The Royal Sessions


The Royal Sessions is a studio album by Paul Rodgers of Free and Bad Company fame. Released on 4 February 2014, it consists of ten covers of blues, rhythm & blues and soul songs recorded at Royal Studios in Memphis, Tennessee with local musicians and produced by Perry A. Margouleff. Rodgers chose songs for the album that inspired him in his youth.
Rodgers announced before the album's release that he would be donating all proceeds from it to the Stax Music Academy, an after-school music programme in Memphis, stating that he wanted to "pay the proceeds to the people who gave us this music".
The album entered the Billboard Blues Albums chart at number one, and debuted on the [Billboard 200|Billboard 200] at number 81.

Reception

Steven Thomas Erlewine, reviewing the album for AllMusic, describes it as "enjoyable". Glide magazine awarded it 8/10. USA Today gave it three stars out of four, with Jerry Shriver saying that "Rodgers' devotion rings true". The Winnipeg Sun gave it two and a half stars, describing it as "Enjoyable, but not essential." Le Parisien writer Michel Valentin viewed the familiarity of the songs as a drawback.

Track listing

Personnel