Playing For Change has released a new Song Around The World version of The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm,” honoring the band’s 60th anniversary with a global collaboration featuring original members John Densmore and Robby Krieger alongside the legendary vocals of Jim Morrison and a tribute to Ray Manzarek. Joined by over 20 musicians and dancers from eight countries, the performance reimagines one of rock’s most haunting anthems through the lens of unity and musical connection, opening with the Lakota Drum Group grounding the song in ancestral rhythm before expanding into something genuinely moving.
The collaboration brings together magnetic performances from Lukas and Micah Nelson, Sierra Ferrell, and Rami Jaffee of the Foo Fighters, among many others. “Riders on the Storm” carries particular weight as a starting point. Released in June 1971 on ‘L.A. Woman,’ it was the last song recorded by all four original Doors members and the final single released before Jim Morrison died in Paris just weeks later. Their longtime producer Paul Rothchild famously walked out of the sessions, refusing to produce the album after calling the track “cocktail music.” The band co-produced ‘L.A. Woman’ with engineer Bruce Botnick, resulting in a rawer, bluesier sound that has only deepened the song’s legacy over six decades.
The release also marks a full-circle moment for Playing For Change Foundation, as the collaboration will help support their first music program established in America, developed in partnership with Indigenous-led non-profit First Peoples Fund. The program uplifts Indigenous communities and ensures that the rhythms, stories, and voices that open this performance continue to inspire well beyond it.