At 58, George Thorogood is thinking about the end of his career. Talking to Spinner about his new album, 'The Dirty Dozen,' which mixes new material with some rarities, Thorogood says, "That's it, I'm going out with style, baby." Does that mean this is the farewell album? "You never know, it might be," he says. "You never know how long you're gonna live. You don't know what the world's going to be. I'm just saying if that is it, then I finished on a high note."

Despite his age, Thorogood admits that now that he sees some of his peers keeping at it, he's not ready to hang up his guitar just yet. "I kind of look at Mick Jagger as the barometer of how long I'm gonna go," he says. "He's about seven or eight years older than me, and Eric Clapton's five years older than me. look at those guys and I say, 'Well, they're still going, which means I have no right to retire.' Mick Jagger's gonna be 66."

An astute observer of rock, Thorogood has watched how age has affected or failed to change some of his peers. "That kind of thing is not gonna affect B.B. King because he's the same act at 80 that he did at 40," Thorogood says. "It's not gonna affect Rod Stewart really because Rod Stewart was a cabaret balladeer at 22, so he's gonna be up there in a cane and top hat, martini in his hand, at 67. That's gonna work for him. For ass-kickers like Peter Wolf and Mick Jagger, we'll have to wait and see."

And before 'Lonesome' George thinks of hanging 'em up, he admits some of his heroes are just getting better with age. "I go to see Tom Jones all the time. Man, he just gets better and better every time I see him. So he's a case in point, long live the king of the lounge lizard," he says. "Eric Clapton is better now than he ever was and Jeff Beck is just out of this world, so is Carlos Santana."

'The Dirty Dozen' is in stores July 28.