Paul McCartney Walks Us Through Every Track on New Album, ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’

Thursday night (April 16), Paul McCartney gave a magical, mystery tour through his new solo album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, for 30 fans.

Hosted at producer Andrew Watt’s newly christened Diamond Dust studio in Sherman Oaks, McCartney and Watt described the making of the album track by track before playing each song. In between, an animated McCartney regaled the audience with stories about his fellow Beatles, before playing a handful of deeply nostalgic songs.

Overall, the album, which comes out May 29 on Capitol Records, is delightfully Beatle-esque in parts in terms of melodies, instrumentation, bold tempo and stylistic changes and, of course, McCartney’s vocals, which sound by turns sturdy and robust and then delicate and vulnerable. Watt stressed that for the most part (other than the strings and orchestration), McCartney played all the instruments on the album, including drums…though he got a very able assist from Ringo Starr on one track: “I said [to Watt], ‘Are you going to get Chad [Smith]?’ And he said, ‘Why don’t you have a go?’ And I did!”

“No one else can do that,” Watt said of McCartney’s multi-instrument prowess. A modest McCartney replied, “A few people can do it,” before taking a beat and cutely tilting his head and adding, “but not many.”

The superfans were shuttled from the Capitol Records Tower to the studio, and while McCartney’s presence hadn’t been promised, when the fans (and three journalists) entered the small room and saw two burgundy velvet chairs with three acoustic guitars lined up behind them, flanked by two large speaker stacks, anticipation rose that McCartney would definitely make an appearance.

Shortly before 7 p.m. PT., Watt, McCartney and McCartney’s wife, Nancy Shevell, entered the room, with McCartney miming playing the guitar. “We’re going to play the album and we’re going to explain how we made it,” McCartney said, adding, “Welcome my missus, Nancy.”

And that’s exactly what happened. For close to 90 minutes, a delightfully loquacious McCartney dived into the making of the album, starting with how he met the 35-year old Grammy-Award winning Watt, who has become the go-to producer for legendary artists, including the Rolling Stones, Elton John and the late Ozzy Osbourne, after producing such acts as Justin Bieber, Post Malone and Miley Cyrus.

McCartney met Watt for a “cup of tea,” but they immediately began noodling around and trading licks and “I’m like, ‘okay, we’re going to work together,” McCartney said. “Sometimes, I like to find a crazy chord and [find] maybe that will inspire me,” he said, grabbing an acoustic guitar from behind him to replicate the chord. The small audience burst into applause, leading McCartney to joke, “it wasn’t that good.” From there, they came up with the opening track and began working on the album, which was recorded in Los Angeles and England.

“When I first met Andrew, I thought, ‘He’s a bit pushy,’” McCartney said. “And he is, but that’s what you want in a producer. You don’t want a shrinking violet.”

Below are the songs on the album, McCartney’s first solo set since 2020, with some of his comments on each. As every tune played, McCartney mouthed almost every word or would sometimes play air drums, and Watt, who smartly ceded the floor to McCartney, would often play air guitar.