Rod Stewart Bares His Soul On New Album

Rod Stewart has put The Great American Songbook behind him. But on October 27, the British rocker will release Soulbook, a collection of classic Sixties and Seventies soul favorites.

“This is the album I’ve waited my whole lifetime to record,” says Rod. “These are the songs that I’ve danced to, made love to, cried to and yes, even fell on the floor to as a young man in the infancy of my career. These songs and singers were the oxygen that fueled my passion to sing. When I was a skinny, cocky, all-mouth and trousers teenager living in North London without two pennies to rub together, I discovered the artistry of Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, James Brown, The Temptations, The Four Tops and so many more. They were my Gods and my heroes.”

Soulbook features a duet with Mary J. Blige on the Stylistics’ “You Make Me Feel Brand New,” and “Let It Be Me,” which finds Stewart and Jennifer Hudson emulating Jerry Butler and Betty Everett. Smokey Robinson lends a hand on “Tracks Of My Tears,” and Stevie Wonder blows his harmonica on a version of his own 1969 hit “My Cherie Amour.”

The album was engineered in part by Al Schmitt, Sam Cooke’s original producer/engineer, and gets its “soul power” from Motown musicians Bob Babbitt and George Bohannen, along with Memphis legends Willy Mitchell, Charles Hodges, Wayne Jackson and Jack Hale.

In 2006, Stewart released Still The Same, Great Rock Classics of Our Time, his first rock album in more than eight years.

Soulbook – Track Listing

“It’s The Same Old Song”

“My Cherie Amour” (Featuring Stevie Wonder)

“You Make Me Feel Brand New” (Duet with Mary J. Blige”)

“(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher”

“Tracks Of My Tears” (Featuring Smokey Robinson”)

“Let It Be Me” (Duet with Jennifer Hudson”)

“Rainy Night In Georgia”

“What Becomes Of The Broken Hearted”

“Love Train”

“You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me”

“Wonderful World”

“If You Don’t Know Me By Now”

“Just My Imagination”