New Steve Cropper song released featuring Brian May and Billy Gibbons

Steve Cropper & The Midnight Hour have released “My Angels Are Calling,” featuring Queen guitarist Brian May on lead vocals and ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons on guitar.

The soulful ballad appears on Cropper’s posthumous album, Watching The Tide, which is out now via Provogue/Artone Label Group. The album was released following Cropper’s death in December 2025 at age 84.

“My Angels Are Calling” brings together Cropper, May and Gibbons, with May also writing the lyrics and co-writing the music. The song opens with the sound of waves before May takes over on vocals. Near the end of the track, May calls out, “Go Billy!” before Gibbons delivers the closing guitar solo.

“Brian is singing from Steve’s point of view,” producer Jon Tiven said of the song. “Looking back over his life and his road. It’s very powerful.”

May reflected on the collaboration and how the song changed following Cropper’s death.

“We were all incredibly sad at Steve´s passing, and I was already collaborating with Steve and his band on a track for this album. The backing track which Jon Tiven, producer of the album and a very old friend of mine, sent me includes Steve Cropper´s unmistakable riff in a style which has influenced us all massively over the years. As soon as Steve was gone, I could hear something different in my head – a tribute to Cropper himself. The way I saw it, I wanted to try to step into his mind at the moment when he knew it was time to move on. So in the track I´m attempting to speak with his voice, and I felt that spiritually he would find a way of bringing his usual optimism into play. In the song, the angels are calling, and it seems to me that, along with being grateful for his wonderful life, he would imagine heaven to be something like going back to sitting on the dock of the bay, a moment in time that he shared with Otis Redding creating that immortal hit, ‘Dock of the Bay’. Having Billy Gibbons play a spectacular solo for me is the final wonderful bonus to this experience. The whole band did a terrific job, and I´m very proud to be a part of it.”

The title Watching The Tide references one of the defining songs of Cropper’s career, Otis Redding’s 1967 classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” which Cropper co-wrote with Redding.

Cropper worked on the album with Tiven and Midnight Hour vocalist Roger C. Reale. Recording took place at Nashville’s historic RCA Studio C, with a band that included vocalist Ana Grosh, drummer Nioshi Jackson and engineer Eddie Gore on keyboards and percussion.

The album also features guest appearances from Eric Clapton and The Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood.

Wood contributes slide guitar to “Until Now.” According to Tiven, Wood quickly agreed to participate after hearing about the project.

“Ronnie Wood got back to me about 10 minutes after I sent off my email: ‘Oh, this looks like a lot of fun. I’ll jump in.’”

Clapton appears on “Ticket First,” the first song released from Watching The Tide. Tiven recalled telling Clapton after hearing his contribution, “Man, you just turned that song inside-out – I think we’re gonna have to give you a writer’s credit.”

Clapton responded, “Well, anything to get my name next to Steve Cropper’s…”

Cropper died on December 3, 2025. One of the most influential guitarists and songwriters in American music, he was a central figure in the sound of Stax Records as a member of Booker T. & the M.G.’s and as a session musician, songwriter and producer.

His credits included work with Redding, Wilson Pickett, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd and numerous other artists. In addition to co-writing “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay,” Cropper co-wrote classics including “In the Midnight Hour,” “Knock on Wood” and “Green Onions.”