Neville to headline Pawleys music festival

Aaron Neville sees every concert as a two-way street.

On a phone call Wednesday from home in New York, he diagrammed that “great feeling” with ease and simplicity.

“It’s us giving out energy from the stage,” Neville said, “and the audience giving it back to us.”

The New Orleans native will headline the 25th anniversary “Pawleys Island Festival of Music & Art” at 7 p.m. Saturday in a sold out show at Waccamaw High School, 2412 Kings River Road.

The fest will continue next weekend with Mike Farris and The Roseland Rhythm Revue on Oct. 8; Natalie Douglas’ “Jazz Party” Oct. 9; and Steve Tyrell on Oct. 10; then Ken Lavigne on Oct. 15; Davis & Johnson, and The Fabulous Equinox Orchestra, on Oct. 16; and “So Good For the Soul ... A Tribute to the Music of Motown” Oct. 17. All start at 7 p.m. at The Reserve Golf Club, 18 Reserve Drive, off Willbrook Boulevard, northwest from U.S. 17 in Litchfield Beach.

Maybe best known for his single “Tell It Like It Is” from 1966-67, and duets of “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life” with Linda Ronstadt in 1989-90, Neville said through his longevity in the music business, he said he has enjoyed putting his soulful falsetto tenor to work in “different genres,” including “doo-wop, gospel, jazz, country, and you name it.”

“I’ve never been stuck in one genre, pigeon-holed,” Neville said, gratefully.

Noting “Tell It Like It Is” will be 50 years old next year, Neville, who turns 75 in January, said that automatically “at every gig, I have to sing it.”

Besides singing through the decades in the Neville Brothers – with Arthur, Charles, and Cyril – Aaron Neville also teamed up with Aretha Franklin, Dr. John and a gospel choir for the national anthem before Super Bowl XL, in 2006, when the Pittsburgh Steelers won their fifth title by defeating the Seattle Seahawks at Detroit’s Ford Field. He said that grand a production took some preparation.

“We ran over it,” he said.

Partnering on recordings with such colleagues such as Ronstadt, Trisha Yearwood, Mavis Staples, and Chaka Khan, Neville said, “They are all special.”

He said he calls Ronstadt occasionally, and they reminisce.

“She is one of the great voices of our time,” he said, “and Mavis Staples – is a staple.”

Neville said the former is “hanging in there,” with Parkinson’s disease, and unable to sing, yet “her spirits are high, taking each day as it comes.”

With a son, Ivan Neville, who released his debut solo CD in 1988, “If My Ancestors Could See Me Now,” and played keyboards on tours with such icons as Bonnie Raitt, Don Henley, and the Rolling Stones, the happy father said Ivan’s “out with his group” with cousin Ian Neville, in Dumpstaphunk, “having fun all over the place.”

Neville gave a rundown of each sibling – Art Neville (Ian’s father), Charles Neville and youngest brother Cyril Neville – saying how each has stayed active in music on his own avenue as well as in their group efforts, and to look for Charles playing saxophone among the quintet this Saturday.

Aaron Neville said he already has New Year’s time in mind for planned release of his next album, based on poetry he has written and “turning it into songs.”

Asked about his own formula for staying fit, Neville credits hitting the gym for workouts “3-4 times a week,” but “my wife makes me stay away from chocolate.”

“That is my downfall,” he said. “I’m a chocoholic.”

This story was originally published October 2, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Neville to headline Pawleys music festival."