Rock of ages: The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Debbie Harry and 12 other classic acts still going strong

Willie Nelson – 90

It seems American country singer and activist Willie Nelson will always be on the road. He began his career in 1956, released his debut album, ... And Then I Wrote, in 1962, delivered his most recent album, Bluegrass, about a month ago, and shows no signs of retiring from either recording or touring. He is travelling around the US as part of the Outlaw Festival, and has tour dates – and, no doubt, another album – lined up for 2024.

Shirley Collins – 88

Following the release of Amaranth, in 1976, we had to wait almost 40 years for Shirley Collins, a revered figure in UK folk circles, to announce her next studio album, Lodestar. Since then she has released two more albums under her name, the most recent being this year’s Archangel Hill (“a worthy chapter in her story,” noted this paper’s reviewer).

Peggy Seeger – 88

With a family background steeped in folklore and activism, what else could Peggy Seeger do except become a politically motivated songwriter? She released her debut album, Folksongs of Courting and Complaint, in 1955 and her most recent, The First Farewell, in 2021. As that title suggests, she isn’t finished with recording or touring just yet. “I am a singer of folk songs,” she told The Irish Times last year. “I sing them as best as I can myself, with no histrionics. I just sing them straight.”

Judy Collins – 84

Last year Judy Collins released Spellbound, her first full album of original material in a career of 60-plus years. Like Peggy Seeger and Shirley Collins, entering her ninth decade has sparked a creative revitalisation. And there seems to be no stopping her: this month Collins tours the UK and Europe, then returns to the United States, where she has concert dates into early 2024.

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Boby Dylan – 82

How long will the Neverending Tour continue? It seems likely that Bob Dylan isn’t going to give up the ghost just yet. This year he released Shadow Kingdom, featuring new recordings of 13 songs from his early career; a couple of years ago he released Rough and Rowdy Ways (“Dylan is on a roll, menacing, playful,” wrote this paper’s reviewer; “woe betide those who get in his way”). Performing remains key for Dylan, as shown by his North American shows in October, November and beyond (and not forgetting his recent surprise appearance on September 23rd at Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid).

John Cale – 81

It’s a long way from a Welsh mining town to the centre of New York’s avant-garde, but John Cale has been there and back – as a short-lived member of Velvet Underground, as a producer and as an acclaimed solo artist – in a career that isn’t slowing down, either operationally or creatively. His latest album, Mercy, came out in January this year; Cale says he has plenty more songs waiting to be released.

Paul McCartney – 81

As one of the world’s wealthiest musicians, Paul McCartney doesn’t need to make music to keep the bailiffs from the door. The former Beatles makes music because it’s in his DNA. He remains exceptionally busy – he concluded his Got Back tour last year with a headline appearance at Glastonbury (a week after his 80th birthday) and earlier this year published his photography book, 1964: Eyes of the Storm. Next month he plays stadium shows in Mexico City and in December tours South America. Don’t be too surprised to see him in Ireland next year.

Paul Simon – 81

He has lost hearing in his left ear, and in 2018 decided to retire from touring, but Paul Simon continues to release albums, the latest of which is this year’s serene, acoustic Seven Psalms (“a solitary journey, albeit one that intrigues even the sceptical”, noted this paper’s reviewer). Simon has made few live appearances over the past five years but continues to work on new music that will be released in 2024. In the meantime, the documentary In Restless Dreams, which focuses on his career with Art Garfunkel, and subsequent solo years, will be on general release before the end of the year.

Roger Waters – 80

The Pink Floyd founder continues to cause ructions with his political views and his ongoing disputes with his band’s former guitarist David Gilmour, but he is bang in the middle of music news this month with his new version of a rock-music classic: The Dark Side of the Moon Redux. It’s not meant to replace the original, he says, but to “remember it and as an adjunct to it”.

The Rolling Stones – 80, 79, 76

The Glimmer Twins, aka Mick Jagger, who is now 80, and Keith Richards, who is 79, along with the 76-year-old Ronnie Wood, return to the rock’n’roll fray next week with the release of the Rolling Stones’ new studio album, Hackney Diamonds (which includes the band’s original bass player, Bill Wyman, who is now 86). A world tour next year is very much on the cards, so, no, there won’t be any men’s sheds activities lined up just yet.

[ The Rolling Stones on Hackney Diamonds: ‘We wouldn’t have put this album out if we hadn’t really liked it’ ]

Joni Mitchell – 79

The doyenne of singer-songwriters turns 80 next month. Would any of Joni Mitchell’s fans, who span the world and the generations, ever have thought that she would be able to perform again after the rupture of a brain aneurysm in 2015? Admittedly, she was helped in her unannounced appearance at last year’s Newport Festival and at a headline show in June of this year, at Washington State’s Gorge Amphitheatre, by close friends and associates. Whether she will write any more new songs remains to be seen – Mitchell has said she’s “a painter derailed by circumstance” – but it’s life-affirming, nonetheless, to see and hear her sing again.

Debbie Harry – 78

You wouldn’t think it, but Debbie Harry was almost 30 when she cofounded Blondie. She has been an influential figure in punk-pop ever since, mostly through touring, which takes up most of Blondie’s time – the band supported Sting at his Malahide Castle show in June, and recently headlined a tour of the US west coast. A new album, the follow-up to 2017′s Pollinator, is scheduled for release in 2024.

Van Morrison – 78

In the past three years Van Morrison has released four albums, so there is clearly no let-up in Morrison’s prolificacy. (The most recent, Beyond Words: Instrumental, came out on Orangefield Records, an online store dedicated to issuing archival material from the 1970s onwards.) Concerts are rare enough these days, however (although he did play the 3Olympia in Dublin in February), with the man preferring to set up shop more often in the supper-club confines of Belfast’s Europa Hotel than in larger venues.

Dolly Parton – 77

Dolly Parton is one of the great songwriters of her generation, with numerous pages of the country-music songbook bearing her name – she has written more than 3,000 songs. She is also the only name on this list to have her own theme park (Dollywood) and dinner theatre venues (Dolly Parton Stampede), and is in talks to launch her own television network. In the past three years she has released three albums, the latest of which is the imminent Rockstar, which sees her cover Freebird by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Let It Be by The Beatles, Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin, Heart of Glass by Blondie and Purple Rain by Prince.

Elton John – 76

Is there any song Elton John released in the 1970s or 1980s that we can’t sing along to? The star, who has had more than 50 top-40 hits, headlined Glastonbury in June, then finally played the last concert of his Farewell Tour. Playing “the odd show”, as he puts it, seems very much on the cards, as does continuing to record.

Honourable mentions go to Dionne Warwick (82), Barbra Streisand (81), Andy Irvine (81), Roger Daltrey (79), Ray Davies (79), Gladys Knight (79), Diana Ross (79), Eric Clapton (78), John Fogarty (78), Rod Stewart (78), Pete Townshend (78), Christy Moore (78) and Patti Smith (76)