Rod Stewart Is Set to Drop Self-Proclaimed ‘Best Album in Many a Year’

Rod Stewart has been off the road since the pandemic shut down his Las Vegas residency and world tour plans early last year, but he’s clearly been busy during the forced downtime. He just announced that his 31st album, The Tears of Hercules, will arrive on November 12th. Check out a video for the leadoff single “One More Time” right here.

Nine of the 12 songs on The Tears of Hercules were written by Stewart. “I’ve never said this before about any previous efforts,” he says in a statement, “but I believe this is by far my best album in many a year.”

Stewart co-produced the album with Kevin Savigar, a keyboardist/songwriter that has been working with him since 1978. They co-wrote “One More Time” in addition to “All My Days.” Stewart and his touring guitarist Emerson Stewart co-wrote “Born to Boogie (a Tribute to Mark Bolan)” and “I Can’t Imagine.” The track “Touchline” is dedicated to Stewart’s father, who instilled in him a lifelong love of soccer.

Tears of Hercules is Stewart’s fourth album of original songs since 2013. They follow a long period of time where Stewart stepped away from songwriting and focused on cover collections. “I’d done the Great American Songbook albums,” he told Rolling Stone in 2013. “I’d done a soul album. I’d done a rock [covers] album. I backed myself into an alley because there’s not much left to do except write.”

Stewart plans on returning to the road on October 2nd with a gig at the Nugget Event Center in Sparks, Nevada. He resumes his Las Vegas residency on October 6th and then heads to Australia and New Zealand for a long string of shows in March 2022. His long-delayed American summer tour with Cheap Trick is slated to begin July 1st, 2022 in Fort Worth Texas. The show will center around his vast catalog of hits, but he’s pledged to also sprinkle in selections from The Tears of Hercules.