Sonic Highways is the eighth studio album by the Foo Fighters, released on November 10, 2014, through Roswell and RCA Records. Similar to their previous album, Wasting Light (2011), it was produced by the band with Butch Vig.
In writing the album’s eight songs, singer and guitarist Dave Grohl traveled to eight cities across the United States to conduct interviews with musicians, recording engineers, record producers, and other individuals discussing each city’s musical history, which he used as inspiration for the songs’ lyrics.
The band and Vig then traveled to a different recording location in each city to record the songs. Each track features contributions from one or more musicians with ties to that city’s musical history.
The process was filmed for a companion television series, Foo Fighters: Sonic Highways, which was broadcast on HBO in the months surrounding the album’s release.
The album artwork by Stephan Martiniere has a cityscape amalgamating landmarks of every town used for production – Seattle’s Space Needle, the Hollywood Sign in Los Angeles – and a recurring motif of the number eight, marking both the Foo Fighters‘ eighth album and infinity (∞).
The vinyl pressings of the album are packaged in nine different covers, depicting each of the eight cities and the “Forever” building shaped like the infinity symbol. Most retailers would not guarantee which cover the purchaser would receive, and album art is “randomly selected” for orders from the band’s official website.
Tracklist:
- Something from Nothing (featuring Rick Nielsen)
- The Feast and the Famine (featuring Peter Stahl & Skeeter Thompson)
- Congregation (featuring Zac Brown)
- What Did I Do? / God as My Witness (featuring Gary Clark, Jr.)
- Outside (featuring Joe Walsh and Chris Goss)
- In the Clear (featuring the Preservation Hall Jazz Band)
- Subterranean (featuring Ben Gibbard)
- I Am a River (featuring Tony Visconti and Kristeen Young)
Foo Fighters
Dave Grohl: lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, cymbals, EBow on “Subterranean”, producer
Pat Smear: rhythm guitar, lead guitar, producer
Nate Mendel: bass guitar, producer
Taylor Hawkins: drums, backing vocals, producer
Chris Shiflett: lead guitar, “devil pickin'” on “Congregation”, backing vocals on “In the Clear”, producer
Additional musicians
Mark Braud: trumpet on “In the Clear”
Zac Brown: “devil pickin'” and backing vocals on “Congregation”
Gary Clark, Jr.: lead guitar on “What Did I Do?/God as My Witness”
Charlie Gabriel: clarinet on “In the Clear”
Ben Gibbard: backing vocals on “Subterranean”
Chris Goss: backing vocals on “Outside”
Drew Hester: percussion on “Congregation”; tambourine on “What Did I Do?/God as My Witness” and “I Am a River”
Ben Jaffe: tuba on “In the Clear”
Rami Jaffee: clavinet; organ; Mellotron; piano; Wurlitzer electric piano; backing vocals on “In the Clear”; “space keys” on “I Am a River”
Ronell Johnson: tuba and backing vocals on “In the Clear”
Barrett Jones: EBow on “Subterranean”
Freddie Lonzo: trombone on “In the Clear”
Los Angeles Youth Orchestra: strings on “I Am a River”
Clint Maedgen: saxophone and backing vocals on “In the Clear”
Rick Nielsen: baritone guitar on “Something From Nothing”
Jim Rota: backing vocals on “In the Clear”
Peter Stahl: backing vocals on “The Feast and the Famine”
Skeeter Thompson: backing vocals on “The Feast and the Famine”
Tony Visconti: string arrangement on “I Am a River”
Joe Walsh: lead guitar on “Outside”
Kristeen Young: backing vocals on “I Am a River”
Production
Justin Armstrong: studio assistance (Robert Lang Studios)
Brandon Bell: studio assistance (Southern Ground Studios)
Charlie Bolois: studio assistance (Studio 6A, Rancho De La Luna, and Preservation Hall)
Dakota Bowman: studio assistance (Atomic Sound)
James Brown: recording engineer, mixing engineer
Reuben Cohen: mastering
Marcel Fernandez: studio assistance (Robert Lang Studios)
Kabir Hermon: studio assistance (The Magic Shop)
John Lousteau: studio assistance (Atomic Sound, Studio 6A, and Preservation Hall); backing vocals on “In the Clear”
Gavin Lurssen: mastering
Matt Mangano: studio assistance (Southern Ground Studios)
Greg Norman: studio assistance (Electrical Audio)
Jon San Paolo: studio assistance (Electrical Audio)
Matthias Schneeberger: studio assistance (Rancho De La Luna)
Chris Shurtleff: studio assistance (The Magic Shop)
Ben Simoneti: studio assistance (Southern Ground Studios)
Butch Vig: producer
Don Zientara: studio assistance (Inner Ear Studios)
Gersh Gershunoff: drum tech
Artwork
Stephan Martiniere: cover illustration
Ringo: photographs
Andrew Stuart: photographs
Morning Breath, Inc.: art direction and design
Taylor Hawkins (February 17, 1972 March 25, 2022).
