Stevie Nicks Talks Touring & New Music ("Wrote a Rock'n' Blues Song")

Stevie Nicks talks touring, new music and giving back | mycentraljersey.com | MyCentralJersey.com:

"The adrenaline coursing through Stevie Nicks is palpable, even over the phone. The Fleetwood Mac vocalist is pumped up about her forthcoming solo album and her mini-tour, making a stop tonight at Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City."

"Much of the new material was inspired by a trip to Italy, which was just fantastic,'' Nicks said while calling from her Los Angeles home. "I wrote the most romantic ballad I've ever written that was inspired by my time in Rovello, Italy. I also wrote a rock 'n' blues song that kind of sounds like Canned Heat. You have to hear these songs.''

Nicks is anxious for her fans to experience her new tunes. However, you'll have to wait until the album drops in 2011.

"As much as I want everyone to hear the new songs, I can't do them live,'' Nicks said. "I don't want them on YouTube after the show looking and sounding terrible. When you hear these songs for the first time, I want you to hear them the way they should be heard.''

So when Nicks plays Atlantic City, expect an array of hits as well as some choice deep album cuts. But according to the veteran singer-songwriter, she will keep fans guessing throughout the show.

"You never know what I'll do,'' Nicks said. "I've resequenced my show. I'm a master at sequencing. I'm the one who sequenced for Fleetwood Mac. I sequenced "Rumours.' Everyone loves my sequences. They're fun.''

There's a serious side to the show. Nicks is donating proceeds to benefit an 8-year-old fan, who is suffering from cancer.

"Her name is Cecilia, and she was diagnosed with a very rare cancer, rhabdomyosarcoma,'' Nicks said. "It's a rare soft-tissue cancer. It has just devastated her family.''

Nicks will be selling "Team Cecilia'' T-shirts with a silkscreen of the pop-rock icon's art.

"I've been so fortunate,'' Nicks said. "I lost my best friend to leukemia in 1981, and I've had so much success with Fleetwood Mac. How can I not do something?''

With her mini-tour and her new album in the wings, Nicks doesn't have much time for Fleetwood Mac, but she insists that she'll be back with her band at some point.

"It's busy now,'' Nicks said. "I want to complete my album, then tour behind it next summer. Once that cycle ends, I can definitely see myself getting back in the studio for another album with Fleetwood Mac or at least going on tour with the band. We did a world tour (in 2009) and did 83 dates. We've had too many good times, and we have all of those great songs.''

Nicks, who still exudes a youthful ardor, hopes to write material for many years.

"I really feel like a teenager at times,'' Nicks said. "I'm just so inspired. I can't see stopping writing. I'm still seeing parts of the world for the first time, and it's moving me. I still have to express myself as a writer and, of course, as a performer.''