Bad Co. weren't Rodgers' first big band, or his last. In the late '60s, he got his start in Free, who were a bit more bluesy and jammy, but their discography still boasts the iconic "All Right Now." And in the '80s, he teamed up with Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page for the arena-headlining Firm (who enjoyed radio hits with "Radioactive" and "Satisfaction Guaranteed").

In recent decades, he's been a solo artist, the temporary frontman of Queen, and participated in various Bad Company reunions (they'll be touring this summer). His latest release, The Royal Sessions, sees him returning to his roots in soul and R&B. To make the album, he went to Memphis to record at Willie Mitchell's Royal Studios, where the late Willie Mitchell recorded classic albums by Al Green, Ann Peebles, Bobby "Blue" Bland and more. Rodgers worked with a number of legendary Memphis musicians on the album, including Hammond organ player Reverend Charles Hodges Sr. and bassist Leroy Hodges Jr. (both of whom played on Al Green's albums), keyboardist Archie "Hubby" Turner (who played with Memphis blues legend Albert King) and guitarist Michael Toles (whose resume includes working with B.B. King).

Rodgers is performing a one-off show with those musicians this week at New York's Town Hall (June 19), and was more than enthused to talk about the project during a recent interview with Radio.com. A humble guy (not the norm for lead singers), he's not even quick to point out that 100% of the proceeds from the album will be donated to the Stax Music Academy, an after school program that teaches music to middle and high school students in Memphis.

Radio.com: So, how long had it been since you recorded an album in analog?

Paul: It's been a long time now! It must be twenty odd years or more. But the sound was so very good. There's no ProTools on the entire album. It was very much live on the floor.

Radio.com: The guys you worked with on the album probably don't have much use for ProTools anyway.

Paul: I don't think so. With those guys, it's all about the feel. And they've never ever forgotten that. It was wonderful to play like that with them. Thank God they're still doing it that way. It was so great to go live to tape like that. Even tape is getting hard to find these days! It was very much worth doing.

Radio.com: What was it like being in that studio with those musicians?

Paul: It was a little intimidating, to be honest with you. These are the guys who were part of that whole movement in the '60s when this music was in its prime. I've been heavily influenced by them all these years: they've influenced the songwriting I've done, the bands I've formed and the sound I've gone for. Even though I work in more of a "rock" vein, the roots of it all is in soul and blues. So, I was in the room with the real deal. I felt like I really had to step up my game and prove myself. We went right into, "If I was the sun, way up there�" [Otis Redding's "That's How Strong My Love Is"]� after a few bars, we got into a groove and we stayed in that groove for the entire album. I was listening to this music before [I formed] Free. When I was like, fourteen, I would listen to this music in my bedroom, and I would go to clubs where we would hear lots of live bands, and in between they'd play records, and they'd play a lot of Otis Redding, a lot of Sam and Dave. Soul music.

Radio.com: We recently interviewed Sam Moore.

Paul: He's so funny! He's a great, great singer. The first time I met him was backstage at a Four Tops concert, and he comes up to me [sings] "And I feel like makin' love!" It was fantastic! Years later, he had a jam with me, we were playing in Seattle, we did "All Right Now," and and we got into a kind of a jam, we're going back and forth "Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Whoa!" "Whoa!" Exchanging licks. And I actually forgot what song we were doing! (laughs) It was just fantastic, it was very exciting.

Radio.com: So, you got to play the role of "Dave."

Paul: Well, everybody's gonna try and do that with him. I sort of hesitated to do that, I thought he must get a little tired of that, really. But you can't really resist it too much! It was great: he's still got it going on.

When you work with people like Sam Moore, or the musicians from your album, can you on some level forget their discography and say, "These are people I'm just trying to make music with?"

When I first met Sam, I was like a fourteen year old boy again. But you've kind of got to get over that. Quickly. You've got to get past it and do your thing and show what you can do. But they bring the best out of you.