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Welsh tenor Aled Jones brings his one-man show to regional Australia — a warm, humorous journey through faith, fame, and four decades of extraordinary music.

Welsh tenor Aled Jones is touring Australia and talking about his life.

With his credentials, the Songs of Praise host fills Opera Halls.

Yet the man with an MBE, who’s regularly performed before royalty, chooses to tour regional Australia. This is the second time in eight years Aled Jones has performed before crowds of nobodies just like me.

Last weekend, he brought How Great Thou Art, with humour and personal stories in tow, right into the heart of Port Macquarie’s performing arts hub, The Glasshouse.

The regional tours, he told Melbourne’s Today Show, are a response to one fan who travelled seven hours to Sydney to see him.

More Than a Concert

Now his eighth time in Australia, and second time on the Mid North Coast, Aled has opened a door into his entire world.

My Story, My Songs has the warmth of a fireside chat with an old friend.

It begins with a punchy introduction paired with the 2000s ballad, “You Raise Me Up”.

What follows is best described as Jones conducting a symphony about unexpected success, later thwarted by unwelcome change.

Squeezing over 40-years into 1 hour and 50 minutes, he recalls life as a choir boy and later a soprano soloist.

The Welshman, once a child prodigy in the 1980s, learned the fleeting nature of fame.

That journey includes losing his voice, then discovering redemption in the opportunities to use it again.

My Story, My Song is a one-man show. The only accompaniment is a good story, a slide show and songs.

Jones manages to perform all three seamlessly.

This is Songs of Praise, unredacted, live on stage. It’s complete with scenic pics, narration, and a well-thought-out script.

That’s understandable, given Jones has worked on 25-plus seasons (over 300 episodes) of the show.

The Songs of Praise format makes sense. It’s where Jones excels when working with an audience.

He’s also a Classic FM DJ.

This format is what he and his audience are familiar with.

The formula works.

Faith Between the Lines

Speaking about his tour with HOPE 103.2 (formerly Sydney’s 2CBA) on April 15, Jones attributed the longevity of Songs of Praise to its honesty, adding it “brings him closer to God.”

The only difference here is that this performance isn’t a welded-together inspirational recount for the BBC (ABC) or a soundproofed radio booth.

It’s a whole lot more than that.

Underlying the music and the man is the subtext: “Look what the Lord has done!”

My Story, My Songs is a silent proclamation that is selectively personal.

In a quaint, British way, when talking about God’s providence, it’s also quietly profound.

As Premier TV said, in 2021, the Welsh singer’s career is “littered with occurrences that many would call God-ordained.”

At the time, Jones told Premier,

“I believe in God, and I’ve never been scared to say that I’m a Christian.”

“It enhances who I am. I wouldn’t say I’m a perfect Christian, but I don’t know what one of those is really.”

“As I get older, I lean on my faith more.”

Quiet Contrast

Notably, Premier’s piece wasn’t without a healthy dose of constructive criticism.

Jones and the BBC’s Songs of Praise are, they said, “arguably, the faces of acceptable Christianity in the UK today, steering an inoffensive middle ground that is simultaneously warm and unthreatening.”

Perhaps this explains why Jones didn’t talk more intently about his faith during the performance?

Second to this one criticism is Jones breaking out onto the stage in an adult-sized choirboy outfit.

The self-humiliating humour is awkward and out of place. The joke falls flat and lets his overall performance down.

Jones doesn’t need to prove he’s not another artistic inner-city snob still pretending they’re part of the anti-establishment underground.

What My Story, My Songs conveys is the opposite.

This is the story of an award-winning muso with a big name and a ton of fame who proves talent is not necessarily doomed by the baggage of a seemingly inevitable big ego.

Ultimately, My Story, My Songs is a solid set performed by a seasoned pro with deep ties to the music world, who knows he isn’t the ultimate star of the show.

Jones’s tour of Australia and New Zealand continues until 8 May.

His remaining tour dates can be found here.