Rod Stewart has been lauded as the finest singer of his generation; written songs that turned into modern standards; sung with the Faces, and had massive commercial success. He's one of rock & roll's best interpretive singers, as well as an innovative songwriter whose work created a raw, loose, and charming combination of folk, rock, blues, and country. After Stewart became successful, he started to lose the rootsier elements of his music, adapting his style to suit the times, leading to smash hits in the disco, new wave, and MTV eras. Stewart eased into his status as a veteran singer by releasing a series of albums where he crooned The Great American Songbook, but returned to original material with 2013's Time. The record began another act for the rocker, where he wrote new songs that incorporated modern sounds, a combination that informed such albums as 2021's The Tears of Hercules.