By Cédric Vernet 
With Foreign Tongues, the latest album by the Rolling Stones, still fresh and Ronnie Wood’s European tour in full swing, Keith Richards has now delivered a surprise of his own. The guitarist has unveiled a new version of Bright Lights, Big City, the classic released by Jimmy Reed in 1961. Recorded for the Grand Theft Auto VI soundtrack, it marks his first solo release since 2024.
No one saw it coming. Keith Richards has returned under his own name with Bright Lights, Big City, now available on streaming platforms. It is his first solo release since his cover of I’m Waiting for the Man by Lou Reed, unveiled in March 2024 for the tribute album The Power of the Heart: A Tribute to Lou Reed.
The choice of Bright Lights, Big City is far from incidental. The Rolling Stones recorded their first version of the song as early as 1963, during their initial sessions at IBC Studios in London. Long unreleased, the recording finally appeared in 2012 on the Super Deluxe edition of the compilation GRRR!.
Listen to Bright Lights, Big City by Keith Richards
Jimmy Reed and the Rolling Stones: a long history
The connection between Jimmy Reed and the Rolling Stones extends far beyond this one song. During the same 1963 sessions, the band also recorded Honey What’s Wrong. The following year, their cover of Honest I Do appeared on their British debut album. The Stones also performed several of the bluesman’s compositions for the BBC, while Little by Little, released in 1964, clearly drew on the rhythm of Shame, Shame, Shame.
That influence has endured through the decades. In 1981, Black Limousine drew in part on the playing and structure of You Don’t Have to Go. In 2016, the Rolling Stones returned directly to Jimmy Reed’s catalogue with their cover of Little Rain on the album Blue & Lonesome. By choosing Bright Lights, Big City today, Keith Richards is doing more than revisiting a standard: he is returning to one of the band’s formative influences.
This new version of Bright Lights, Big City will appear on Grand Theft Auto VI: The Album. The soundtrack will feature 34 tracks recorded for the game, with contributions from Travis Scott, PinkPantheress, Yung Lean, Rauw Alejandro and Morgan Wallen, among others. The album and the game are both scheduled for release on November 19, 2026. In the meantime, this cover creates an unexpected yet fitting connection between the world of GTA VI, the blues of Jimmy Reed and the musical roots of Keith Richards.
Photo: Thore Siebrands / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0