IF you think you know Shakin' Stevens from his 33 hits of the Eighties and early Nineties, then prepare to be shaken at York Barbican next Thursday.

Now 69, the Welsh rock'n'roll revivalist is embarking on his biggest ever British tour this spring, visiting 32 towns and cities with his 12th studio album, last September's Echoes Of Our Times, in his coat pocket.

Rather than more of the same in the perky vein of Green Door, Oh Julie and This Ole House, Britain's biggest-selling singles act of the 1980s has turned to blues, roots, Americana and classic rock as he explores his mysterious and intriguing family ancestry in a labour of love.

Echoes Of Our Times grew from Shaky’s realisation that, like most of us, he knew very little of his family's past, his research revealing tales of poverty and strife in the Cornish copper mines; of bravery and loss in war; of philanthropic preachers and stoic Salvationists; of children suffering and of family secrets and feuds.

He turned these stories of his ancestors’ loves and lives lost and their struggles to survive into introspective, sincere, candid songs in the tradition of troubadour Woody Guthrie, sung to the accompaniment of harmonica, Dobro guitar and harmonium, banjo, flute and military snare. “I have never before written a song that is so personal," he says. "Some of the tracks directly relate to stories and situations about my family past, while others are more of a social comment relating to the world that my ancestors, and we, live in.

"It's all about the stories on this album, lots and lots of stories, and people can relate to that, which is fantastic. Like the stories of my family being copper and tin miners in the 1700s, a long time ago. When the mines closed, they moved to Australia, New Zealand, and the mines down there were vertical."

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"Though I've got nothing against nostalgia shows, I strongly believe you have to show you can do more than that," says Shakin' Stevens

Shaky's father was born in Bradford, later moving to Wales, where Shaky was born Michael Barratt in Ely, Cardiff, child number 13 in a typically large family. His eldest brother passed away two years ago at the age of 95.

"We could all sing, my brothers and sisters, so there was always lots of music from the Thirties, Forties, Fifties and Sixties in the house, and when I went to school all I wanted to do was sing. I had various jobs, working on building sites, in a warehouse and as an upholsterer covering chairs, but none of them fulfilled me, though I enjoyed being an upholsterer, but I'd go off in the evening to sing."

Not only did Shaky have a host of brothers and sisters, he had 13 uncles that he never met. "There was a bad feud in the family, but we don't know what caused it and we'll never know, but it's been an interesting search to do," he says.

Others have called Echoes Of Our Times a radical departure, Shaky sees it as being a "move-on record for me". "I'm going to continue down this road, after learning of the horrific conditions of working in the mines, discovering we had preachers in the family and researching stories of the First World War," he says.

Next Thursday, Shaky will perform "all the songs from the album and songs that people haven't heard me do before, and we'll be the doing hits in ways they haven't heard before too, like putting a mandolin on Green Door".

"In the old days, the majority of a concert would be all the hits, but now it'll be more of a blend," he says. "You have to move on. Though I've got nothing against nostalgia shows, I strongly believe you have to show you can do more than that."

Shakin' Stevens plays York Barbican on May18, 8pm, and Leeds Grand Theatre on May 21, 8pm, supported by Americana singer-songwriter Danni Nicholls. Box office: York, 0844 854 2757 or at yorkbarbican.co.uk; Leeds, 0844 848 2700 or at leedsgrandtheatre.com