Jools Holland still feeling the love after all these years

National treasure Jools Holland will perform songs from his most recent album when he headlines Wolverhampton's Civic Hall on Thursday (June 6).

He will line up with his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra, featuring Gilson Lavis, with special guest Roland Gift, the voice of Fine Young Cannibals, and guest vocalists Ruby Turner and Louise Marshall.

Holland will play old favourites as well as showcasing his recent The Golden Age Of Song album.

The Golden Age Of Song is a collection of brand new recordings of classic songs and five live recordings from the BBC 2 TV Show 'Jools' Annual Hootenanny'.

It featured the extraordinary talents of Amy Winehouse, Jessie J, Cee Lo Green, Florence Welch, Paul Weller, Paloma Faith, Lily Rose Cooper, Tom Jones, Rumer, James Morrison, Paolo Nutini, Joss Stone, Mick Hucknall, Caro Emerald, Ruby Turner and Gregory Porter.

His enthusiasm for playing live has never dimmed, even though he started performing in 1974.

"What's fantastic is when you look out at the people responding in the same way to what you are feeling, so that you can communicate your feelings without using words – you can see people physically moving around. We have to introduce new material to keep ourselves stimulated and the audience stimulated; we're always changing things and honing things as we go along. I suppose it's always in the vein of what we have always done; some of it is songs that I have written, some of it is really ancient songs. One song I wrote I put to the words of a song written in the 17th century.

"George Harrison did this song once, which I played on (you can find a video of this on YouTube): 'Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea', so we did that one. We do a ska song which suits Rico . . . a lot of them are vehicles for different members of the orchestra to play solos on."

Holland has always learned from the great musicians who surround him: "As Van Morrison once said to me, 'You are constantly at the song face', looking through old records to find a song, so I'm constantly looking for something new, constantly trying to write something new, and finding something old that you didn't know about.

"I found something on a record that I had forgotten I had that isn't on the internet or on a CD, so I still use old fashioned ways to find material – I could be flicking through the radio in my car; I just keep my senses alert and aware.

"The other thing I have learnt is, as the great jazz pianist Mary-Lou Williams once said to me: 'You got to love the music you play and play what you love, and play what you mean and mean what you play . . . and love the people you play it to!"