Carlos Santana is hard at work on the follow-up to his 1999 mega-seller Supernatural, but Matchbox Twenty singer Rob Thomas-who co-wrote and sang on that album’s Grammy-winning single, “Smooth”-says the guitar legend is taking a different path on this outing.
Thomas, who’s helping Santana write a couple of songs for the album, said that rather than featuring a bunch of guest singers as Supernatural did, the new album will focus more on the Santana band.
“I can’t imagine him doing the exact same thing again,” he says. “He has two unbelievably talented vocalists that are with his band, a guy named Andy Vargas and a guy named Tony Lindsey-a black guy and a Spanish guy-and I think that they’re gonna be his vocalists. Because between the two of them, they’re both so unique to each other, you know, everything from the total mariachi style to the total soulful style, they’ve got it covered. So I think that they’re just gonna use them, which is nice because I know them and so, you know, any of the writing I’ve been doing has kinda been geared towards them.”
The new Santana album is expected for release in 2002. Thomas, meanwhile, also co-wrote and sang on “Visions Of Paradise,” the opening track of the new solo album from Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, titled Goddess In The Doorway.
