Andrew Watt and the Rolling Stones: how he became their producer

How Andrew Watt got the Rolling Stones job

In 2022, Mick Jagger proposed Valentine’s Day 2023 as the deadline for the next album. Keith Richards thought it optimistic; the band later said they met it.

Ronnie Wood told Rolling Stone he’d asked Paul McCartney for someone who could keep the band in line. McCartney’s answer, as Wood recalled it: “Well, there’s this young New York boy, Andrew Watt. Give him a try.”

Jagger already knew Watt. In a People interview, Watt said Don Was introduced them virtually during the pandemic. A later meeting over tea before a 2022 Hyde Park show was a chance to talk in person.

In his Mojo interview, Watt recalled watching the band work at Electric Lady Studios in New York. He kept quiet and wrote notes in a journal.

Inside the Hackney Diamonds sessions

There was plenty to sort through: the band had more than 100 demos. The main sessions took place at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles in November 2022.

Watt told Guitar Player they tracked about 23 songs. Twelve made Hackney Diamonds, with songs left for the next record.

Watt also shares songwriting credits with Jagger and Richards on “Angry”, “Get Close” and “Depending on You”. His contribution went beyond producing: the release credits list bass and guitar on “Depending on You” and “Mess It Up”, along with other instrumental and vocal parts.

The guests Watt helped bring in

• Paul McCartney: Watt chose the fast “Bite My Head Off” for his bass contribution rather than a ballad. He’d already given McCartney a left-handed Höfner fitted with a fuzz circuit and asked him to bring it to the session.
• Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga: Watt suggested Wonder for “Sweet Sounds of Heaven”. Gaga was recording in the same building, stopped by and joined the session.
• Elton John: another Watt suggestion, playing piano on “Get Close” and “Live by the Sword”.
• Bill Wyman: Watt proposed bringing back the band’s former longtime bassist for “Live by the Sword”. The recording includes Charlie Watts’s drums; Watts also appears on “Mess It Up”.

Watt pushed for “Rolling Stone Blues”, the Muddy Waters song the band took its name from. Just Jagger and Richards perform it. Watt described recording them to tape with a room microphone carrying much of the sound, a small-scale ending to an album full of guests.

How Watt works with the Stones

Watt set up in the live room beside Richards, rather than directing everything from behind the glass. He could talk through arrangements face to face, and sometimes chose the take before the last one to keep the performance spontaneous.

He also wanted Richards’s guitar parts finished before Jagger recorded the final vocals.

For Hackney Diamonds, Watt told Mojo the sessions used no click tracks, gridding or computer editing. He has described a similar approach to Foreign Tongues in comments reported by MusicRadar. The band could push and pull the tempo as they played.

Watt is an unapologetic fan. He told Rolling Stone he wore a different Stones T-shirt to the studio every day.

Foreign Tongues: Watt’s second Stones album

Watt returned for Foreign Tongues in 2026. He told Premier Guitar the main sessions at Metropolis Studios in West London lasted about a month, followed by another month of overdubs. He kept recording for long stretches so the band could concentrate on playing rather than on the start and end of each take.

Four of the album’s 14 songs came from earlier sessions, according to Rolling Stone’s launch report. Those recordings include McCartney on “Covered in You” and Charlie Watts on “Hit Me in the Head”.

The production also used newer tools. In the lesson excerpt reported by MusicRadar, Watt described adding Serum software-synth bass beneath some tracks, including “In the Stars”.

Watt co-wrote “Side Effects” and “Back in Your Life”. The standard album’s release credits also list him as an engineer and on guitar, piano, synth, percussion and backing vocals. On “Beautiful Delilah”, he shares the mixing credit with Paul Lamalfa.

Richards’s description at the album launch: “When it’s not working, that’s when we bring in the referee.”

Awards, charts and the production debate

Hackney Diamonds won Best Rock Album at the 2025 Grammys, with Watt accepting on the band’s behalf. “Angry”, credited to Jagger, Richards and Watt, had been nominated for Best Rock Song in 2024.

Both albums topped the UK chart; Foreign Tongues gave the Stones their 15th UK Number 1 album. In the US, Hackney Diamonds reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200, while Foreign Tongues debuted at No. 7.

The Quietus’s JR Moores objected to the loudness and compression of Hackney Diamonds. On Foreign Tongues, Rolling Stone’s Kory Grow found parts overly slick while welcoming Watt’s guidance.

Andrew Watt and the Stones: quick answers