Pitchfork reports that the Waterboys have teamed up with Fiona Apple, Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and other artists to make a concept album about the late, great actor Dennis Hopper. Life, Death and Dennis Hopper is out April 4 via Sun Records and will be led by the single “Hopper’s on Top (Genius)” which comes out Friday, January 10, 2025.

As the Waterboys’ Mike Scott said in a press release, “The arc of his life was the story of our times. He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without a Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of Pop Art with the young Andy Warhol. He was part of the counterculture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the ‘60s. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.” The record, Scott added, concerns not only Hopper’s life but also “the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet earth.”

Other guests on the follow-up to 2022’s All Souls Hill include Sugarfoot, Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith, Kathy Valentine of the Go-Go’s, Patti Palladin, Barny Fletcher and Anana Kaye.

For the last couple of years, Fiona Apple has been covering songs such as “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World,” “Here We Have Idaho” and “Lately” for a Don Heffington tribute album. Apple has also been releasing her own singles such as “Where The Shadows Lie” and “All In Good Time” with Iron & Wine. Her 2020 album, Fetch the Bolt Cutters, is available for purchase on her website.

Bruce Springsteen has had a memorable year, with performances alongside Maggie Rogers and Zach Bryan and Tom Morello and a tribute cover for Shane MacGowan. Springsteen was forced to postpone several European shows when he encountered vocal issues on tour this year. Springsteen also performed a particularly moving rendition of “Long Walk Home” not long after the results of the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election reached the public.

Steve Earle will be making an appearance at the 2025 Outlaw Country Cruise alongside Old Crow Medicine Show, Lucinda Williams and more. Earle also covered Tom Petty’s “Yer So Bad” back in May.

Any upcoming information on the release of Life, Death and Dennis Hopper can be found on the Waterboys’ website.

Life, Death and Dennis Hopper tracklist

1. Kansas [feat. Steve Earle]
2. Hollywood ‘55
3. Live in the Moment, Baby
4. Brooke / 1712 North Crescent Heights
5. Andy (A Guy Like You)
6. The Tourist [feat. Barny Fletcher]
7. Freaks on Wheels
8. Blues for Terry Southern
9. Memories of Monterey
10. Riding Down to Mardi Gras
11. Hopper’s on Top (Genius)
12. Transcendental Peruvian Blues
13. Michelle (Always Stay)
14. Freakout at the Mud Palace
15. Daria
16. Ten Years Gone [feat. Bruce Springsteen]
17. Letter From an Unknown Girlfriend [feat. Fiona Apple]
18. Rock Bottom
19. I Don’t Know How I Made It [feat. Taylor Goldsmith]
20. Frank (Let’s Fu*k)
21. Katherine [feat. Anana Kaye]
22. Everybody Loves Dennis Hopper
23. Golf, They Say
24. Venice, California (Victoria) / The Passing of Hopper
25. Aftermath