The Red Rocker Releasing An Acoustic Solo Disc

Sammy Hagar and Vic Johnson have unplugged. Johnson is a longtime member of Sammy's backing group, The Wabos.

The disc titled Lite Roast will be released on October 13th. The duo has reworked 11 tracks from throughout Sammy's career and features just guitar and vocals from the long working friends.

Lite Roast includes versions of a pair of classic Van Halen tunes, "Dreams" and "Finish What Ya Started," as well as stripped-down renditions of tunes that appeared on the following Hagar solo efforts: 1987's I Never Said Goodbye, 1997's Marching to Mars, 1999's Red Voodoo, 2000's Ten 13, 2006's Livin' It Up and 2013's Sammy Hagar & Friends.

 

Sammy recently said that the inspiration behind Lite Roast came to him while rehearsing for the star-studded Acoustic-4-a-Cure benefit concert he and Metallica's James Hetfield organized earlier this year in San Francisco.

 

"Working up that set for myself, I learned how to play and sing acoustically, and I loved it so much I just took a bunch of my old songs and made a record," Hagar explained. "It's an acoustically brewed CD."

 

He added about the unplugged versions of his tunes, "Some of them I think are better than they've ever been like this."

 

On Wednesday, October 1, Hagar and Johnson played a free acoustic set featuring songs from the new record at the Sammy's Island Bar & Grill franchise in Roseville, California. Parts of the concert were filmed for a television special that will raise money for the community of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, which was severely damaged last month by Hurricane Odile.

 

Here is the full track list of Lite Roast:

 

"Red Voodoo" (from Red Voodoo)

"One Sip" (from Livin' It Up!)

"Finish What Ya Started" (from Van Halen's OU812)

"Eagles Fly" (from I Never Said Goodbye)

"The Love" (from Red Voodoo)

"Father Son" (from Sammy Hagar & Friends)

"Dreams" (from Van Halen's 5150)

"Deeper Kinda Love" (from Ten 13)

"Who Has the Right" (from Marching to Mars)

"Sailin'" (from Livin' It Up!)

"Halfway to Memphis" (from Livin' It Up!)