Tom Jones will be in concert at the Atlanta Symphony Hall. 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta. Monday, April 28th at 8:00 p.m. Tickets are on sale now at www.ticketmaster.com
At age 73, Tom Jones shows no signs of slowing down.
“My age has not caught up with me,” he said.
The Wales born artist brings his U.S. tour to Atlanta Symphony Hall Monday.
Jones offers songs of his youth such as “Delilah” and “She’s a Lady. Midtown resident Grant McFerrin, says he can’t hear “It’s Not Unusual,” a Jones standard, “without breaking out into the Carlton dance from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
He will also perform selections from his most recent albums, “Praise & Blame” and “Spirit in the Room.” With the help of a Nashville based band, Jones said he hopes to render an authentically raw sound that his fans have not heard from him before.
“Now that I’m older I get to do what I’ve always wanted to do,” Jones said. “I was looking for songs that I can sing now more than I could when I was young.”
Songs like “Tower of Song” originally written by Leonard Cohen, which Jones covers in his “Spirit” album is a song he can now relate to.
“The song starts out ‘well my friends are gone and my hair is grey’ I couldn’t sing that song until now.”
Nearly 50 years ago Jones made his stateside debut touring with Dick Clark’s Summer Caravan of Stars in 1965. In August of that year the caravan performed at the City Auditorium in Atlanta.
Although the Civil Rights Act was passed the previous summer, Jones said he was surprised by some of the attitudes he encountered in the south.
“I walked into this hotel and I was holding hands with Shirley (Owens) of The Shirelles and she pushed my hand away,” Jones said, “later that day she said ‘didn’t you see those people looking? You can’t do that down here.’”
Jones also recollects the tour bus having to stop at separate restaurants for white entertainers and black entertainers on the tour.
The culture shock was a lot to handle, for Jones, who was only 25 at the time.
“Those things stick in my mind,” Jones said, “it touches a nerve.”
Jones said that pain and experience even influences some of his new music. The gospel of blues resonates in each song on his recent albums, a “rootsy” tone as he calls it. A well-known tenor Jones’ voice has ripened with time, giving him the ability to do more with the low end of his voice.
“I wanted to get back down to what I started doing, really,” Jones said, singing the “blusy” songs he would sing as a kid.
Loyal to his music old and new, fan Christine Meis, is traveling from St. Louis for the Atlanta concert. It is a nine hour drive she is happy to make.
“I have been a huge fan and I’ve never had the opportunity to get to one of his concerts since he does not get my way much. This is my chance,” she said.
