Credit: Rankin
Rod Stewart‘s new album, Blood Red Roses, just came out on Friday, but the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer reveals that his next album is already in the works.
Speaking to Billboard, Stewart says, “I have to tell you, we’ve already started on the next album. It will be totally different from the last three.”
Asked why it’ll be different, Rod is cagey, saying, “Top secret…I’ve done rock and roll for so long. I love it, but it’s time to break away.”
OK, so if it’s not rock ‘n’ roll, what is it? “It’s not a jazz album, it’s not a country album, it’s not a blues album,” he teases.
Hmm…maybe we should start preparing ourselves for Stewart’s reggae album. Or maybe he’ll do an album of traditional English folk ballads. Whatever it is, Rod says it’ll be revealed next year about this time.
Speaking of folk ballads, Stewart tells Billboard that BBC Radio in the U.K. won’t allow him to sing one of his favorite songs from Blood Red Roses — “Grace” — on its airwaves, because of it has “Irish, anti-English overtones.” Not only that, but he claims that BBC Radio also wouldn’t allow him to sing his 1976 hit “The Killing of Georgie,” because its topic — the murder of his gay friend — is “too controversial.”
“This was 1976, and now we’re in 2018,” Stewart says. “I thought it would be OK now…unbelievable.”
In the interview, Rod also addresses, once again, the topic of retirement, because his friend Elton John is currently on a farewell tour.
“All good things must end,” he says. “Not for me, not yet. I’m not even thinking about it.”
Stewart’s next batch of North American dates start October 14 in St. Paul, Minnesota.
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