Tom Jones: A bit unusual as Tom goes back to basics singing the blues

He turned 70 in June and at the moment he's preparing to re-take his driving licence out in LA, along with California's other pensioners.

"You have to renew your licence here when you hit 70," he says. "I feel prepared. I mean, I've been driving since I was 25 and I've re-read the book. There's not much more I can do."

However, while the dyed jet-black hair has been consigned to history and he's been forced to swot up on America's highway code, Jones definitely isn't a martyr to growing old.

"There isn't a mirror on stage," he says. "I still feel 30 when I'm singing. My son and daughter-in-law are my managers, so they tell me to tone down my behaviour.

"I can still do the hip swinging, but it might not be as energetic as it was. Basically, I've had to stop being so sexy."

If age isn't high on his list of priorities, his new album, Praise & Blame, released on July 26, certainly is.

"I love it," he says. "I listen to it in every room of the house; the kitchen, living room, bathroom, working out where it sounds best.

"It sounds brilliant in every room."

A collection of blues and gospel covers, Praise & Blame is a long way from his most famous recordings of What's New Pussycat and Thunderball rattled along with bombastic orchestral arrangements. Tom's versions of blues standard Nobody's Fault But Mine and Bob Dylan's What Good Am I?

are laid bare. Only an organ, rhythm section, and at times, raucous, swampy guitar riffs back up Tom's unmistakable howl.

The idea came from a suggestion by Tom's record label that he record an album of Christmas songs.

"They wanted something of a religious nature, but I wanted to do songs that hadn't been overdone. I didn't want to make a nice Christmas album, so we decided on something rougher and looked for a producer who could make that sound."

Step forward Ethan Johns, producer of albums by Ryan Adams, Laura Marling, Kings Of Leon, among many others.

Tom explains how his record label, Island, wanted to hear a sample before they agreed to the whole album, and after a short session in Peter Gabriel's Real World studios in Bath, they were happy enough to green light the project.

This description of events is certainly at odds with the recent story which describes how a boss at Island Records, upon hearing Praise & Blame, decried the record as some sort of "sick joke".

"He's just some fella who writes the cheques," is Tom's pithy retort. "The creative people in the record company, are backing it up all the way."

Other criticisms levelled at Tom and Praise & Blame seem to be that he's 'doing a Johnny Cash', in reference to the renaissance enjoyed in the mid-Nineties by The Man In Black.

Certainly, there's no denying the similarities between the stripped-down style.

"Comparisons with Johnny Cash are natural," says Tom. "However, I think it sounds more like Raising Sands, the album Robert Plant and Allison Krauss made together. The thing that excites me is where it might lead. I don't know if this is a fresh start, but I think it will surprise people. It's still me and my voice. No-one can mistake that."

Praise & Blame is out on Monday.