When The Who snarled, “I hope I die before I get old” on their 1965 hit ‘My Generation’, few would have expected them and their contemporaries to still be performing and releasing albums many years after they were eligible for their bus passes. But rock’n’roll is no longer the reserve of hip young gunslingers.
For many musicians, retirement is not an option and their advancing years have given us classic albums informed by wisdom and maturity. Here we look at some of the best albums made by musicians of an advanced age.
Best albums made by older musicians
11. Iggy Pop, Post Pop Depression (2016)
While Iggy Pop has released a couple of decent albums since – Free (2019) and Every Loser (2023) – Post Pop Depression remains the most intriguing set of the former Stooges’ singer’s late period.
The album neatly wrongfoots anyone expecting an album produced by Josh Homme (Queens Of The Stone Age) to reconnect Pop with his punk roots – instead, songs such as ‘Gardenia’, ‘American Valhalla’ and ‘Chocolate Drops’ find the then-68-year-old singer crooning over slinky, psych-rock grooves.
When the intensity is raised, as on ‘Vulture’, Homme and Pop opt for Mariachi spookiness rather than piling on the distortion.
Key track: 'Gardenia'
10. Joan Baez, Whistle Down The Wind (2018)
On the release of Whistle Down The Wind, the then-77-year-old Joan Baez told the New York Times that it would be her final album. So far, the folk singer and activist has remained true to her word, but Whistle Down The Wind showed no signs of her powers waning.
In fact, Baez’s slightly weathered vocals give these 10 covers a feeling of intimacy and gravitas, perfect for songs that tackle mortality and loss, such as Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan’s ‘Last Leaf’ and Josh Rotter’s ‘Be Of Good Heart.'
And the inclusion of modern protest songs such as Anohni’s ‘Another World’ and Zoe Mulford’s ‘The President Sang Amazing Grace’ showed Baez’s fighting spirit was as steely as ever.
Key track: 'The President Sang Amazing Grace'
9. Loretta Lynn, Van Lear Rose (2004)
Another country star who enjoyed a late-period renaissance, Loretta Lynn was 72 when her 42nd studio album, Van Lear Rose, was released.
Lynn wasn’t just one of the most successful country artists of all time, her straight-talking, gritty songs reflected the issues facing women back in the late ’60s and ’70s, a time when women’s voices were even more marginalised than today. Songs such as ‘The Pill’, ‘Fist City’ and ‘Rated X’ made her a true pioneer.
The White Stripes’ Jack White was a longtime fan, dedicating the band’s breakthrough 2001 album, White Blood Cells to Lynn. That led to White producing Van Lear Rose, a sassy, poignant and unflinchingly honest collection of songs that captures the essence of Lynn’s classic recordings while benefitting from White’s no-frills recording methods.
Key track: 'Portland Oregon'
8. Van Morrison, Remembering Now (2025)
Never write Van Morrison off. For years, it seemed as if the mystic spirit that sparked Astral Weeks, Veedon Fleece, Saint Dominic’s Preview and the rest was long gone. But in 2025, following a bunch of in-hindsight-rejuvenating covers albums, Morrison located the old magic on the double-album Remembering Now.
As the title implies, this is a man communing with his past, as on the mesmerising sweep of the closing eight-minute epic ‘Stretching Out’, but using it to find fresh inspiration. "This is where it all has just begun again… this is who I am," he sings on the spellbinding title track – what took you so long Van?
Key track: 'Stomping Ground'
7. Paul McCartney, McCartney III (2020)
The worldwide pandemic also inspired Paul McCartney to record an entry in his series of self-titled, mostly solo albums. It had been 40 years since the synth-heavy art-pop of McCartney II, but McCartney III was emphatic proof that the former Beatle’s sense of musical curiosity remains undimmed.
Over the course of the album McCartney serves up melodically dextrous, bouncy power-pop (‘Find My Way’, ‘Seize The Day’), round-the-campfire acoustic gems (‘Pretty Boys’, ‘The Kiss Of Venus’, ‘When Winter Comes’), lascivious rockers (‘Slidin’’, ‘Deep Down’), and even a future R&B epic (‘Deep Deep Feeling’). McCartney was 78 on its 18 December 2020 release and, with new album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane on the horizon, shows no sign of stopping.
