Aykroyd writes and narrates the Audible Original “Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude,” which starts with him meeting Belushi one freezing night in Toronto in 1973 and takes us to today, with gigs still lining up. The documentary drops Thursday.
The shades are on, the skinny tie is knotted and the fedora is perched just so — Dan Aykroyd is ready to look back.
The actor-comedian is revving up the Bluesmobile to reminisce about the years he teamed up with John Belushi as the Blues Brothers, taking Hollywood and the Billboard charts by storm.
Aykroyd writes and narrates the Audible Original “Blues Brothers: The Arc of Gratitude,” which starts with him meeting Belushi one freezing night in Toronto in 1973 and takes us to today, with gigs still lining up. The documentary drops Thursday.
“It’s cool to keep doing it after 40-some years,” Aykroyd says from his summer home in Canada. “It’s because it’s based on the honesty of African American culture and the music and two white guys who just loved it so much that we had to emulate it and do it in this way.”
The documentary traces their appearances on “SNL” and their breakthrough album “Briefcase Full of Blues” to the 1980 movie and its hit soundtrack, the death of Belushi and Aykroyd’s commitment to carry on the tradition with a new partner — Belushi’s brother, Jim — with the creation of House of Blues nightclubs and the “Blues Brothers 2000” movie sequel.
The two-hour lookback includes interviews with Jim Belushi, band leader Paul Shaffer, singer Curtis Salgado, director John Landis, drummer Steve Jordan, widow Judy Belushi Pisano, saxophonist Lou Marini and more, as well as a previously unheard interview with John Belushi himself.
