English singer Joss Stone performs during the Rock in Rio music festival in Rio de Janeiro on Sept. 19, 2024.

English soul singer Joss Stone is on the rebound from an illness that forced her to postpone the opening night of her new tour in Nashville, and she was kicking herself for how it started.

"I sounded like bloody Marge Simpson. It was awful. I couldn't bloody believe it, and it was all my fault because I ate the bloody kids' cookies," Stone said Tuesday. "...You know that they bring home every single germ. And you have to fight to not catch it. It's so depressing, man. I couldn't believe my luck, but now I'm on the bus. I'm away from the little germ guys."

Her children -- 4-year-old Violet, 2-year-old Shackleton and 2-month-old/newly adopted Bear -- don't go on the road anymore because "being on the bus is not fun for them," according to Stone, who announced another pregnancy in December.

"My tours now are two weeks only and, to be honest, when I get to like the 10th day, I'm like, damn, I need to go home. I need to go home," she said. "But it's my job, so I have to do it. But no more three-month tours for me. "

Her Less is More tour hits the Carnegie of Homestead Music Hall on Feb. 25, and it's massively different from her Total World tour, which ran from 2014-2019 and included stops in every country in the world.

"I did this thing where it was just me and a guitar, and the reason why it was like that was purely because we couldn't afford to do it any other way," she said. "There's too many countries, and it was just crazy. So we were like, OK, this is what we have to do. And when we did it, we realized how nice it was and how intimate it was, so we were reminiscing about that. But the one thing I did miss when I was on that world tour, I missed the harmonies. So this time as we're in America, we're not in like Swaziland, we were like, OK, well, let's have the harmonies."

In the intimate show, Stone will be joined by three backing singers and two musicians in a "living room" setup.

"I have my little teapot so I can make tea and chat. And I've got the three singers to my right and then to my left we have Cremaine (Booker) on cello, which is so amazing. We've never ever toured with a cello. It's so pretty, I love it. It's so emotional and gorgeous, and then there's Steve (Down), who's playing guitar. So it's just like wow, there's no bass, there's no drums and it's like a totally different energy, a totally different sound, and requires slightly different singing - not too different but slightly different - and also gives me space to just chat, tell a little story," she said with a laugh. "I do that anyway, but it seems more normal and natural to do that. It seems like especially the venues are very small, they're very intimate, chill. I just really think it's nice, so I hope that people enjoy it like I do. It's sort of just like hanging out with friends. It doesn't feel like a show, it feels like a hang in the living room."

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While she's in town, the "You Had Me" and "Fell in Love With a Boy" singer said she's hoping to introduce her band to Primanti's sandwiches, which she recalled from her first trip to the city.

"I want to go back. Oh my God, that sandwich was so big! I think the band would flip out," she said. "Our band members, half of them are from America. Everyone on stage, apart from me and the guitar player, they're all American. And the rest of us are English. And our lighting guy is Brazilian. So I think that no one has experienced the size of that sandwich, apart from the Americans, maybe."

In a phone call Tuesday from the road, Stone discussed her new podcast, her latest single "Loving You," her upcoming album and more:

With the recent pregnancy announcement, I was wondering if have you toured while pregnant before and does it change how you perform?

Yes, OK, so this is partly why I'm loving this so much because I get to sit down. (laughs) So I have toured whilst pregnant and just tried to tour as normal, jumping around, singing my (butt) off, doing what I can do, and it's hard carrying a person. Man, they squash you. I feel like these babies, like everything moves. I don't know if it's common knowledge -- I think for people that are pregnant maybe -- but your body has to move so it has to become a transformer.

So in order for that to happen, your body releases a hormone that they call Relaxin so it relaxes your muscles so it can expand, but it doesn't miss your vocal cords. It's completely affecting your vocal cords, so it's almost like I have a different voice to deal with. I'm dealing with a different instrument basically, so I've done it once, I've done it twice, and now this is the third time I'm doing it, and I think I'm more prepared this time. I say that and then I got a bloody cold, but I feel like mentally I know that that's happening, so it's less less shocking to me. So now I know my voice is a different instrument, I'm dealing with it differently. Also your lungs are squashed.

What was the inspiration behind your latest single, "Loving You," that came out last year?

