The former Tony! Toni! Tone! frontman and in-demand producer (Mary J. Blige, Lionel Richie, D'Angelo) revisited the music of his Motown forefathers for his third solo release, which includes appearances from Joss Stone (whose "Introducing Joss Stone" Saadiq produced), Jay-Z and the one and only Stevie Wonder.

As he makes a concert stop this evening at Amos' Southend in Charlotte, the fortysomething California soul man answered a few questions about the album and this nostalgic-yet-new musical direction.

Q: Did you ever expect that there would be this retro-soul explosion, mostly led by producer Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse, while making this album? A: Nah, I was more thinking about Eddie Kendricks. The old sound I was thinking about [was] more Eddie Kendricks or David Ruffin or James Jamerson or Paul Riser or Jack Ashford. ... But I'm a friend of Mark Ronson's through Q-Tip, and I've met him a numerous amount of times. He's a very talented person. I love all the work he did with Amy and all the stuff that he's doing. And I love that he's doing it. Because, when it was being done, back in the day, it was a lot of people had different -- you know, that sound and different sounds. And, you know, it takes a lot of people to bring something to fruition.

Q: Here's an obviously hacky question: Did you make this album because there's not any good music on the radio any more -- apart from the stuff you produce, of course?

A: Um, I mean, of course, I don't have deaf ears. So, I mean, of course, you hear that from a lot of people. But I didn't think this record would ever get on the radio. ... I didn't know how it would be embraced by radio, nor was I thinking about radio when I made it. If they would embrace it, I would be very, very happy. But I'd think a lot of great records sometimes shouldn't be made by thinking who will play it.

Q: You have a lot of artists -- Jay-Z, Joss Stone, Stevie Wonder, this guy who sounds like Ray Parker Jr. -- making guest shots on this album. How did they get involved?

A: There's a guy named CJ Hilton [the guy who sounds like Parker], and I signed him. He came to me with this idea for a song, and he put it together. And then I produced it. And I sung my verse, he sung his verse. And I kind of talked through that whole part of Stevie Wonder being on the record. But he wasn't actually on the record at the time I spoke all that. ... So, we just called him, you know. I called him and he actually picked up the phone, and I said, "Stevie, I need you. Come to produce a harmonica solo. I need you bad." He said, "When do you need me?" I said, "An hour." And he came over in an hour, like 12:30 in the night, and he played his solo.

... Things happen in a real organic way -- an organic, soulful way. The same with Joss Stone. I worked with her, on her album and a couple of other little projects on the side. And I was looking for a song that would fit her particularly. And that's one of the ones she picked. And I knew she wouldn't have a problem adjusting to it, because she's such a student of that music. So it worked. And, later on in the road, a friend of mine heard "Oh Girl" and he was like, "Jay-Z would sound good on this. The original one's on the record, but do, like, a bonus track with Jay-Z." And he and Jay-Z heard it, and he liked it. He said, "You know what? I like this song a lot." And then, he did it. And I called him and he said, "I did it three days ago." And so, it's like a different lot of people. It's like another body of work that I'll be out there performing and giving it all I got.

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