The summer has been a comfortably easy one for Edgar Winter, and now it's time for him to start working the "Rebel Road."

When Winter plays a pair of shows at Decatur Celebration on Aug. 3, he'll be less than 24 hours removed from his closing date touring with Ringo Starr's All Stars.

"We'll just be transitioning," Winter said. His band, meanwhile, is "well-rested and ready to launch our 'Rebel Road' tour.

"Because of the Ringo tour, we had to reschedule a lot of dates we might have done. There will probably be at least three songs we're playing live for the first time, so this show will be kind of historic in that regard."

Winter, 61, has just released a new album, "Rebel Road." But instead of some of the alternative styles his peers have pursued in recent releases, Winter is reaching straight back to his glory days.

"I haven't done this kind of album before," he said, "a real guitar-driven, classic rock kind of album. What we tried to do was make a true classic rock album of today, try to re-create that magic from the 1970s. Very few people are playing that style any more. Classic rock, you know, the audience is still there for it."

Yet Winter insists he's not part of any oldies circuit.

"I'm looking forward," he said. "I've never lost my enthusiasm for music. I love it as much as I did when I was a kid.

"I like all styles of music, and if there's one thing I've tried to do in my career, it's broaden musical horizons. To keep that kind of freshness, it's been important to never be pinned down to one style.

"That's kind of the message of 'Rebel Road.' I never seemed to fit. You know, bikers and rockers have a lot in common. They're definitely not 9-to-5ers. We live life on our own terms. The open road is a symbol of freedom.

"All that said, 'Rebel Road' is not just a biker tune."

Just as indefinable is Winter's signature song, the instrumental "Frankenstein." The song (which Winter calls "The Indisputable Monster") reached No. 1 on Billboard's singles charts in May 1973, an impressive accomplishment for a song Winter never planned to record.

"It's sort of a precursor of heavy metal and fusion," he said. "And we almost didn't put it on the album. The strength of that band was the songwriting of myself and Dan Hartman. When we recorded the album, we thought 'Free Ride' was the hit, and we put that out, and it didn't go.

"Then 'Frankenstein' was a hit, and 'Free Ride' became a success as a follow-up to that," he said.

"But 'Frankenstein' was a song I didn't even write with the intention of recording it. It was just something we'd play live and have fun with."

Winter considers himself fortunate to be where he is.

"I never started with the intention of being famous. The acclaim is great, but I just want to play. Johnny (Winter's guitar-playing brother) had the dream of fame. I was just the weird kid who played all the instruments.

"It means so much at my age to do what I love. And I want to say to my fans, I couldn't do it without you. What good is music without somebody to play it for?

"I'm here to play music. I'll be doing it when I'm 70, 80, 90. You're never gonna see me on a farewell tour."

WHO: Edgar Winter.

WHEN: 4:45 and 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 3.

WHERE: Funfest Stage, Decatur Celebration.

ON THE WEB: www.edgarwinter.com.

Tim Cain can be reached at timcain@ herald-review.com or 421-6908.