This Is An Artist Called Keith Richards Has Everything As A Songwriter

Keith Richards (Instagram @officialkeef)

JAKARTA - Only a handful of songwriters can hope to achieve what Keith Richards has done throughout his career. Although he has taken on the role of an eternal rock star, Richards' partnership with Mick Jagger shows the world the dark side of rock and roll, from the game Shelter strain to the lude atmosphere of Sympathy for the Devil. After all, Richards was still able to admit when he worked with experts on his field.

Jagger and Richards were initially not interested in writing their material for the first few Rolling Stones albums, usually attached to the blues cover music they played at London clubs at the time. Once they feel itching to write, thanks to The Beatles, they quickly become double leaders in the band The Rolling Stones, turning any simple musical idea into a classic song like Jumpin' Jack Flash and Satisfaction.

Even though Richards is a rock and roll entertainer in the group, his taste is much more eclectic than blues music. Outside of Mississippi Delta's sound, Richards is attracted to the country's music scene, even occasionally writing country songs with Jagger like Dear Doctor or Wild Horses.

When Richards began to appear as a country player, Gram Parsons started his career in southern California. Joining The Byrds for the album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Parsons developed into a rock and roll version of a cowboy, singing a heartache story with his acoustic guitar that would make anyone interested. Although the Reasons at The Byrds did not last long, his next project with The Flyin' Burrito Brothers made him and Richards friends.

Inspired by The Flyin' Burrito Brothers as they made Exile On Main St, Richards admired the way Reasons created the songs, telling Rolling Stone magazine: "Gram works very much like me, which is paralyzing some chords, starting to play around and see how far it goes, rather than just staying silent with a piece of paper and pen".

Although Jagger was never close to Parsons, he and Richards sometimes sang various country songs on the sidelines of song work such as Tumbling Dice and Shake Your Hips. After failing to launch The Flyin' Burrito Brothers, Parsons finally went on to a short solo career before dying from morphine overdose.

While remembering his friend who had died, Richards thought that the Schools were the complete package for a rock and roll frontman, and explained, "I think he just started to calm down when he died. On the one hand, this is a matter of lost love. Gram is everything you want from a singer and songwriter. He's fun being nearby, it's fun to be invited to play as a musician".

Richards will never be able to say goodbye to his friend properly, as some of the Parsons' friends took his body to Joshua Tree and burned it as he wished. Although he didn't give a proper speech to the Parsons, Richards has been bringing the spirit of country-rock music ever since then. The influence of the country is not always seen in Richards' songs, but when listening to songs like Coming Down Again from Goats Head Soup, you will hear the best work of the Schools.