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"Rod Stewart has confirmed plans to release a new album of original material in 2013. The singer admitted that he enjoyed songwriting again, despite being opposed to the idea when it was put to him last year.   &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all done,&amp;quot; Stewart told Billboard. &amp;quot;I produced it myself.  &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s all finished, mixed, everything... Just a good, old-fashioned Rod Stewart album [with] a lot of mandolin and acoustic [guitar] and fiddles and good storytelling, I believe, too.&amp;quot; The iconic star admitted that he wasn&amp;#039;t initially enthusiastic about writing new material, which will be his first batch of original songs since 2001. &amp;quot;About a year ago I was sitting at my house in England, and [long-time collaborator Jim Cregan] came around and said, &amp;#039;Come on, let&amp;#039;s try to write a song&amp;#039;,&amp;quot; Stewart explained.    &amp;quot;And I said, &amp;#039;No, I can&amp;#039;t be bothered. Those days are over&amp;#039;. But we sat down, I started humming a melody and he took it away and sent it back and said, &amp;#039;Listen, this is pretty good&amp;#039;, so I wrote some words for it and ever since then it&amp;#039;s been just flowing like a river.  &amp;quot;The songs just keep going. An issue which I thought had long past and which I&amp;#039;d given up, songwriting, has come back, and I&amp;#039;m thoroughly enjoying it.&amp;quot; Stewart revealed that he has recorded 10 new tracks so far, while an 11th - called &amp;#039;Love the Life You Live&amp;#039; - is expected to feature as the set&amp;#039;s title track. The new collection is expected to be released in spring 2013. Meanwhile, the star will release festive album Merry Christmas, Baby on October 29 in the UK and a day later in the US. Watch the music video for Rod Stewart&amp;#039;s hit &amp;#039;Da Ya Think I&amp;#039;m Sexy?&amp;#039; below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/music/news/a433165/rod-stewart-talks-new-rock-album-for-2013/>