Van Morrison and Billy Gibbons to Guest on New Buddy Guy Album

Buddy Guy invited a few friends to join him in the studio for his new album, Born to Play Guitar.

The new set, Guy's 28th studio effort, arrives on the heels of 2013's Rhythm & Blues, a double-disc LP that became his fourth to hit No. 1 on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart. This time out, Guy reunited with producer Tom Hambridge and invited Van Morrison, Billy Gibbons and Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson to lend support.

ABC News Radio reports that Morrison contributes vocals to "Flesh & Bone," a track described as "a tribute to the recently deceased blues great B.B. King," while Gibbons adds guitar to a song titled "Wear You Out." You can watch Guy and Gibbons teaming up for a performance of "Garbage Man Blues" at the 2008 Montreux Festival in the video above.

In other Gibbons news, Billboard premiered the song "The Drifter," the title track from veteran Texas keyboard player (and occasional ZZ Top sideman) Mike Flanigin's solo debut. Flanigin, who's reportedly contributing to Gibbons' upcoming solo album and playing in Gibbons' touring band this fall, turned to the guitar legend to guest on "The Drifter," a cover of the Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown classic.

"I thought, 'Who would do 'The Drifter' better than Billy Gibbons?' It was just a perfect match. With that song you have to be so authentic, and I just couldn't imagine hardly anyone else being able to pull it off," Flanigin told Billboard. "Growing up I was the biggest ZZ Top fan, and I never could've imagined we'd be friends. ... We went in it and cut it, and as soon as he opened his mouth and started that spoken-word introduction, it gave me goosebumps."

The Drifter is due out Aug. 21. Check out the title track below.

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