Aaron Neville’s ‘Apache’ Road Trip

Aaron Neville’s name will be in lights this year when he embarks on a headlining tour beginning with two nights in Chicago in July. Stops include Austin, Cincinnati, Reno and a birthday celebration at New York’s famed Apollo Theatre.

Neville, who turned 75 in January, has a new album for you. Apache arrives July 15 via Tell It Records and Kobalt Label Services. Along with commemorating Neville’s b-day, the disc marks the 50th anniversary of his first No. 1 single, “Tell It Like It Is.”

The lead track from Apache, “Be Your Man,” premiered via that bastion of music reporting, The Wall Street Journal. You can listen to it here.

Recorded at Brooklyn’s Studio G, Apache was produced by Grammy Award-winner artist / producer Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce, Tedeschi Trucks Band).

“It brought out another side of me; people were used to me doing a lot of ballads, but this is more gritty, and some of it has the New Orleans feel,” Neville said. “One song talks about my roots, ‘Stompin’ Ground.’ It names a lot of real people that were in my life at different points in time. Another one, ‘Orchid In The Storm,’ was inspired by my wife Sarah; she’s been my orchid in a storm, and still is. Another song is ‘Heaven’ from a poem I wrote a while back. My inspirations come from real things in life and I have many more where these came from.”

Here’s the tour:

July 14 – Chicago, Ill., City Winery Chicago
July 15 – Chicago, Ill., City Winery Chicago
July 22 – Atlanta, Ga., City Winery Atlanta
July 23 – Atlanta, Ga., City Winery Atlanta
Aug. 4 – New York, N.Y., Apollo Theater
Aug. 6 – Atlantic City, N.J., Golden Nugget
Sept. 16 – Cincinnati, Ohio, Live At The Ludlow Garage
Sept. 23 – Durham, N.C., Baldwin Auditorium
Sept. 24 – Wilmington, N.C., Cape Fear Community College Humanities & Fine Arts Center
Oct. 7 – Brownfield, Maine, Stone Mountain Arts Center
Oct. 8 – Lincolnville, Maine, Cellardoor Winery At The Vineyard
Oct. 22 – Stateline, Nev., Montbleu Resort Casino & Spa
Nov. 11 – Austin, Texas, Paramount Theatre
Dec. 3 – Bossier City, La., Margaritaville Resort Casino
Dec. 9 – Baton Rouge, La., L’Auberge Casino & Hotel Baton Rouge Event Center
Dec. 10 – Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., Lewis Family Playhouse
Dec. 11 – Orange, Calif., Musco Center For The Arts @ Chapman University
Dec. 13 – Redding, Calif., Cascade Theatre
Dec. 15 – San Francisco, Calif., SFJAZZ Center
Dec. 16 – San Francisco, Calif., SFJAZZ Center
Dec. 17 – Santa Rosa, Calif., Luther Burbank Center For The Arts

Some shows are already on sale. Go to AaronNeville.com for more details.