Tom Jones appeared on CONAN Tuesday night (Dec. 1) for a rare interview and to perform an instrumentally minimalist cover of Gillian Welch's "Elvis Presley Blues" for the studio audience from his upcoming new album, Long Lost Suitcase, which will hit stores Friday (Dec. 4) via S-Curve Records.
The album, which consists entirely of reinterpretations of classic tracks, was prepped to coincide with the singer's also new autobiography titled Over the Top and Back, which was released for sale last month.
Among the artists that Jones tackles on the album are The Rolling Stones, Hank Williams, and Willie Nelson. Jones, who serves as judge of The Voice UK, calls on the assistance of multi-instrumentalist Ethan Johns for the album, which was recorded at Distellery Studios in Wiltshire.
During his interview with Conan O'Brien, the singer tells a tale of when Elvis Presley himself sang to him in the shower in 1965 while they both were in Vegas doing shows at the time. His story explains how Elvis was too eager to pitch him a song idea that was originally pitched to him but he had thought it would be better-suited for Jones.
Jones also channeled some of that Elvis energy for his piano performance of "Elvis Presley Blues."
Jones recently spoke of his album-mate Johns, son of Rolling Stones producer Glyn Johns, who has previously worked with artists the likes of Paul McCartney, Laura Marling and Kings of Leon. "Right from the start, Ethan and I were on the same page," he stated. "We think the same. I can trust him. Before the first album, he said, 'I hear something in you that I don't think has been tapped before. How about we go into a studio, take some musicians, work through some songs, and just do it live, on the fly? I think some great things will happen.'"
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