Peter Wolf's New Music Is 'A Cure For Loneliness'

BOSTON (CBS) - He is a music legend, especially here in Massachusetts - Peter Wolf, lead singer for the J. Geils Band, and a solo rocker in his own right.

And at age 70 he's definitely still got the stuff.

Wolf has just put out new music and his tour is selling out venues across the country. He was gracious, open, and excited about his first album in six years.

Wolf and the Midnight Travelers are touring to support their new album "A Cure for Loneliness."

"They are the A-team. Top shelf. You can't get any better, and having that kind of talent behind you sure makes somebody like me look good," Wolf told WBZ-TV.

For him, the cure for loneliness is music.

"One theme is just where I am right now in life. People like Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Otis Redding, they were artists that you always feel are connected to the songs they sing, and I was trying to do that with 'A Cure for Loneliness,'" he said.

Wolf is mining a deep vein of rock, blues, soul and country with this new album.

"I try to combine it in some way that it works. If you were to come over to my house I might be playing a Hank Williams tune, and then a Rolling Stones tune, maybe a Louis Jordan tune. It all works for me. I don't really categorize music," he said.

That openness gave birth to a live bluegrass version of his hit with the J. Geils Band "Love Stinks."

So is this his most expansive record?

"I don't know. I think I'm too close to the forest to see my trees," Wolf said laughing.

He says there's nothing like playing live, especially in the Boston area.

"It's where I started," he said during the interview at his alma mater, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts.

Dreams of painting is what brought him to Boston in the first place. That plan changed the night he spontaneously jumped in with a band at a party and started singing.

"That was sort of a born again experience for me. I said, 'wow!" Wolf said.

It wasn't exactly his first time on stage. He does admit to an earlier failure in a talent show and a rough time as a drummer in the high school band.

"I improvised a little too much so they moved me to cymbals. And I improvised a little too much in that, so I ended up as the triangle player," he claims.

And now his goal is to keep the music alive and vibrant. "I value Boston because it's given me so much," he said.

For information about Peter Wolf's tour, visit peterwolf.com