Exclusive: Neil Diamond Wanders Down Memory Lane, Sings Up 'Melody Road'

To take a trip down memory lane and promote his upcoming album Melody Road, Neil Diamond returned to his old high school, Brooklyn's Erasmus Hall, on Sept. 29 to perform a special concert. Not only had Diamond never professionally performed at the school — although he did sing in the choir with Barbra Streisand 60 years ago — he had never performed a show in Brooklyn.

"I'm overwhelmed with memories," Diamond tells Yahoo Music 30 minutes before the show. "As I go through the streets here, I know every building. I grew up here. I lived here for six years and they were important years of my life."

The concert took place in the Erasmus Hall school auditorium for a special crowd of fans and students. Diamond will make further amends for his lack of Brooklyn love on March 26 when he plays the Barclays Center as part of his Melody Road tour itinerary.

"I first started writing songs here in this neighborhood, first taking guitar lessons around the corner from our apartment over the butcher store and then taking piano lessons," he says. "And my first songs were written here. So there must be something about this area that really sparks that [creative energy] and brings out music in me."

The crowd of middle-aged Diamond-heads, some of whom had waited all day to get in, sang along to classics like "Solitary Man" and "Love on the Rocks." And gleaming teeth were in full view on the mouths of the grinning fans when Diamond sang "Brooklyn Roads" and his trademark tune "Sweet Caroline." Check out his performance of the latter classic, which you can only see on Yahoo Music:

"'Sweet Caroline' is a special song. I had no idea it would be as popular as it is," Diamond says. "I wrote it because I was short one song for a recording session in Memphis, Tennessee. And the night before the session, I sat down and started to write this thing. It came from my memory of a note that I took. I saw a picture of Caroline Kennedy. I never heard that name before. I  saw the picture and I said, 'That's a sweet picture. I'm going to write something about it someday.'

"Almost 10 years later I had the opportunity. I wrote the song. It became a number one record around the world and it's still recognized."

Regarding the song's use as a sports anthem by the Boston Red Sox, who play it at Fenway Park during the seventh inning stretch, Diamond says, "I love the fact that the Red Sox adopted 'Sweet Caroline.' Any team could have adopted it and they did, so I give them a special love for that. And lots of teams around the country use it – football teams, basketball teams – because it's a good-luck song. It's always been good luck for me, and it seems like it's good luck for whoever does it."

During the Brooklyn concert, Diamond played two songs from Melody Road, the rugged, reflective "Nothing but a Heartache" (the first single) and the more upbeat, country-tinged  "Something Blue." The album, which comes out Oct. 21, will feature Diamond's first new originals since the confessional, Rick Rubin-produced Home Before Dark, which came out in 2008; Diamond also put out the Christmas album A Cherry Cherry Christmas in 2009, and the live disc Hot August Night NYC: Live From Madison Square Garden as well as the mostly covers album Dreams in 2010.

"It actually hasn't taken me six years [to make Melody Road]," Diamond says. "I've been writing songs and I've had a couple albums out. And I've toured. But to work on an original album, you really need time and love and devotion, and you have to get into it and it does take years. Melody Road is the result of all that time and that love, and I hope people respond to it. I know I think it's good."

While Diamond's last two studio albums of originals, both produced by Rick Rubin, were largely personal and introspective, Melody Road is more upbeat, filled with a blend of love songs, feel-good pop tunes and  folky numbers. The album was produced by Don Was (Bob Dylan, Rolling Stones) and Jackknife Lee (R.E.M., U2); and features pedal steel player Greg Liesz, keyboardist Benmont Tench, guitarist Smoky Hormel, and vocalists the Waters Family.

"I knew Don Was as a record producer, and I didn't know Jackknife Lee but I met him and I liked him," Diamond says. "I asked if they would work together on Melody Road. I had never done that before, worked with two producers co-producing on an album and it worked out great. They did a great job and they were both  very sympathetic and they both loved the material. That and the professionalism and experience that they have had, it was a really good experience all around."

The video for lead single "Nothing but a Heartache" (below) is in an exercise in minimalism, featuring the performer against a black background, with occasional flares of color.