Peter Buck releases Solo album, Tomorrow!

Former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck has a new solo album, released on October 5th. The record features Corin Tucker of Sleater-Kinney and the Corin Tucker Band, Jenny Conley of The Decemberists, Patti Smith guitarist Lenny Kaye and several other friends and musicians Buck has worked with over the years.

From the official R.E.M. HQ website:

"I know I said for years that I would never make a solo record. It was never a plan or a desire but it just kind of happened. When REM called it a day I'd spent the last 3 months on my back with a semi-crippling injury unable to play guitar. With my band gone and unable to use the fingers on my right hand, I started writing lyrics just to have something creative to do. The lyrics turned into songs and the songs turned into what felt like a possible album, so I called some of my favorite musicians, Scott, Mike, Bill, Lenny Kaye, Corin Tucker, Jenny Conlee, and booked studio time."

Buck has written most of lyrics on the album but vocal duties go elsewhere; however he still feels it is his solo record.

Buck is also quite dismissive about the project: "At this point it is a limited edition of 2,000 vinyl only. As for the future I may do some performances, but this is not a career, it is something I am doing for fun."

Will the album be available digitally? Who knows. I hope so.

“If I had wanted to make it a CD, the CD would’ve been out three months ago,” he said, “but vinyl is what I want to do for right now. It’s a record—like all records, people will have to look for it, I guess. It’s not gonna be in Walmart. We’ll see about the digital."

Ok so he's being humble about it all but he was (is) the guitarist in R.E.M. While we all appreciate his artistic integrity, he could reach a huge audience. 2000 copies? Vinyl? Come on, at least give us a digital listen, even for a limited time.