Off and on over 2011 and into 2012, Chris Cornell embarked on a tour unlike any the late Soundgarden frontman had done before. It was called the Songbook tour and captured the grunge icon at his most intimate and stripped-down, playing a selection of cuts from across his career, taking in all his varied groups and projects, on an acoustic guitar. After a lifetime of snarling frontman aggro as the face and voice – and what a voice – of Soundgarden, this was him operating at the other end of the scale.
He enjoyed the experience so much that, after the tour had concluded, he decided to write a whole album in that vein. Titled Higher Truth, it turns 10 today. It would turn out be Cornell’s final album, the singer committing suicide less than two years later.
