Mark Knopfler 'Tracks' Beryl Bainbridge For New Single
Ex-Dire Straits man teases new album and UK dates with single inspired by the novelist. Listen now.
THE HEADBAND IS coming out of storage as Mark Knopfler announces his return with a new album, a series of dates and a single paying tribute to one of Britain's most treasured writers. The former Dire Straits man will release his eighth solo record, Tracker, on March 16 before kicking off a UK tour in May, that will include two nights (25, 26) at the Royal Albert Hall – his first at the London venue since playing six nights there in 2013.
“The album title Tracker arrived out of me trying to find my way over the decades,” Knopfler explains of the album’s title and theme. “Out of me tracking time – looking at people, places and things from my past, and out of the process of tracking, as in recording tracks in the studio.”
That process has seen the guitarist call on a range of subjects for his lyrics, including modernist poet Basil Bunting and author Beryl Bainbridge, with the latter inspiring first single Beryl.
His UK tour meanwhile, kicks off at Manchester’s Phones 4U Arena on May 16, with tickets going on general sale this Friday (January 23). Head to www.markknopfler.com for the full dates.
In the meantime, here’s the aforementioned Beryl.