Al Green's voice is a national treasure. His smooth, soulful singing has crafted more romance with songs like 'Let's Stay Together,' 'I'm Still in Love With You' and 'Tired of Being Alone' than Victoria's Secret could ever dream of. And at 62, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer turned minister is still doing his part to lift the spirits of music fans with 'Lay It Down.' Produced by Roots drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, the collection fits perfectly alongside Green's most beloved work. Green spoke with Spinner recently about the new album, his role in the population explosion and his friendly rivalry with the recently departed Isaac Hayes.

How's the tour going?

There are a lot of people. I did this section of the tour with Gladys Knight, and there are just a lot of people. I asked the man, "Who are all these people coming to see?" He said, "You." I said, "Oh, really?"

She's such an amazing vocalist. How does it influence you being onstage with someone like that night after night?

That makes the show a lot more fun and a lot more interesting. You got color and variety and, of course, she's a talented lady.

I imagine that working with Anthony Hamilton and Corrine Bailey Rae and having ?uestlove produce the album you've gotten some younger fans, as well. Has that been the case?

Oh, yeah, man, we've got white ones, black ones, red ones, Latinos, mom, daughter, her daughter. I said to kids, "Where'd you get the music from?" They said, "Mom plays it all the time. I'm riding in the minivan, that's all Mom plays." I guess it's pretty gratifying to know that your music has been responsible for the birth of a lot of kids. In the English cable, the first thing they said was, "Al, do you know how many kids have been born since you've been singing this music?" I said, "Oh, God, here we go. Well, I'm gonna have to wade in the water, 'cause I really don't know. But I can imagine that quite a few."

This album, 'Lay It Down,' is vintage Al Green. What were you looking for in the people you collaborated with?

That's a hard question, 'cause I really don't know. We went in with one thing in common, and that was to get the work done. That's what we wanted to do, and nobody said nothing about what we were looking for; they just wanted me to sing like Al. But the more they played the music to the way I sing it is the more they went back to 1973, '74 Al Green, and that's the way it came out sounding.

How did you end up working with ?uestove?

I saw Ahmir ?Love in Trinidad when we was doing a concert down there. He came to the show that night I think, and we talked in the back about maybe we could get in the studio and do some music. That's all I remember. Next thing I know we're in the studio in New York in the Jimi Hendrix Electric Lady studio doing 'Lay It Down,' 'Let It Go, 'Fall in Love.' I'm like, "All Right."

Taking the album to the stage, what have been some of the favorites to do live or that have gone over best with the audience?

'Lay it Down' is really a favorite, 'cause it's the title of the album. We also do 'Stay With Me (By the Sea),' which is the single off the album, and everybody go, "Whoo." It sounds like a chicken coop. And everybody's smiling and beaming and hugging up to one another, then the guys start pulling the lady's hand, pulling it through his fingers. I'm like, "Hey, man, leave the woman alone." The whole audience crack up and start clapping. It's crazy, man.

It's got to just be fun to be standing up there and see these songs fit in with songs you did 35 years ago.

It really is. I went to Paris, France, and of course we're at one of the top spots in Paris, so you're not gonna have people up dancing in the aisle; they're a little bit more sophisticated than that, the French. But there's a little couple that got up and started dancing, so some guy got up and said, "Could you sit down? We wanna see." Tickets were like $220 or something, whatever they were, and the guy said, "I paid my money and I'm going to dance." Then another couple got up and said, "Well, hell, I paid mine, too." And Al is going, [sings] "I'm so in love with you." So when we get done, the whole damn house is dancing.

See, I would've been on the side of the couple. I hate sitting down at shows.

"If that's what you feel like doing," I told the man, "Go on and dance." He said, "I met my sweetheart in college to your music." And then there's another guy, he was in the military, who said, "Well, you know, your music brought me all the way from Vietnam. I ain't shaking your hand, I gotta hug you. Bullets flying, please, and somebody's throwing hand grenades. Man, my nerves would be on top of the water. I'd go back and play some of that music, just calmed me down." And that's what it's for.

That's an amazing story, and over the years I'm sure you've heard amazing stories about the effect your music has had on people. Are there any others that really stand out to you or songs that you see that power?

'Let's Stay Together' certainly. If I don't sing that, the audience goes into lynch mode. "Al, get your ass out of the limo, come back in there and sing the damn song. They're getting rowdy in here." I don't know. It's kind of like in Scotland or Ireland, where they've got a thousand little pubs and they work the living hell out of you. And I'm a preacher [laughs]. I'm serious, man: They work the stew out of you. But that's just the way it is, and I don't have no complaints, man. The people that love our music, if they loved it once they love it now. Once you love a person or love something, you can't just stop loving it just 'cause gas prices went up or something. If you ever loved her, you probably do.

