Pete Townshend is lending his guitar chops to the next generation with his latest feature on a song by emerging Dutch singer-songwriter Inge Lamboo. The song, Call Out Your Name, was released on March 28 and showcases The Who guitarist delivering his quintessential soloing style on the young artist's record.
“It was an honor to be asked to play guitar on one of Inge Lamboo’s new tracks,” wrote Townshend, a statement that was then reshared on Lamboo's social media.
“I follow her work on Instagram and she is making terrific Indie-style music with some really smart twists. The guitar work on her tracks is perfectly wonderful without me, so I decided to throw some mud at the wall – in the old ’60s style, and amazingly it worked. Inge is a special talent, we should ALL look out for her.”
As for how this unexpected link-up came about, well, it was all thanks to the algorithm gods. As an ambassador for Pride in Amsterdam, Lamboo wrote the anthem Like a Phoenix, which she later performed on a popular radio show in the Netherlands.
As an encore, she decided to give listeners a taste of her specialty: song mashups. The performance spread like wildfire – going viral on social media and, lo and behold, catching the attention of a certain Pete Townshend, who ended up sending a private message: “You're really good. Looking forward to more.”
“Do I dare ask him to play on my new album?” she writes on her official website. “I spent two weeks thinking about it.” She finally gathered the courage and sent what she deems “her most indie song yet” – Call Out Your Name.
Two weeks later, the veteran guitarist responded with his contribution to the track – a blazing, quintessentially Townshend guitar solo.
The result is a quasi-call-and-response solo, with Lamboo very much holding her own on guitar, and with the two different solos panned to the left and right, respectively. As she sums it up, “His playing is very recognizable, rhythmic, and full of attitude.”
Speaking of Pete Townshend, the guitarist recently threatened to turn to AI if fans don’t stop asking him to play The Who’s hits.