It's funny that song, because it's been around for so long. I just didn't put it out, and I just thought well people might want a little song, so i just put it out. (laughs) It's just a sweet little love song. I actually wrote it for Cody (DaLuz), or about Cody, who is now my husband but at the time he was just my new boyfriend. I had started to realize his habits, and everyone has their way. When you're first dating someone, you're sort of trying to do whatever they want you to do. But as you get further into a relationship, you do what you want to do, like you go to bed at the time that you're tired. This man is not a night owl at all, and I am, so I actually wrote this when he'd gone to bed. He was asleep and I was wired. I'm a night owl So this song is really about that. It's like I'm trying to keep him up. I'm trying to come up with some excuses to keep him awake so I can talk to him, so that's what the song is about. It's just a cute little love song.

Is there a new album still slated for this year?

The problem with the album is trying to wrangle. I would be down, right? So trying to wrangle the guys that I want involved in it, trying to wrangle them together in one space at one time is like herding cats. I'm like, good lord! It's so funny. I've been trying to sort out this recording of this record for like a year. I've written all the songs. It's ready to go, but getting everybody in one place at one time is a (expletive) pain in the (butt). So now I'm pregnant. I'm tired. I'm like, OK, whatever. I'm over it.

I'm just gonna leave it to one side until they're ready to sort this (stuff) out, and then I'm just gonna release some other random songs for people, I think. (laughs) ... There's a guy in England that I write with. There's another guy in England that I wanted to treat it after it been made, but he's doing other gigs. And then there's Raphael (Saadiq) in California, he's doing all sorts of other things. He's like, yeah, let's do January/February, and then I don't know what happened, whether someone smoked too much weed, but it didn't happen. I'm just like, what is going on here? So I'm like, OK, well let me just make this person, and then I'll come back to you guys.

Stephen Wilson Jr. is going to be in Pittsburgh this weekend, so I wanted to ask about your collaboration on "Even the Sky," how that happened and how you met him.

That man. So I just did a writing session with him. When I moved to Nashville, I wanted to write, but then I got pregnant, and I just haven't. But he's one of the like three people that I've written with since I've been there. And when I met him, I don't know, man. He's just great. I just love him. I think there's no one that's met Stephen that doesn't love him. I just love him. I think he's one of those kind, very kind, very moral. He has a great sense of humor.

He's not one of the people that, you know how you can meet very kind, very moral, very empathetic and ethical humans, and sometimes they just don't have any sense of humor, because they take life too seriously, and it's so boring, and you're like, (expletive) sake? He is not that guy. Like he has also a little dark tinge to him. He's highly intelligent. He was actually a scientist before he was a musician and a singer. He's just like one of life's special people.

I just said to him, hey, I know you have a record coming out. When we were writing, I was like, if you are touring or anything, you can come with us and support us if you want. And he was like, yeah, that would be so great. So he came on the road with us and joined us on the bus, and he supported us for a bunch of dates, and then we recorded our song that we wrote together. And it was so fun. And now I miss him. Now he's not on tour with us, everybody misses him, like, where's Steven? He's such a vibe, man. I just love him. I just think he's just a wonderful guy. And obviously, the music is great. The lyrics are great. The melodies are great. The production is great. He's a joy.

What sparked your new podcast, "A Cuppa Love," that's coming in April?

I had done a podcast called "A Cuppa Happy." And in that podcast, I interviewed many, many intelligent people that were very well-versed in health and happiness. And I learned that really, our happiness is not about the food that you eat -- of course that's part of it -- but it's not about how many miles you run each day, or how successful your business is, or whatever. Although those things are part of it, it's really about the quality of your relationships.

So that's one big reason why I decided to do "A Cuppa Love," because I wanted to look into that further. And also, I just love love. I love talking about love. I just love it. I think it's just magical, and it's the point of life. And that can be love with you and your husband, or your wife, or your daughter, or your son, or your best friend, or your mother. It doesn't have to be a specific kind of love, but I definitely think romantic love is very exciting to discuss. I find it magic.

So I wanted to do that, and I asked one of my friends from London. He's a singer. His name is Lemar Obika. He's a fantastic singer, and he's always made me laugh. Whenever I chat with him, we always have a good rapport. And we wanted to do a radio show together, but I'm not in England, so it wasn't so easy. So, I was like, why don't we just do a podcast? Why don't you come on my "A Cuppa Love" and you can give us a male perspective? So he has, and it's kind of cool. It's like our little thing together, and we have someone come on every episode that is a relationship counselor or a therapist or someone that really knows, because we don't really know. We're just asking, you know? So it's kind of fun. It's definitely fun.