That's true, and I think it's true of music as well. What was the first record that made a big impact on you?

I can think of 'Tired of Being Alone.' That's when I was going with [soul singer] Laura [Lee], and she had to go work at night at the lounge, and the bar don't open till 10:00 and it closes at two, so she come home at three in the morning or whatever. That's why I wrote the song with my head pressed up against the window pane over the Detroit River. My old lady said, "Al, excuse me, could you kind of like stop about the personal stuff on your public albums?" I said, "Shhh, if you just be quiet, they won't know the difference." And I know, but the people don't know.

I have to ask you about the passing of Isaac Hayes. How did you guys inspire each other?

I lived here in [Memphis] with Isaac. We had to know each other. He cut at Stax, I'm cutting at Hi Records down on Lauderdale. [Producer] Willie [Mitchell's] cutting me, David Porter cutting him. We had this little rivalry when we were singing; this little "who could come out with the best hit"-type thing. We [also] had this little thing: Hi Records, Stax Records. Although Stax had the most people, we kept grinding out platinum songs. It was Al Green, Ann Peebles, O.V. Wright, Syl Johnson, Otis Clay, all these people. Then at Stax of course, they had Sam & Dave, Otis Redding, the Rance Allen Group, Isaac -- Isacc came up with the 'Shaft' [screams] "You're damn right." I cut 'One Woman' first and three days later Isaac came up with 'One Woman.' I said, "OK, fine." Then I cut something else. It wasn't hatred now; it was the fun of having a measure to measure up to. And he used it and I used it -- that's what made it fun. You gotta have somebody who makes you, like when we did all the shows with Sly & the Family Stone. They were a hot group and we were a hot group, but they were different in reference to the songs they had out at the time -- 'I Wanna Take You Higher,' 'Stand,' all these other songs.

There are so many people involved in this mix, like David Ruffin, who's also gone, Eddie Kendricks, who was a personal friend of mine I met in the Bay Area in California. Johnnie Taylor was trying to get him to smoke a joint, and he said, "No, man, I can't do that. I gotta do my show in 30 minutes." And Johnnie Taylor fell out in the back; I don't see how the damn fool could do a show without smoking one [laughs]. Luther [Ingram], all these people, Billy Preston, Philippe Wynne of the Spinners, came and stayed with me in the church for seven, eight days. He just hung out with me for six, seven days and we got to know each other. I loved them and now all of them are dead. I worked with Aretha Franklin, too, B.B. King last year. I saw these people, I seen them, I never was them. I never could be like Marvin [Gaye], 'cause Marvin got Marvin and I never tried to be like Sly, 'cause Sly is Sly. So I just had to do Little Al from Grand Rapids.

Willie kept telling me, "Just sing like yourself." I said, "Well, could you please help me understand how does myself sing?" I didn't know at that time; I was just singing a song. I went out there and they turned on the mikes and said to turn the machines on. I went, "I'm so in love with you, baby" [screams like James Brown]. And I heard all the backup sisters go, "Hey!" Willie said, "Al, no, no. Sing it like Al Green." And I'm going like, "Hey, man, I don't know how Al Green's supposed to sing." And I really didn't know myself at the time. I thought all the high notes was so high I just had to strain to get the notes. Now I can go [sings several high notes]; I didn't even get out of the chair. But you have to learn that as you go along. I guess in 35 years of singing you get to learn how to do it without [screams like James Brown].

So when did you learn how Al Green was supposed to sound?

When I went out in the street with my Corvette, spinning the wheels, did donuts in front of the studio 'cause I was mad at Willie. He said, "That Al down there?" [laughs] I went home, made a cup of coffee, I came back, I said, "Excuse me, Mr. Mitchell: Let's cut the damn song now." He started laughing. He said, "I knew he'd come back. If he got what I think he got, I knew he'd come back." So he punched the thing up and I went, [sings] "Spending my day thinking about you girl." He said, "That's Al right there." So I just said, "You don't want me to put no type of fresh, hard soulful feeling into it? You just want me to sing straight?" So I started singing it. And that turned out to be the best style to have c'ause I was singing like Wilson Pickett. [Screams] "I'm gonna wait till the midnight hour -- owww!"

Turns out Willie was right. Last question: What is a great love song to Al Green?

'My Girl,' the Temptations.