The Reverend Al Green is known the world over for his extraordinary voice, his unmistakable sound and his legendary hits. With Everything’s OK, his new release for Blue Note Records, Al Green comes to an exciting new chapter in his artistry. Strong in voice and in spirit, the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer sings a dozen songs that reveal his renewed passion for the kind of music that made him a household name some 30 years ago.

It was in the early 1970s that Green carved his place in music history with a run of celebrated hits that made him not just an R&B star but a pop icon. Since 1976, however, Green has concentrated on gospel music (recording numerous albums, but only two pop offerings), and since 1979 has led his Baptist congregation, the Full Gospel Tabernacle, in Memphis, Tenn. For Everything’s OK, Green embraces both worlds by releasing a "secular" album under the name the Reverend Al Green—a symbolic gesture, perhaps, but a significant one nonetheless.

"I wanted to put on this album who I am—to 'fess up to it," Green says, laughing. "I'm the Reverend Al Green, and everybody calls me that, from Argentina all the way to the Catskills. So that's who I am."

Green started singing professionally at age 9, when he and his brothers formed a gospel quartet, the Greene Brothers, in their hometown of Forest City, Arkansas. (Green dropped the final "e" from his surname when he went solo.) They toured the gospel circuits in the South, and then began performing around Michigan when the family relocated to Grand Rapids. At 16, Green formed a pop group, Al Greene and the Creations, with high school friends, and they released a single that went to #5 on the national R&B chart.

Nearly 30 years later, Everything’s OK returns to and updates the signature sound that Green and producer/arranger Willie Mitchell pioneered, a sensuous groove layered with strings and horns that showcased Green's remarkable voice. And with this album, Green is coming full circle, embracing his world inside and outside the church.

"This minister wrote me a letter saying we need an apostle, someone who can be a positive influence outside of the religious community, someone to preach love and happiness," says Green. "He said, 'Al, please step up to the plate and take that position. You've got to be the apostle!',” Green said. "The music is the message, the message is the music. So that's my little ministry that the Big Man upstairs gave to me—a little ministry called love and happiness."

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