ROD RETURNS

Rod Stewart returns to songwriting on his 31st studio album, The Tears of Hercules, which Rhino will issue on 11/12. A video for first single “One More Time” was released today.

Stewart wrote nine of the 12 songs on The Tears of Hercules, his fourth new album of original songs since 2013. In the liner notes, he writes, “I’ve never said this before about any previous efforts, but I believe this is by far my best album in many a year.”

The Arnold Stiefel-managed Stewart again enlisted keyboardist/songwriter Kevin Savigar as co-producer (he handled the gig on Stewart’s last three studio albums).

Among the covers are Stewart’s take on Soul Brother Six’s “Some Kind of Wonderful” and Johnny Cash’s “These Are My People.”

Stewart returns to Las Vegas 10/6 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of his residency, Rod Stewart: The Hits, playing nine shows at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace through 10/23.

His 19-date North American Tour will start on 7/1 in Fort Worth, Texas; only East Coast dates have been announced.