Aaron Neville brings unplugged show to town

Singer will perform Feb. 4 at Middletown High School.

Aaron Neville sings the national anthem before the Super Bowl in 2006 in Detroit. Neville will perform Feb. 4 at Middletown High School. Associated Press file photos

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By Eric Robinette, Staff Writer 7:47 PM Saturday, January 21, 2012

MIDDLETOWN — Aaron Neville won’t bring his brothers with him when he performs in Middletown Feb. 4, but he will bring multiple pieces of his musical journey with him.

The acclaimed R&B singer performs as part of Miami University’s Artist and Lecture Series, singing at Middletown High School on 601 N. Breiel Blvd. This is one of Neville’s duet shows, in which he performs with keyboard player Michael Goods.

“This is just my keyboard player and myself, and I play keyboard, too. I don’t do the full band stuff. It’s kind of an intimate show. It definitely is, yeah,” Neville said.

That means getting back to the tunes that formed Neville’s musical palette years ago, by performing songs like 1952’s “Ting a Ling” by the Clovers, or music by Fats Domino and the Drifters, or anything by Nat King Cole.

“I used to think I was Nat when I was a kid,” Neville said.

On the whole, he added, the show will be “unplugged and impromptu. I’ll say, ‘Remember this song? Check it out,’” Neville said.

But the set list won’t be made entirely of oldies. Neville will perform more contemporary hits such as “Don’t Know Much,” which he recorded as a duet with Linda Ronstadt. He may also perform some gospel songs from his latest album, “I Know I’ve Been Changed.”

Neville has played in Ohio a number of times, but as far as he’s concerned, “Audiences are the same everywhere. People are people. We get the energy from the audience, and they get it from the stage,” Neville said,

Howard Epstein, the director of the Artist and Lecture series, said of Neville, “When you look at his body of work over 40-some years, he’s one of the most important singers of a variety of different kinds of music.”

Neville said, “There will be something from every genre, every part of my soul and heart. I want to reach audiences’ souls and grab them by the ears.”

Artist and Lecture Series concerts are being performed at Middletown High School while Dave Finkelman Auditorium undergoes renovations. Tickets for the show cost $30 for adults; $28 for faculty, staff and seniors and $20 children and students. They can be purchased by calling (513) 785-3264 or from tickets.muohio.edu.

Contact this reporter at eric.robinette@coxinc.com.

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