| Down the Road Wherever | |
| Type: | studio |
| Cover: | MarkKnopflerDownTheRoadWherever.png |
| Artist: | Mark Knopfler |
| Released: | 16 November 2018 |
| Recorded: | Summer 2017, January–February 2018. |
| Studio: | British Grove, Chiswick, West London |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Altamira |
| Prev Year: | 2016 |
| Next Title: | One Deep River |
| Next Year: | 2024 |
Down the Road Wherever is the ninth solo studio album by British singer-songwriter and guitarist Mark Knopfler, released on 16 November 2018 by British Grove Records via Virgin EMI in the UK and via Blue Note in the US.[1]
The album was announced in a press release, which called it a collection of "unhurriedly elegant new Knopfler songs inspired by a wide range of subjects, including his early days in Deptford with Dire Straits, a stray football fan lost in a strange town, the compulsion of a musician hitching home through the snow, and a man out of time in his local greasy spoon."[1] The 14 songs were also called "slow and elegant".[2]
Musicians who play on the album include Jim Cox and Guy Fletcher on keyboards, Nigel Hitchcock on saxophone, Glenn Worf on bass guitar, Danny Cummings on percussion and Ian Thomas on drums. Imelda May also provides backing vocals.
A music video for the first single, "Good on You Son", was released in September.[2]
Down the Road Wherever was made available in a variety of formats, including on CD, 2×LP and in a box set; the box set includes the preceding two formats as well as a 12-inch EP including four extra tracks.[3] The deluxe CD inserts two bonus tracks before the final standard edition track, "Matchstick Man". Lyrics for the 20th song, "Back in the Day", were released online and printed in the 2019 tourbook but the song was not released at the time. It finally saw the light of day in 2022 on the box set The Studio Albums 2009-2018, along with another unreleased song from the same sessions, "Precious Voice From Heaven".
Note: The CD version of The Studio Albums 2009-2018 includes the LP running order on CD, and all bonus tracks (including "Drovers' Road") are relegated to the bonus disc "Back In The Day". The LP version of the same box set adds "Drovers' Road", "Every Heart in the Room", "Don't Suck Me In" and "Sky and Water" to the original LP tracklist while "Rear View Mirror" and "Pale Imitation" are kept to the bonus LP.
Musicians
Additional musicians
Production
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[4] | 14 |
| French Albums (SNEP)[5] | 17 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[6] | 7 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[7] | 10 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[8] | 6 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[9] | 2 |
| Chart (2018) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[10] | 70 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[11] | 158 | |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[12] | 129 | |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] | 43 | |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[14] | 85 | |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 39 |
| Chart (2019) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[16] | 62 | |
| US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)[17] | 98 |