ROCK'N'ROLL veteran singer, guitarist and ukulele player Joe Brown shows no signs of slowing up at 72.

He plays York on Wednesday as part of a 32-date spring tour, but says: "We've got a much bigger one coming up later on in the year!"

Joe has one aim each time he and his four-strong band take to the road. "You know what we do! It's not so much about promoting or playing something off a new album, as we only record stuff that we think our audience will like – and I don't go looking for a hit record, as we're not likely to get a hit – but though it's a nightmare choosing the set list, we're always trying to do a better show than the last one. That means we have to change it around to keep our interest."

Joe has changed ten numbers in his set list since he last played the Grand Opera House in March 2013. "It's difficult knowing what to keep in, what to change, checking our past set lists to decide what to put in, what to take out," he says.

"We have to do all sorts of things that weren't chart hits but were hits with the audience and that we get asked to do, and we end up balancing stuff we like with stuff we know they'll like."

Joe is happy to "claim a bit of credit", but nothing more than that, for the revival of the ukulele, an instrument loved by his former neighbour, Beatle George Harrison.

"After I closed the tribute concert for George with I'll See You In My Dreams, a couple of companies have brought out a series of Joe Brown ukuleles," he says. "My daughter Sam now runs three ukulele clubs and it's an amazing feeling that comes off 60-70 amateurs playing together on a track on my latest album, The Ukulele Album."

Another range of Joe Brown ukuleles is being issued this year. "I've had a couple of new ones done for 2014, and they're a lot cheaper. They're not tuppence, but they're not £600 either," he says.

"I have great respect for the instrument and I always have had because when I was a kid everyone had one, I supposed because they thought of it as a cheap guitar. But it's not! It's an instrument in its own right. Some of those Hawaiian ukulele players are amazing, and when you see all these different people playing in Sam's ukulele orchestra, it definitely puts a smile on your face."

Joe will play six or seven numbers off The Ukulele Album at tomorrow's concert, when he will be accompanied by his son, musical director Pete; Phil Capaldi, Jim Capaldi's brother, on drums; Ben Lee on guitar; and Mike Nicholls on double bass.

Post-tour, will Joe be working on a new album for 2014? "I don't know yet," he says. "The Ukulele Album is still fizzing around, and you have to get your money back on each album first as they cost a lot to make."

Joe Brown plays Grand Opera House, York, on Wednesday, 7.30pm. Box office: 0844 871 3024 or atgtickets.com/york