BRITISH rock legend Ian McLagan, keyboard player for The Small Faces and The Faces in the Sixties and Seventies, will play York in the week he releases his first studio album in five years.

United States will be issued through Yep Roc Records on Monday, ahead of next Friday's gig at The Duchess, one of 15 British and Irish dates this month.

The album is Mac's first since being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a founding member of The Faces. It alternates between lusty grooves and reflective musings, showcasing McLagan's charm and gift for crafting memorable hook as the yearning Love Letter leads into the moody, take-charge song Who Says It Ain’t Love, while Shalalala draws from classic soul and How Blue rides a boogie-woogie shuffle.

The ten original tracks feature McLagan on vocals, keyboards and guitar, joined by his long-time collaboratorsThe Bump Band, alias "Scrappy" Jud Newcomb, Jon Notarthomas and Conrad Choucroun, plus Leigh Mahoney, from The Tosca Strings, on violin for the closing He’s Not For You.

McLagan recorded and produced the album at his own studios at The Doghouse in Manor, Texas, and the songs were mixed by his friend Glyn Johns, best known for his work with The Faces and The Who, and mastered by Bob Ludwig, whose credits include Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones, no less.

Since his Faces and Small Faces days,Mac has performed and recorded with the Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Billy Bragg, among others. He relocated to Austin, Texas in 1994 and has been a key player in the thriving music scene there for two decades.

In 2008, he made the album Never Say Never in the wake of his wife Kim dying in a car accident, her loss prompting him to write songs that Mojo magazine's review described as "pub rock's answer to Dylan's Blood On The Tracks".

McLagan joined up with the rest of The Faces, except Rod Stewart, for a charity performance at London's Royal Albert Hall in 2009 and they then performed select dates over the next three years, including their Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2012.

Tickets for July 11 cost £15 in advance on 08444 771000 or at theduchessyork.co.uk or £17 on the door from 8pm.