St. Paul & the Broken Bones frontman talks new album, Prince, First Avenue

Paul Janeway is about as un-rock-starry as modern rock stars get. So when the namesake frontman of Alabama's mighty soul-rock band St. Paul & the Broken Bones confidently brushed off a question about a sophomore slump, he sounded more endearing than he did egotistical.

"I personally didn't feel any anxiety over it, because I knew we were ready," said Janeway, who earned the saintly nickname because of his well-known teetotaling, Christian lifestyle — and because his booming, soulful voice truly is divine.

Not only did Janeway's group avoid the dreaded second-album curse by a mile, they did so while inching toward a more modern, innovative sound.

The Birmingham-reared sextet — which stops in for a rare two-night stand at First Avenue on Wednesday and Thursday — earned widespread praise for its 2014 debut, "Half the City." However, the high praise usually included the words "retro-soul" and came with comparisons to Otis Redding and Al Green.

Talking by phone two weeks ago from a tour stop at the Austin City Limits Festival, Janeway admitted he and his bandmates were a little dismayed over how much the nostalgic tag was applied to them.

"I think a lot of it stemmed from my singing voice, which is what it is and will never really change all that much," said the frontman, who learned to sing in church and certainly counts many of the soul, R&B and gospel legends among his influences.

"But these days I listen to as much Kendrick Lamar as I do Marvin Gaye," he harumphed with a hearty laugh.

A string section and choir are prominently featured on the album, but so is a thicker, messier groove. There's also an edgier undercurrent in the lyrics, with songs challenging gender issues and American socioeconomics.

"We knew right after the last record came out, the second record was going to be very different," Janeway explained.

"We were such a new band when we made the first record, we really went more with what we grew up with, the things that we knew. We knew we couldn't do the same thing again with this record or we'd be setting ourselves up. People would think, 'Well, that's what they do.' "

The album's roof-raising single, "All I Ever Wonder," is a good taste of that new flavor, showcasing the choir in action as well as the topical lyricism.

"I can't tell what side I'm on," Janeway sings in a chorus that sounds all too pertinent to today's political climate. "I can't tell what's right or wrong / We ain't ever gonna sing one song / Love goes hate goes now I'm left all alone."

"I think of our good friends the Drive-by Truckers, whose new album holds no punches when it comes to expressing their political views," he said. "I think ours is more about broader social injustices and the kind of problems we always seem to have in America, where the people with less money are always the ones getting hit in the gut."

Janeway's liberal views contrast his strict, conservative Christian upbringing. He even studied to become a preacher before doing something of a 180-degree turn toward a career as a rock musician instead.

Asked about whether his Christian lifestyle still makes him an "odd duck" among his bandmates, Janeway let out another booming laugh.

"I'm kind of an odd duck in general, so that's just part of the equation," he said. "Not being someone who drinks or smokes can feel alien when we're on tour. But if I'm not out on the road, I don't go out. I get to go home to a wife I love, and then I feel very normal [laughs]."

Not that he minds being on the road. Janeway said he was especially excited to see First Ave on the band's fall itinerary, after stunning shows at the Varsity Theater and Amsterdam Bar. The fact that they're playing a two-nighter for their first First Ave stint shows how quickly they've risen in stature.

"He was just one of those amazing creatures who, when I saw him perform, I just knew he's got it. I experienced that with Springsteen, too. I'm really a huge fan, so performing there means a lot to me."