Reggae great Big Youth makes a rare return to the mic for a rendition of Bo Diddley’s “Gunslinger” on the latest cut off the upcoming Red, Gold, Green & Blue compilation, the first release from Zak Starkey’s Trojan Jamaica label.
On “Gunslinger,” Big Youth, the deejay and toastmaster responsible for Seventies classics like Dreadlocks Dread and Natty Cultural Dread, teams with the renowned Sly & Robbie, Studio One guitar great Ernest Ranglin and producer Youth for their version of Rob Jevons’ Morricone-esque remix of the Diddley song.
As Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr and drummer for the Who, recently told Rolling Stone, the Trojan Jamaica was born after the drummer and his Sshh bandmate Sharna “Sshh” Liguz teamed with Eddie Vedder and a slew of reggae legends to record a cover of Bob Marley’s “Get Up Stand Up.” The rendition earned Starkey and Liguz an invitation to perform at the Peter Tosh Museum and, ultimately, the pair decided to launch a record label.
