Connecticut native Steve Porcaro is doing double duty these days.Someday/Somehow, as he was preparing for a summer Toto tour that arrives in Connecticut at The Ridgefield Playhouse on Tuesday, August 23.The Newtown Bee, Porcaro talked in part, about his new project, the upcoming tour and the role that Toto bandmates Steve Lukather, Lenny Castro, Shannon Forrest and Mabvuto Carpenter played in the completion of Someday/Somehow.Toto XIV in 2015.A Little HistoryThe Dream Weaver, and then with Boz Scaggs along with the other original members of Toto, prior to that band's 1977 inception.Justified, starring Timothy Olyphant.Thriller tracks including "Beat It" and "The Girl Is Mine," and composed the song "For All Time," which was included on the Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition.Someday/Somehow features Steve Porcaro on lead vocals for seven tracks, and Michael McDonald on "Swing Street," and "Night Of Our Own."The Bee, Porcaro talked about his decision to utilize tracks on his new album featuring both of his late brothers.Newtown Bee: You can't listen to "Someday/Somehow" knowing you were able to fuse contributions from Jeff and Mike into a number of the songs and not be deeply touched by any of that material. Can you talk a little about the process of getting that material to all sync together sounding for all intents and purposes like they were standing beside you the whole time?Steve Porcaro: That's really true, and I loved it. It's the kind of stuff we do in the studio, rolling up our sleeves and getting under the hood sometimes. Even a song like "Back to You," which Jeff actually cut from a click track - which he rarely ever did - it was recorded on analog tape that breathes and stretches over time. So the timing wasn't perfect to sync up to my other stuff. So we just kind of left Jeff alone and had everything else kind of follow him. And it turned out great, I was very happy with it. Also, because that song had sat on a shelf for so many years, it was incredibly satisfying to have my original demo with its original spark, being put together with my brothers Jeff and Mike on there.Bee: So the original tracks had all three of you together in studio?Porcaro:  It was actually recorded with the entire band. We cut it to my demo, but we never found the right part for Luke (Lukather), which is why it never became a Toto song. He tried several parts, and you know Luke is to this day a genius for coming up with great parts for my songs. He never ceases to amaze me. On this particular occasion, with a song covered with synthesizers, there was no space left for much else so it never became a Toto tune.Bee: Lukather pops up on several tunes - and I'm interested in learning whether there's a different dynamic or interplay when he's sort of working for you as a session partner versus when you guys switch gears to work on Toto material?Porcaro: When he's in session mode for my stuff, he's completely there to serve, or to give me what he thinks I want. It's very fast and spontaneous. On my album, he kind of picked the songs he wanted to work on. We're able to change hats, and you make a good point. When we're working as Toto, there's a different dynamic. Earlier on, there was quite a bit of intensity. Now we trust each other and can do our thing. But it's very different with Luke when he's with Toto, versus when he's working with me.Bee: "More Than I Can Take" is a beautiful tribute - whether it was intended to be or not - and rightfully closes the album. What came first to you on that number, the music or the lyrics?Porcaro: Unlike most of the songs on there, that one came together in a very organic way. To be honest with you John, I started writing it right after I had a visit with Mike. And I was thinking about his mortality and the first verse and stanzas all came out at once. But then I took probably a year to complete the bridge lyric. (laughing) And I really wanted to do that song myself. I didn't go to any of my collaborators with it, which is rare for me, to do a piano vocal.Bee: Coming up a close second as my favorite ballad is "Face of a Girl" featuring Jamie Kimmett. Tell me a little about Jamie as both a performer and songwriter.Porcaro: Jamie is a great artist who is from Scotland. I met him through mutual friends and we just clicked. "Face of A Girl" was the first song we wrote, and we just knocked that one out and we were really happy with it. He sang on the demo and I really thought he had it - especially when so many of my songs at the time were targeted for Michael Jackson. I thought Jamie nailed that stuff without sounding like Michael Jackson.Bee: You and David both took Michael Sherwood under your wings for some stage of his career, but I guess you really saw something in him way back around 1980. Is it true that he didn't become a writing contributor to Toto until the XIV (Toto 14) album?Porcaro: We sort of discovered him when his band Logic was rehearsing next to us. And David and I co-produced an album for them. So we always had a chemistry. We kind of just click. He's like a psychiatrist to me. I can tell him things and he's able to turn it into a narrative that hopefully makes sense.Bee: Has the long and sometimes painful shift from analog to digital in the world of keyboards and recording offered you as many advantages as maybe people assume about anything that's gone computerized - or do you miss some things about those days of analog stomp boxes, tape reels and piano tuners?Bee: What are audiences in store for when they see Toto in Ridgefield?Porcaro: We like to change it up, so along with all the songs you'd expect, there will probably be a few deeper cuts. I think there will be one or two surprises here for the long-time fans. We love that.For tickets to the Ridgefield Playhouse show ($125), call the box office at 203-438-5795 or visit ridgefieldplayhouse.org. The playhouse is a non-profit performing arts center located at 80 East Ridge (parallel to Main Street) in Ridgefield.Remaining tickets for Toto, with special guest Boz Scaggs ($30-$55), for the August 25 show at The Grand Theater at Foxwoods Resort Casino, Mashantucket, are available at ticketmaster.com.

