TallySaint

Expect 'Soul Classics' at Aaron Neville show

By Mark Hinson
Tallahassee Democrat



After the levees crumbled in the wake of Hurricane Katrina last year, 8 feet of water rushed through Aaron Neville's home in New Orleans.

When the flood receded, the black mold left behind became a serious health threat to Neville, who takes medication to combat asthma. So, Neville, whose ethereal voice and brawny image had become synonymous with his hometown of New Orleans, packed up and moved his family to the hills of Nashville, Tenn.

"The New Orleans I know doesn't exist anymore," Neville said calmly during a phone interview. "It's just gone, man. But home is where the heart is, and Nashville is my home now."

With the loss still fresh on his mind, Neville decided to do material he knew intrinsically when he went back to the recording studio. His new CD, "Bring It On Home . . . The Soul Classics," which was released last week, finds Neville, 65, reinterpreting songs made famous by Curtis Mayfield, Al Green, Bill Withers, Ben E. King, Otis Redding and Sam Cooke.

"I felt like I knew all of them personally," Neville said.

Expect to hear plenty of Neville's comfort music for the soul - and much more - when he performs Wednesday night at Ruby Diamond Auditorium on the Florida State University campus. His concert is intended to whet appetites for the 2007 Seven Days of Opening Nights arts festival at FSU in February.

Read more of what Aaron Neville has to say in Friday's Limelight.




Whatt: Aaron Neville and his band in concert as prelude to 2007's Seven Days of Opening Nights arts festival

When: 8 p.m. Wednesday

Where: Ruby Diamond Auditorium, Florida State University campus



Listen up.... To hear clips of "Rainy Night in Georgia" and "A Change is Gonna Come" from Aaron Neville's new CD, "Bring It On Home . . . The Soul Classics," visit www.tallahassee.com.


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