Key Track: 'Deep Deep Feeling'
6. Mavis Staples, If All I Was Was Black (2017)
The owner of one of the great voices in American music, Mavis Staples came to prominence singing with her family group, The Staple Singers. They originally sang spiritual gospel but would later embrace soul and R&B, becoming a pivotal voice in the civil rights movement.
Mavis’ 2017 album, If All I Was Was Black – released when she was 78 years old – showed that her fire burned as strong as ever with 11 songs that tackled racism and injustice in modern America.
Throughout her career, Staples’ abiding message has been one of hope and understanding. Here, she added righteous anger, making for a vital listen – and 2025’s Sad And Beautiful World showed she’s still doing it.
Key track: 'If All I Was Was Black'
5. Johnny Cash, American III – Solitary Man (2000)
The late ’70s and ‘80s were a struggle for country great Johnny Cash. His solo albums struggled for attention as he attempted to negotiate changes in musical fashions.
Still, that unmistakeable voice remained and come the ’90s he recorded a series of stripped-back albums with Rick Rubin that saw Cash win over a new generation of fans. American III was released when Cash was 68 and in deteriorating health – he’d been hospitalised with pneumonia prior to recording sessions.
Rubin recognised the power of Cash’s weathered vocals and placed them front and centre on well-chosen songs from modern artists (Will Oldham’s ‘I See A Darkness’, U2’s ‘One’, Nick Cave’s ‘The Mercy Seat’) and new takes on Cash originals (‘Before My Time’, ‘Country Trash’) with emotionally draining results.
Key track: 'I See A Darkness'
4. Paul Simon, Seven Psalms (2023)
Singer-songwriter Paul Simon’s third act has given us the underrated So Beautiful Or So What (2011) and Stranger to Stranger (2016). His 15th solo studio album, Seven Psalms – a continuous 33-minute piece comprising seven movements and asking the biggest of questions – was another gem.
In terms of its sound – all nimble acoustic finger-picking – the album of Simon’s it most resembles is his 1965 solo debut, The Paul Simon Songbook, but these are songs steeped in the spirituality and wisdom that only age and experience can bring.
Key track: 'The Sacred Harp'
3. Leonard Cohen, You Want It Darker (2016)
Poet and singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen was another artist who said farewell with his work. You Want It Darker was his 14th studio album and was released on 21 October 2016, 17 days before his death at 82.
Cohen had written about mortality for much of his career, but here he tackled it head-on, pouring a lifetime’s worth of wit and wisdom into You Want It Darker’s meticulously crafted lyrics.
While Cohen was increasingly frail during recording (he told The New Yorker he was "ready to die"), his voice was more resonant and authoritative than ever, bringing out fathomless depths in his lyrics.
His son, Adam Cohen, handled the production and favoured a spare and subtle sound, which complemented that voice perfectly.
Key track: 'Treaty'
2. Bob Dylan, Rough And Rowdy Ways (2020)
New Bob Dylan material is always going to be big news. But when the songwriting great released “Murder Most Foul” to a world coming to terms with a global pandemic, his fans were staggered.
Here was a stunning near-17-minute song poem in which Dylan uses the assassination of John F Kennedy as a jumping-off point for a meditation on the power of art at a time of collective trauma.
It was Dylan’s first original material for eight years and was swiftly followed by Rough And Rowdy Ways, the then-79-year-old’s 39th studio album. His muse was as strong as ever on a collection that dealt with the big issues – love, death, religion, the afterlife, the purpose of art.
It was a critical and commercial hit, voted among the albums of the year by most publications and giving Dylan a worldwide No 1.
Key track: 'Key West (Philosopher Pirate)'
1. David Bowie, Blackstar (2016)
While David Bowie had spent his career confounding expectations, the biggest shock came at the end. Bowie’s 26th studio album, Blackstar, was released on 8 January 2016, his 69th birthday and just two days before he died.
Bowie recorded Blackstar during top-secret sessions in New York City – he was suffering from liver cancer and knew that he was making his final artistic statement. He enlisted a crack band featuring the city’s most respected jazz players and made some of the most adventurous music of his career.
In the wake of his death, Blackstar topped charts worldwide, even becoming Bowie’s first No 1 album in the United States. He’d said goodbye to the world on his own terms, with an album every bit as daring, uncompromising and moving as his best work.
Key track: 'I Can't Give Everything Away'
All photos Getty Images
Top image Bob Dylan performs as part of a double bill with Neil Young at Hyde Park on July 12, 2019 in London, England
