Allen Stone

Although it's pretty hyperbolic to suggest any help from upstairs, even as the son of a preacher man, it's impossible to deny that Allen Stone's voice is anything but a gift. His tone is powerful yet tender, sexy but sincere; it's the type of vocal that could make you smile while you cry. But since shaping his chops in his father's church and at school talent shows, Stone has simply been chasing the joy he gets from standing in front of a crowd, rather than looking to change the world with his words.

“I'm the kind of person that I really don't like hearing my own voice recorded, I just love the therapeutic emotion of singing,” he says in his calming drawl. “In that being said, I think that's what really brought me into singing – I'm kind of an attention whore and I really just love performing, I love being in front of people, I love dictating and creating energy. But as far as the tone of my voice I really don't like it very much, I think I sing too high. So it's been a growing of sorts, to where I love the feeling of singing and the therapy to me emotionally when I sing, but it's been tough being in the studio for a month-and-a-half having to listen to my own voice.”

Since those early days, however, Stone has been acutely aware that his blonde hair and white skin have made his rich, soulful voice even more of a talking point, even going as far as to suggest this genetic sidenote is why he's been able to make a living as a musician.

“I think nowadays we live in a culture where it's just shock value,” he says. “In the States all our humour is just, 'Let's see how dirty and how gross we can be.' It's not clever humour anymore, and I think it's the same with music. Typically the videos and singles that succeed are based upon shock value and, 'What can I say that nobody else has said that will just make people shake their head?' And that element that I'm a backcountry, woodsy country kid and I sing R&B music is what caught people's attention. I've luckily been able to convince people to stick around and I hopefully put on a compelling enough show that it will last.

“But I guess I don't know – if you listen to anybody, if you listen to Neil Young there's just something special about it, there's an X-factor that you don't really know what it is in my opinion. Obviously beautiful songs, but if I saw Neil Young when he was 17 singing in a coffee shop I'd probably pick up the paper,” he laughs.

After starting sessions in his cabin studio in eastern Washington, the 27-year-old Chewelah native spent the recent northern winter in Sweden, recording a follow-up to his breakthrough self-titled second record of 2011 with Scandinavian musician/producer Tingsek, an artist he discovered four years ago and quickly became enamoured with. “He's like this soulful, jazzy prince,” Stone smiles, “and I just ate up everything that he'd ever done.

“I jumped around a bunch of different production places, and after writing and recording with him it was like, 'Yep, this is definitely where my heart is and where my spirit is and the type of music that I want to create,'” he continues. “It was kinda an easy call but it just sorta organically happened. It's cool to see how being excited about being in a room with somebody you like really affects the music you make. It challenged me as a songwriter but it also blessed me because it allowed me to explore a different side of musicality.”

According to the prodigious musician the album is all over the place, with elements of white funk, The Band, '90s R&B and more. Expect lots of different colours he enthuses, not one singular sound; a good combination of different vibes and genres. Excitedly, we'll be some of the first crowds to hear these new songs, with Stone – returning to Bluesfest for a second straight year – set to again be one of the highlights during this year's 25th anniversary celebrations. However, we're not sure he'll be able to top his prized memory from 2013.

“I took a piss next to Paul Simon backstage,” he recalls with a chuckle. “I walked into the bathroom and he was at the urinals so I was like, 'Dude, fuck yeah I'm pulling up next to him.' I didn't say anything but man, not many people have gotten a chance to take a whiz next to Mr Simon. That was quite memorable for me.”