Chrissie Hynde Drafts Dave Gahan, Brandon Flowers For Duets LP

Chrissie Hynde has rounded up a host of rock’n’roll heavy hitters for the new album Duets Special, which will be released Oct. 17 by Rhino. The project features a different special guest on each of its 13 songs, including the late Mark Lanegan, the Killers’ Brandon Flowers, Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, Garbage’s Shirley Manson, Cat Power and k.d. lang.

First single “Always on My Mind” featuring Rufus Wainwright is out now. “I never thought about doing a duets album before,” says the Pretenders frontwoman, who turns 74 on Sept. 7. “I think the idea came about in 2023. I was talking to Jörn, Rufus Wainwright’s husband, on the phone. I think we were recommending novels to each other, and for some reason, I said, hey, maybe Rufus and I should do something, and quickly scribbled out 10 songs off the top of my head. So Jörn asked Rufus, who was up for it, and that’s how it started. A spontaneous and what I thought would be a fun thing.”

Also featured on Duets Special are Lucinda Williams, Julian Lennon, Blondie’s Debbie Harry, Low’s Alan Sparhawk and the Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach, who shares an Akron, Oh., hometown with Hynde.