Banga

Personnel: Patti Smith (vocals); Johnny Depp (guitar); Lenny Kaye (acoustic guitar, electric guitar); Luca Lanzi (acoustic guitar); Riccardo Dellocchio (steel guitar); Andreas Petermann (violin); Sauro Lanzi (accordion); Tony Shanahan (keyboards); Jay Dee Daugherty (drums); Fabrizio Morganti (percussion).
Audio Mixer: Stewart Lerman.
Recording information: Arezzo, Italy; Electric Lady Studios, New York, NY; Hobo Sound, Hoboken, NJ.
Photographers: Steven Sebring; Patti Smith.
Banga, Patti Smith's eleventh studio album, and her first in eight years, contains a dozen new tracks recorded with her longtime group of Lenny Kaye, Tony Shanahan, and Jay Dee Daugherty, along with guests Tom Verlaine, her children Jesse and Jackson, and Jack Petruzzelli. Among the album's selections are a ballad written in memory of Amy Winehouse ("This Is the Girl"), an exploratory, partly improvised jam about Amerigo Vespucci's journey to North America("Amerigo"), a birthday song for actor Johnny Depp ("Nine"), and a meditation on art and culture ("Constantine's Dream").