Birthday boy Rod Stewart to give original songs "a rest," plans big band and country projects

Starting in 2013, Rod Stewart has been on a songwriting roll that has seen him release multiple albums full of original songs, including his latest one, 2021's The Tears of Hercules. But Rod says he's now ready to put his own pen down for a bit and go back to covering classic tunes.

Asked if he spent lockdown writing more songs for a follow-up to The Tears of Hercules, Rod -- who turns 77 today -- tells ABC Audio, "No, no, no, I think I'm gonna give it a rest now, 'cause I made, I didn't realize, four albums in eight years! You know...that's a lot of songs. I don't wanna, you know, flood the market with my songs."

Instead, Rod says he's working on not one but two albums that will see him singing other people's songs.

"I'm making a big band album at the moment of all the great songs from the '40s to follow on from The Great American Songbook," he says, referring to his successful string of standards albums. "And I'm also going to put a country album together and make it duets with all female duettees."

Asked if he could reveal which women might be joining him for those duets, Rod laughs and says, "Not yet, it's much too early -- but they're all lined up!"

The Tears of Hercules features the single "One More Time."  Rod is scheduled to kick off an Australian tour in March, proceeded by two shows in Florida next month. He'll return to Las Vegas in May for his ongoing residency at Caesars Palace.  His 2022 schedule also includes a late-summer North American tour with Cheap Trick and a fall U.K. trek. Of course, all these plans might be upended by COVID, so stay tuned.

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