Recorded during a five-day sprint in Nashville, the Blackbird Diaries offers a rawer portrait of Dave Stewart - the producer, former Eurthymic and current member of Superheavy, with Mick Jagger - than you're likely ever to have heard. The nasty, lurching guitar that announces "So Long Ago," the album's opener, is the tip-off. The song name-checks blues greats Junior Kimbrough, R.L. Burnside and Mississippi John Hurt, and signals the roots rock-arama that follows. Bob Dylan gets a co-write on the mid-tempo ballad "Worth the Waiting For," and Stewart essentially rewrites "Bob Dylan's 115th Dream" to come up with "The Gypsy Girl and Me." Stewart is a shaky singer at best, but Stevie Nicks ("Cheaper Than Free"), Colbie Caillat ("Bulletproof Vest"), Martina McBride ("All Messed Up") and the marvelous Secret Sisters ("Country Wine") bolster him. A man of many musical guises, Stewart may finally have learned that sometimes just being yourself will do.

Listen to "Magic in the Blues":

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.