Dot RecordsAerosmith frontman Steven Tyler unveiled his new single, “We’re All Somebody from Somewhere,” during an appearance Friday morning on NBC’s Today show. He also sang “Cryin'” and the Janis Joplin smash “Piece of My Heart.”
The new single, which was released Friday, is the title cut from his debut solo album, a country-flavored effort due out July 15. The album’s track listing also was unveiled Friday. Twelve of the 15 songs were co-written by Tyler; in addition, there’s a remake of Aerosmith’s “Janie’s Got a Gun” and the cover of “Piece of My Heart.
Sitting down with Today’s Matt Lauer, Tyler explained that when Big Machine Label Group head Scott Borchetta approached him about doing an album, he said, “I want to do a country record with covers of Everly Brothers, but unfortunately, so many people did. But then…I went down and did a bunch of award things [in Nashville], fell in love with the town, and the rest is history.”
New York native Tyler, 68, said his introduction to country came when he was 11 and he pulled in a radio station in Fort Wayne, Indiana, that was playing “The Battle of New Orleans,” Johnny Horton‘s1959 hit. “The B-side was ‘All for the Love of a Girl,’ and it was the first time I got all those feelings inside for music, and just in touch in myself with, in a sexual way, in a life-giving way,” Tyler recalled “and then I heard The Everly Brothers, and their harmonies, and it was just incredible.”
He also explained that Aerosmith had its brush with country already: “We would do all kinds of stuff like ‘Cryin’.’ That’s country; we wrote that with Taylor Rhodes in Nashville…So it was already there. It wasn’t a stretch.”
Here’s the full track list of the new album:
“My Own Worst Enemy”
“We’re All Somebody from Somewhere”
“Hold On (Won’t Let Go)”
“It Ain’t Easy”
“Love Is Your Name
“I Make My Own Sunshine”
“Gypsy Girl”
“Somebody New”
“Only Heaven”
“The Good, the Bad, the Ugly & Me”
“Red, White & You”
“Sweet Louisiana”
“What Am I Doin’ Right?”
“Janie’s Got a Gun”
“Piece of My Heart”
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