Think of Tom Jones and many things spring to mind.

After the ludicrous image of adults throwing their undies at him, your mind will surely turn to classic vocal performances on hits such as ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘Delilah’ and What’s New Pussycat?’.

So why then, has the 70-year-old opted for a collection of blues and gospel covers on new album ‘Praise & Blame’? Only an organ, rhythm section and occasional guitar backs up Tom’s unmistakable voice on the likes of blues standard ‘Nobody’s Fault But Mine’ and Bob Dylan’s ‘What Good Am I?’.

This earthy effort is a long way from the simple record label suggestion that Tom released an album of Christmas songs.
He explains: “They wanted something of a religious nature, but I thought I should get deeper into it. I wanted to do songs that hadn’t been overdone, and it couldn’t be too smooth, with choirs and orchestras. That’s been done before by many people. I didn’t want to make a nice Christmas album, so we decided on something rougher.”

Several critics have claimed that Jones is ‘doing a Johnny Cash’, in reference to the Man In Black’s legendary American Recordings series with Rick Rubin.

There’s no denying the similarities in the style which has been employed by Jones and producer Ethan Johns, who has previously worked with Ryan Adams, Laura Marling and ‘Kings Of Leon’. But Tom says: “Comparisons are unavoidable. The Johnny Cash thing is natural. Those albums were stripped back gospel, blues and country songs, so I can see what people are getting at. I think it sounds more like ‘Raising Sand’, (the album Robert Plant and Alison Krauss made together in 2007).

“That was fantastic. The thing that excites me is where it might lead. I don’t know if this is a fresh start, as such, but new things can open doors to new directions.

“When I recorded ‘The Green Green Grass Of Home’ I’d never done a country song before and then I made a few albums in that style. These are the songs I started out singing in clubs, I’ve just never recorded them before.”