Billy Preston is in his room on the top floor of the Americana Hotel in New York, and the cat is wasted. He flew back from Pittsburgh this morning, having been in town the day before for a show in Newark. And merely days before the Newark show, Preston had returned from session work with the Rolling Stones in Germany. It seems Jagger had called Preston to come back to the continent, a few days after he’d returned to Los Angeles from an extended European tour with the Stones. Got that? Like I said, the man is tired, but he’s ready to talk nonetheless.

“The sessions in Germany sounded good, man. We did cover versions of ‘Ain’t Too Proud to Beg’ and ‘Drift Away.’ ”