The message of love is so prevalent in the music of Al Green, you would think he wouldn't be surprised when it comes back to him multiplied times 10 from his adoring fans.

Still, talking long distance during his Australia tour last week, one of the greatest soul singers sounds genuinely pleased by the response from sold-out venues on every stop of the tour.

“;We just did Sydney, and there, in the front row, was this couple. When we played 'Let's Stay Together,' they were holding hands and looking at each other. I found out that they originally met in college, and she told me that that was their song.”;

Considering that the Right Rev. Green also ministers his congregation at the Full Gospel Tabernacle Church in Memphis, Tenn., when he's not touring, it's not just the love songs that move people, but that he is a vessel filled with the Almighty's love, a power that radiates to anyone within the sound of his still-magnificent 63-year-old voice.

As to why his now-classic songs of the 1970s have lasted as long, Green said that “;it's because, maybe, just these songs have compassion in them. The Brits call it 'baby-making music.' I don't know if that's true or not. But I do have three kids, so it must be a little true.

“;I met fans in airports in Australia who said, 'I grew up with your music,' and I respond, 'I did, too!' When ladies come up to hug me, I say 'OK, now who are you?'

“;But I love that my music is still popular, with kids listening to it on iPods now, when it used to be CDs, cassettes, 8-track tapes and vinyl.”;

Green and his large touring entourage should provide a expansive show tomorrow night at the Blaisdell Arena. The concert is being promoted by BAMP Project, and co-founder Matty Hazelgrove thinks Al Green is an apt act for them to present.

“;He's a legend, and for us to be able to be associated with such a great talent is an honor,”; Hazelgrove said of Green. “;Also, his music is not only relevant to a single generation. We have countless friends, all of who are in their 20s and 30s, who have a passion for his sound. Even nightclub deejays will throw in 'Let's Stay Together' in the middle of a set, and people love it.”;

Green's tour band includes a horn section, dancers and backup vocalists, made up of some of his aforementioned offspring.

“;My three girls travel with their dad, and they love it,”; Green said effusively. “;There's Alva, named after me, Ruby, named after my wife's mom, and Cora, after my mom. They're 30, 28 and 26. They should be musically inclined, since their dad and momma sing.”;

If it wasn't for a fortuitous meeting at a gig in Midland, Texas, in early 1970, Green wouldn't have met the man responsible for surrounding his voice with that fat and grooving backbeat of Memphis soul.

Producer-arranger Willie Mitchell agreed to work with the then young and impatient Green, who wanted to be famous, like, the day before. After coaching Green to find his own vocal style, a little more than a year later, the duo got their first of many R&B hits with “;Tired of Being Alone,”; followed the next year in '72 with “;Let's Stay Together.”;

And the hits kept on coming—memorable stuff like “;I'm Still in Love With You,”; “;Love and Happiness,”; “;Call Me (Come Back Home),”; “;Here I Am (Come and Take Me),”; “;You Ought to Be With Me,”; “;Livin' for You,”; “;Take Me to the River”; (later remade into a rock hit by Talking Heads), “;Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy),”; “;L-O-V-E”; and “;Full of Fire.”;

Green started off emulating his heroes, taking his vocal cues from men like Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and Otis Redding.

“;But the best advice Willie gave me when we started working together was simple,”; he said. “;He said, 'Don't stop being Al Green. That's who you are and that's what makes you you.'”;

A born-again Green left secular soul music for gospel and the church in 1973. But he and Mitchell would reunite years later, with the best of those later collaborations including 2003's triumphant comeback “;I Can't Stop”; and 2005's “;Everything's OK.”;

Green said another album with Mitchell was being planned for October before Mitchell's death this month after suffering cardiac arrest Dec. 19.

“;No doubt, Willie was like a dad and a brother to me, besides being my mentor and producer,”; Green said. “;I was 21 when we first met, and I grew up as a singer when we worked together in the studio—myself and other singers like Ann Peebles, Otis Clay and Syl Johnson.

“;When I heard that he had died, I thought, 'Look at the old man, he lived a good, wonderful, prosperous life, and he produced his butt off, working 12, 14 hours a day, mixing and overdubbing.”;

Green's classic sound was celebrated by a younger but still appreciative generation with 2008's well-received “;Lay It Down,”; produced by the Roots' Ahmir “;?uestlove”; Thompson and James Poyser (Common, Erykah Badu, Mariah Carey).

“;It was fantastic,”; Green remembered. “;I met Anthony Hamilton, Corinne Bailey Rae and John Legend, who plays piano quite well. They were all down-to-earth—natural, good, strong people. We decided let's just do it. It wasn't about working with Big Al and 'gasp!'

“;It was good to work with the hip-hop kids and the new-day kids.”;

To this day, Green has maintained a balance in his life between being both the self-professed “;soul man”; and “;spirit man.”;

“;When people sing back to me the words of my songs during a show, that's beautiful. I've been in the ministry for 30 years now, and my music lends to what God wants, which is be happy, be fruitful and multiply. It's all about getting your family together, forgiving one another, be loving in spite of bad times and all that good stuff.”;

Green also has been working to become a priest and admits that “;there's no foolin' around with that. It's a more exalted position in the ministry, and I got three months to finish the priesthood. I've been doing pretty good. I have a wife and kids, and I don't want to mess up because of them.

“;While it's fulfilling to speak from the pulpit for the inner man, singing onstage is just as important for the outer man. Each feeds on the other,”; he said.