New Rolling Stones album coming ‘this year,’ Ron Wood says

The Rolling Stones appear to be on track to release the group’s first new studio album in more than a decade later this year, Stones guitarist Ron Wood said Monday.

“We went in to cut some new songs, which we did,� Wood told the Associated Press in London, at the opening of a new exhibition exploring the band’s long history. “But we got on a blues streak. We cut 11 blues [songs] in two days.�

The Stones’ most recent studio album, “A Bigger Bang,� was released in 2005.

Wood said the band recorded “extremely great cover versions of Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter, among other blues people. But they really sound authentic.�

As for the timing of when those recordings might be released, Wood said “This year.�

“We’re a working band,� he added. “We’ll be working again before the end of the year.�

Following Wood’s remarks, a spokesperson for the Stones told The Times that the album is “at demo stage.�

If a strongly blues-based album is released, it would be something many fans have been longing for the group to make.

“The Stones should just go in and do a blues album,� Elton John told The Times earlier this year. “I don’t know if Mick would go for it, but Keith would love that.�

The band just returned from its first performance in Cuba, a free concert in Havana that drew hundreds of thousands of Cubans to hear music once decried by the country’s communist leadership.

Follow @RandyLewis2 on Twitter. For more on Classic Rock, join us on Facebook.