Tom Jones, photographed in the artist compound backstage at the Stagecoach country music festival in Indio, where he performed on Sunday.
Those efforts, with producer Ethan Johns, have provided Jones a welcome and richly rewarding return to his roots in blues, gospel, soul, R&B and, yes, country music. Hence his booking at Stagecoach, where he brought along the gritty and muscular band that’s been backing his live appearances in recent years. Anybody expecting the Tom Jones of his finger-snapping Flamingo Hotel days was in for a bracing surprise.
“They’re story songs,” Jones said, relaxing in his trailer backstage about an hour before his performance. “I’m dyslexic, so when I learn songs, once I get the words, once I’ve read them, I don’t see the written word anymore, I only see what it represents. The country songs are perfect because they tell a story.”
He slowly began embracing the idea of returning to music but soon encountered a hurdle: “When you get emotional, the throat closes up. I went to this therapist in L.A., and she said, ‘You know you’re going to need to get singing again.’ I said there were certain songs I don’t think I could do now, and she said ‘Like what?’ There’s a Bob Dylan song called ‘What Good Am I?’
Just a brilliant singer.
Great singer and he seems to have a fine personality as well.