Xavier Rudd's New Album African Influenced

Xavier Rudd has tentatively titled his sixth album Fresh Green Freedom.

Rudd will head to the studio to record the album in Byron Bay, Australia in October and is aiming for an early 2010 release.

Rudd, who's still touring behind last year's Dark Shades Of Blue, describes that album's follow-up as "bouncy," "worldly" and says a lot of its songs are influenced by the musics of Africa. He also says it's "probably the brightest, funniest" music he's ever written.

"Dark Shades Of Blue was a really personal album for me," Rudd says. "It was really, sort of, intimate. It was an album that was sort of a bit more about me. A lot of my songwriting is usually a celebration of earth and spirit and the things that I love like trees and oceans and the gift of life.

"Dark Shades Of Blue still had those elements, but also some hurt, some pain, some personal stuff. It represented a time where I was in myself and I had to go into some rooms where I hadn't really been and sort of dust off some shelves, you know?

"When you go through those times, you can look back and make sense of them, but at the time they're just what they are. Now I can look back at them in different light, and I feel like I've worked through some things, and I feel like I'm at another level now and I'm just so much more appreciative of everything. I just feel so blessed."

Rudd's description of Fresh Green Freedom's sounds seem a complete contrast from how critics wrote about Dark Shades Of Blue. That album was often described as "heavy," "dense" and "weighty" because it featured more electric guitars and rock instrumentation.

Rudd has made his name playing Weissenborn acoustic slide guitars and didgeridoo. Live, all of his instruments are connected together in one massive stand that turns him into a "one-man-band" of sorts, although he plays with other people, too.

So Dark Shades Of Blue represented a complete turn around for him in terms of his sound. It seems like he's ready to do that again with Fresh Green Freedom.

Rudd says the rhythmic style on Fresh Green Freedom will be more African-influenced than anything else. There won't necessarily be different African instruments on the album, he says, and his bassist and drummer — who are from Johannesburg, South Africa — come from the "Paul Simon Graceland school" of playing, he says.

One thing is for sure — Rudd is ready to make a completely different album to represent a different time in his life.

"Everything that I write always seems to change in style and I've noticed that a lot over the years. That's sort of happening again. It's never dull."

You can see Xavier Rudd here:

July 28 Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground Ballroom
July 29 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theatre
July 30 Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre Of The Living Arts
July 31 Jersey City, NJ @ Liberty State Park (All Points West Music & Arts Festival)
Aug. 1 Washington, DC @ Nightclub 9:30
Aug. 2 Boston, MA @ House Of Blues
Aug. 4 Norfolk, VA @ The NorVA Theatre
Aug. 5 Baltimore, MD @ The Orange Peel
Aug. 6 Charleston, SC @ Music Farm
Aug. 7 Nashville, TN @ Cannery Ballroom
Aug. 8 St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
Aug. 10 Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
Aug. 11 Chicago, IL @ The Vic Theatre
Aug. 12 Omaha, NE @ Slow Down
Aug. 14 Aspen, CO @ Belly Up
Aug. 15 Salt Lake City, UT @ The Depot
Aug. 17 Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst Club
Aug. 18 Petaluma, CA @ Majestic Theatre
Aug. 20 Portland, OR @ Crystal Ballroom
Aug. 22 Whistler, BC @ Mountain West Music Festival
Aug. 24 Spokane, WA @ The Knitting Factory
Aug. 25 Boise, ID @ The Knitting Factory
Aug. 27 Denver, CO @ Bluebird Theater
Aug. 28 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre w/Yonder Mountain String Band
Aug. 29 Santa Fe, NM @ Paolo Soleri Amphitheatre w/Yonder Mountain String Band
Aug. 30 Flagstaff, AZ @ Pine Mountain Amphitheatre w/Yonder Mountain String Band