DUFF MCKAGAN Announces Details Of Expanded Edition Of 'Lighthouse' Solo Album

GUNS N' ROSES bassist Duff McKagan has announced an expanded digital edition of his acclaimed third solo album, "Lighthouse", available now at all DSPs and streaming services. The deluxe release includes eight additional tracks along with three exclusive live performance videos filmed last December at Easy Street Records in McKagan's hometown of Seattle, Washington.

"Lighthouse (Expanded Edition)" is highlighted by a stripped-down acoustic rendition of the album standout, "I Just Don't Know", transformed from its powerful original version into a soaring, reflective ballad which showcases the vulnerability of the lyrics and McKagan's vocal performance.

"'I Just Don't Know (Acoustic Mix)' is a song I landed upon, that seems to encapsulate somehow, my own personal thoughts about what's next in life, and what is out there in general," says McKagan. "It's the core of the human existence to ponder the afterlife. I like to have fun with the possibilities."

Hailed by Paste as "an emotional, personal and spiritual reckoning...[ McKagan's] most important rock project yet," "Lighthouse" now also features "This Is The Song", "It Can't Come Too Soon" and "Pass You By" (all originally found on McKagan's "This Is The Song" EP, released last May to honor Mental Health Awareness Month),along with the previously unheard "C'mon Boys" (featuring outlaw country badass Jesse Dayton) and live versions of the fan favorites "I Saw God On 10th Street", "Just Another Shakedown" and "Longfeather". All three live tracks are accompanied by official videos from the intimate hometown event. In addition, a complete video capturing McKagan's live in-store performance can be viewed in its entirety via YouTube.

"Lighthouse" is available now in a wide range of formats including streaming, download, CD and LP. A number of deluxe versions and bundles featuring official Certificates Of Authenticity signed by McKagan are also available. An exclusive line of brand-new "Lighthouse" merch is available now at www.duffonline.com.

"It's very nice for me to add the 'This Is The Song' EP from earlier last year, into the mix here of the 'Lighthouse' record itself," says McKagan. "Playing Easy Street Records in December was made much cooler when my erstwhile producer Martin Feveyear came up with the idea to record the show. We have included that recorded live show to this expanded release. There is also a studio track called 'C'mon Boys' that really only became a song when legendary Austin blues man and rockabilly god Jesse Dayton stopped by the studio with his guitar and voice!"

"Lighthouse" sees McKagan baring more of his artistic spirit than ever before, fusing acoustic elements with hard-edged rock 'n' roll to land at the sweet spot between soul-searching reflection and pure energy. The album was first announced last summer alongside its title track, "Lighthouse", joined by an official visualizer streaming now at the official Duff McKagan YouTube channel.

"Lighthouse" was soon followed by "I Saw God On 10th Street", also joined by an official visualizer. "I Saw God On 10th Street" received immediate praise from such outlets as Kerrang!, Revolver and American Songwriter. "Longfeather" arrived next, hailed by Revolver as "folky, elegiac" and joined by an official music video directed by longtime visual collaborators Connor Ellmann, Kuj Durollari and Arben Durollari. A video for the song "I Just Don't Know (Feat. Jerry Cantrell)" is also available.

Regarding how Jerry Cantrell ended up on the album, Duff told SPIN: "He and I have been playing on each other's demos for years and have known each other since around 1989 or 1990. We watch football together on Sundays and I played a lot of bass on his last solo album. I sent him 'I Just Don't Know' and he was, like, 'Man, this is great. Do you want me to do anything on it?' I said, 'Yeah. A solo.' He brought that beautiful solo and then asked if I needed him to sing, and I said, 'Sure.'"

On the topic of the lyrical inspiration for the "Lighthouse" title track, Duff told Paste: "I try to be somewhat reserved with my lyric writing and, sometimes, have a few meanings — none are wrong. But 'Lighthouse' I wrote as my wife being the lighthouse, my life. Our kids are grown, and she and I have been through so much stuff together. And then we got a worldwide pandemic that we were going through together. The way she really supported me — I had just got my own studio right before COVID started, and I had recorded two songs. I was supposed to be off on a GUNS N' ROSES tour and, of course, that all came crumbling down. I really realized, with her, in our time when you're not in contact with other people, it was just her and I thought, 'Fuck, man, we're solid.' We'd heard about people splitting up during COVID; we got drawn closer to each other during that [time]. I'm a fortunate guy to have met her, that girl Susan Holmes, when I was 32, two years into sobriety — because there was something that clicked and, hopefully, for both of us, that really has made my life make sense. Even in the darkest times, even when I'm suffering a panic attack or some other malady, I still know I have her."

Starting at just 15, McKagan has been a part of such diverse and influential bands as THE VAINS (1979),THE FASTBACKS (1980),THE LIVING (1982),THE FARTZ (1982),10 MINUTE WARNING (1983) and LOADED (1998),along, of course, with his historic role as founding member of both GUNS N' ROSES and VELVET REVOLVER. Produced by three-time Grammy Award winner Shooter Jennings, McKagan's 2019 second solo album, "Tenderness", marked a powerful new chapter for the ever-evolving artist, taking on societal ills and his own personal transgressions against a rich sonic backdrop of Americana-fueled arrangements. Named by Loudwire as one of that year's "50 Best Rock Albums" and hailed by Rolling Stone in a three-and-a-half (out of four)-starred rave as "an album full of beauty and heart…It's music of conscience, heavy songs with a light touch," the album includes the volatile rocker "Chip Away", which earned extraordinary praise from the maestro himself, Bob Dylan, who declared the song a personal favorite.

Along with his prolific musical efforts, McKagan is The New York Times best-selling author of 2011's "It's So Easy: And Other Lies" and 2015's "How To Be A Man: (And Other Illusions)", and the co-host (with Susan Holmes McKagan) of SiriusXM's popular "Three Chords & The Truth" radio show on Ozzy's Boneyard (Ch. 38). McKagan currently serves as a core member of a modern-day "Wrecking Crew" alongside Grammy Award-winning musician/producer Andrew Watt and RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS' Chad Smith, recording and co-writing on such recent albums as Ozzy Osbourne's "Ordinary Man" (2020) and two-time Grammy Award-winning "Patient No. 9" (2022) and Iggy Pop's acclaimed "Every Loser" (2023).

"Lighthouse (Expanded Edition)" track listing:

01. Lighthouse
02. Longfeather
03. Holy Water
04. I Saw God On 10th Street
05. Fallen
06. Forgiveness
07. Just Another Shakedown
08. Fallen Ones
09. Hope Featuring Slash
10. I Just Don't Know (featuring Jerry Cantrell)
11. Lighthouse Reprise (featuring Iggy Pop)
12. This Is The Song *
13. Pass You By *
14. It Can't Come Too Soon *
15. I Just Don't Know (Acoustic Mix) *
16. C'mon Boys (featuring Jesse Dayton) *
17. I Saw God On 10th Street (Live From Easy Street Records) *
18. Just Another Shakedown (Live From Easy Street Records) *
19. Longfeather (Live From Easy Street Records) *

* Bonus tracks exclusive to expanded edition

Photo credit: Charles Peterson