journey, but also the fact that said journey ended about 40 years ago, but that beneath the rock star status, Keith Richards is a fan, pure and simple. His list of 12 favourite albums below proves it. And you can find them all wrapped up in a perfect playlist at the foot of the piece, too.<\/p>\n

Keith Richards favourite albums:Lady Day \u2013 Billie HolidayKing Of The Delta Blues Singers \u2013 Robert JohnsonMcKinley Morganfield A.K.A. Muddy Waters \u2013 Muddy WatersHate To See You Go \u2013 Little WalterRaining in My Heart \u2013 Slim HarpoA Date With Elvis \u2013 Elvis PresleyThe \u2018Chirping\u2019 Crickets \u2013 Buddy HollyGoing to a Go-Go \u2013 Smokey Robinson and The MiraclesComplete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary Of Soul \u2013 Otis ReddingThe Gilded Palace of Sin \u2013 Flying Burrito BrothersHarder They Come \u2013 Jimmy CliffExcitable Boy \u2013 Warren Zevon<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/p>\n