“I’m attempting to speak with Steve’s voice”: Brian May on how Steve Cropper’s death transformed their posthumous collaboration

“I’m attempting to speak with Steve’s voice”: Brian May on how Steve Cropper’s death transformed their posthumous collaboration that also features ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons.

Brian May has just dropped his latest single “My Angels Are Calling,” a collaboration with the late Steve Cropper that took on an entirely different meaning after the legendary Stax guitarist’s death.

May had already been working on the track with Cropper before he died, but in the aftermath of his passing, the Queen guitarist says he began hearing something else in the music.

“We were all incredibly sad at Steve’s passing, and I was already collaborating with Steve and his band on a track for this album,” May explains.

“The backing track which Jon Tiven, producer of the album and a very old friend of mine, sent me includes Steve Cropper’s unmistakable riff in a style which has influenced us all massively over the years.”

“As soon as Steve was gone, I could hear something different in my head — a tribute to Cropper himself,” he says.

The idea that emerged was a particularly personal one. Rather than simply writing a song about Cropper, May decided to approach the lyrics from the guitarist’s perspective, imagining what might have been going through his mind as he prepared to “move on.”

“The way I saw it, I wanted to try to step into his mind at the moment when he knew it was time to move on,” May explains.

“So in the track I’m attempting to speak with his voice.”

It’s an idea made all the more poignant by the fact that Cropper’s own guitar remains on the recording.

Producer Jon Tiven adds.

“Brian is singing from Steve’s point of view,” he says. “Looking back over his life and his road. It’s very powerful.”

And for May, one key moment from Cropper’s extraordinary career provided the natural destination for that imagined journey.

“In the song, the angels are calling,” May says, “and it seems to me that, along with being grateful for his wonderful life, he would imagine heaven to be something like going back to sitting on the dock of the bay.”

The reference is, of course, to Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” the song Cropper co-wrote with Redding and one of the defining recordings of both men’s careers.

May describes it as a moment Cropper “shared with Otis Redding creating that immortal hit,” effectively imagining the guitarist’s version of heaven as a return to one of the most significant moments of his musical life.

It’s difficult to separate that idea from the enormous influence Cropper had on generations of guitar players. As a guitarist, songwriter and producer at Stax, his economical approach to the instrument became an integral part of the language of soul, R&B and eventually rock guitar itself.

And May isn’t the only guitar heavyweight present.

As “My Angels Are Calling” reaches its conclusion, May can be heard calling out, “Go Billy!” before ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons takes over for the closing guitar solo.

“Having Billy Gibbons play a spectacular solo for me is the final wonderful bonus to this experience,” May says.

“The whole band did a terrific job, and I’m very proud to be a part of it.”

“My Angels Are Calling” appears on Watching The Tide, the posthumous Steve Cropper & The Midnight Hour album released via Provogue / Artone Label Group.

The record brings with it an enviable list of guest guitar players. Eric Clapton appears on “Ticket First,” Ronnie Wood contributes to “Until Now,” while Gibbons also features alongside Ana Grosh on “Stand Right Here.”

You can stream, download or buy “My Angels Are Calling” here.