ROLLING STONE: JERRY LEE LEWIS RETURNS TO MUSIC: ‘I THOUGHT I WOULD NEVER PLAY AGAIN’
When Jerry Lee Lewis entered a Nashville recording studio late last month, he had no idea what was going to happen. He had not played music since February 2019, when he suffered a serious stroke at his home in Nesbit, Mississippi. Though his team described the stroke as “minor” at the time, it wasn’t; Lewis was left with mobility issues, and those around him feared he wouldn’t survive. Lewis was more concerned about whether he would ever be able to play the piano again; he spent three months in a rehab facility relearning to walk and trying to gain use of his right hand. It was a struggle.
Late last month, the 84-year-old Lewis booked a recording session — his first in more than five years — to see if he could still make music. The idea was to begin a long-planned album of gospel classics that he’d known since his childhood in Ferriday, Louisiana — songs he knew before he helped kick-start rock & roll with hits like “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On” and “Great Balls of Fire.” Before the session, Lewis told his team and producer T-Bone Burnett that he didn’t want a piano in the room at all: his right hand wasn’t working, and he just wanted to sing. But they kept one in the room just in case. When Lewis sat on its stool, he couldn’t help but lift his right hand onto the keys. To his own surprise, his fingers started moving.
By Patrick Doyle
###
