"We were thinking about adding piano to the track and a friend suggested we call Elton," recalls guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell. "I remember laughing and saying, 'Yeah, I'll get right on that.' But I decided it was worth trying and wrote Elton an email explaining what that song means to us—that it's a real, raw openhearted song for Layne. We sent him the track and got a call shortly after saying he thought it was beautiful and that he wanted to play on it. We were blown away. Elton John is a huge influence on me as a songwriter and having him on that song is an amazing honor for us."

"I've long been an admirer of Jerry Cantrell and when he asked me to play on 'Black Gives Way To Blue,' I was very flattered and couldn't resist," says John. "It was a great recording session with Alice In Chains for a beautiful song. "

About the collaboration, Cantrell says, "Elton was finishing his Red Piano run in Vegas, so we flew there and hung out for a few hours. Walking into a studio and seeing the sheet music for that song on Elton's piano made it meaningful on so many different levels. The whole experience was pretty magical."

BLACK GIVES WAY TO BLUE is Alice In Chains' first new studio release in more than 10 years. The quartet (guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell, drummer Sean Kinney, bassist Mike Inez and guitarist/vocalist William DuVall) recorded the album with producer Nick Raskulinecz (Rush, Foo Fighters) at Studio 606 in Northridge, CA and Henson Studios in Hollywood.

On August 22, band will join Tool and Linkin Park for the first-ever Epicenter show at the Fairplex in Pomona, CA, to be followed by a headlining tour set to kick off September 4th at the 9:30 Club in Washington,