'89-Year-Old' Morgan Freeman Releases New Blues Album in August, Produces and Narrates It Himself

A Hollywood Giant Awakens the Soul of Delta Blues

A living legend of the film industry, actor 'Morgan Freeman' turns his attention from the big screen to the heart of music. Having left a heavy echo in the memories of audiences worldwide with 'The Shawshank Redemption' and 'Million Dollar Baby,' he will release, as the centerpiece, his own regular album 'Morgan Freeman’s Symphonic Blues Experience' on August 7.

This is not a flimsy plan that merely borrows a name. In this project, Freeman steps in directly as both 'producer' and the overall 'narrator,' laying down the album’s solid framework. With the legendary 'Taj Mahal'—a master who has won the Grammy Awards five times—leading the lineup, along with world-class musicians including Keb' Mo', Lawrence 'Boo' Mitchell, and the Chiken(e) Orchestra, the album’s vocals and performances have breathed in a grand sense of vitality.

The album, crafted as 12 tracks, carries a distinctive symbolism from the moment of its release. On June 19, which marked 'Juneteenth,' the U.S. holiday commemorating emancipation from slavery, it drew attention from both the public and critics by pre-releasing the title track 'Death Letter Blues.'

Freeman said about this journey, in which he set out to find the roots of music, "After first encountering the blues in the yard in front of my grandmother’s house in the Mississippi Delta when I was a child, this music has never left my side." It captures the essence of 'blues'—woven with the hard life and joys and sorrows of African Americans.

In particular, regarding his single pre-release strategy tailored to Juneteenth, he said, "This has massive meaning beyond mere symbolism," and added, "It is a fated choice to tell the entire world the 'historical truth' about where this music was born and who created it."

The momentum around the album carries straight through to the stage. From August, Freeman will hold a large-scale live tour, crisscrossing major U.S. cities where the trajectory of blues runs deep—Houston, Memphis, Gulfport, and more—through October. After reaching the peak of his acting career with the Golden Globe best actor win for 1989’s 'Driving Miss Daisy' and the Academy Award best supporting actor win for 2004’s 'Million Dollar Baby,' he now plans to share deep synchronicity with audiences in a new language: music, even at an age beyond eighty.