Keith Richards reveals the “hidden genius” behind Tom Waits’ songwriting

Keith Richards has revealed that the “hidden genius” behind Tom Wait’s songwriting is, in fact, his wife Kathleen.

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In a new interview with Uncut, the Rolling Stones guitarist and co-songwriter expresses his love for Waits’ songwriting, before making the revelation.

“He works a lot with Kathleen, his old lady, and she has a lot to do with it,” Richards explains. “Kathleen is a very important part of what he does. They are a tight couple. I think he only ever really wrote with Kathleen – and me. I only ever found that out after the fact and I was incredibly humbled by that.”

“They are a hell of a duo to break into, man! She is a hidden genius,” he continues. “What a great thing for a couple to be able to do that. I can only think of one other married couple who did that, and that is Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, who wrote all those great songs for the Everly Brothers. Tom and Kathleen remind me of them, actually. In a way what they do is a very traditional thing.”

In more Tom Waits news, NME recently reported that he has supposedly made his return to writing. The news came from Waits’ longtime music agent Paul Charles in memoir Adventures in Wonderland.

“He did a bit of recording, and then he basically got distracted by the movie world for a while. The news is that he’s started writing again. We’ve all got our fingers crossed for another return visit.”

Tom Waits’ most recent full-length album, Bad as Me, arrived in 2011, and featured tracks like Back in the Crowd and Hell Broke Luce.