Tom Waits is recording a new studio album in an old Mississippi schoolhouse. Real Gone is slated for release this fall on Anti-, and will be Waits' first release since his pair of 2002 albums, Blood Money and Alice.

"Feelin' good about it all," Waits said. "Songs about politics, rats, war, hangings, dancing, automobiles, pirates, farms, the carnival and sinning. Mama, liquor, trains and death. In other words, the same ol' dirty business."

Waits is recording with several collaborators from over the years, including guitarist/bassist Larry Taylor, avant garde guitarist Mark Ribot and Primus and Guns n' Roses drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia, as well as Primus bassist Les Claypool and former Shotgun Messiah guitarist Harry Cody. Waits and wife/collaborator Kathleeen Brennan are producing the album.

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