A founding member of the Grammy Award-winning rock band Toto, Porcaro recently released his first ever solo album,

The tour also stops at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Mashantucket on August 25.

In an exclusive chat with

Toto powered its way through the late '70s and '80s with hits including "Hold The Line," "Rosanna" and "Africa," but their success has been remarkably sustained among fans of the band's rock-heavy jazz fusion - to the extent that they have successfully released 14 albums - the most recent being

On the upcoming shows, core Toto members Porcaro, Lukather, David Paich, and Joseph Williams will be joined by Castro on percussion, Forest on drums, the legendary Leland Sklar on bass, along with back-up vocalists Carpenter and Jenny Douglas.

As individuals and heavily-relied-upon session players, Toto's current, past and late band members can be heard on an astonishing 5,000-plus albums that together amass a sales history of a half a billion albums. These recordings have garnished more than 200 Grammy nominations.

With over 38 years together and thousands of credits and accolades to their names, Toto remains one of the top selling touring and recording acts in the world. The band's impressive work is the benchmark by which many artists base their sound and production.

Porcaro's first solo album has actually been in the making since 1983, with the tune "Back To You" first being worked on by Toto, and "More Than I Can Take" being the most recent track he finished.

He explained that "Back To You" was originally recorded with Toto, however Porcaro never got around to finishing it himself until last year. The reworked solo track features both of Steve's late brothers, Jeff and Mike.

"Back To You" is also a song he wrote for his then girlfriend Rosanna Arquette who was later musically immortalized in Toto's 1983 Grammy-winning Record of the Year "Roseanna."

"I've always been writing and recording over the years, hoping to find homes for these songs with other artists," Porcaro remarked in an advance. "Lately, I've been reminded repeatedly how short life is, and I think it's finally sinking in and with the encouragement of my band, family and fans, I decided it was time to remove my excuses, throw down, let go and finish these songs the way I hear them."

Porcaro's touring career began at the age of 17 with Gary Wright, in support of Wright's hit album,

Steve's older brothers, Mike and Jeff were also members of Toto and highly respected session musicians, while their father Joe Porcaro is regarded was one of the world's most influential session percussionists and educators. The family originally hails from the Hartford area.

In 2010, Steve toured with Toto when the decision was made to reform the band in support of his brother Mike, during Mike's lengthy battle with ALS. He lost that battle on March 15, 2015, at the age of 59.

Jeff died in 1992 shortly after reportedly breathing pesticides he was spraying around his southern California home.

A sought-after session musician, Steve Porcaro has worked extensively with music producer icons Quincy Jones and David Foster, and many of music's most successful artists including Don Henley, YES, Elton John, Boz Scaggs, and many others.

Highly respected for his film and television scores, Steve composed the music for the award-winning FX show

Along with his work on Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", Steve Porcaro performed other

A testament to its compositional influence, "Human Nature" has been covered and/or sampled by many artists including Miles Davis, Stevie Wonder, John Mayer, SWV, Nas, and Chris Brown.

Jamie Kimmett is featured on the cuts "She's So Shy," and "Face Of A Girl," Michael Sherwood sings "Make Up," and Mabvuto Carpenter is featured on "Painting By Numbers." Longtime collaborator Marc Bonilla appears on the album as well.

During his call-in to

Porcaro: (laughing) You know I still use it all - from the bleeding edge equipment, I use Midi, and these days its all jumbled together with my old stuff. It just kind of all comes out in the wash. I just use whatever works. For me, patching together digital and analog has always been easy. There are purists out there who want me to do everything with polyfusion. But today, my focus is just finishing my songs. I let the synthesizer guy take the backseat. I'm always interested in groundbreaking technical stuff, but today I use anything and everything I have to just get that done.

Check out Toto performing "Bend" at a concert in Denmark earlier this year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc9qAy3KWTY

Toto jams on the hit "Africa" during a February 2016 concert in Vienna:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvPFp42xhUw

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