Everybody in Meaford had better be ready to rock when Kim Mitchell takes the stage in the Market Square this Saturday night.

Mitchell is headlining the Saturday night concert in the Market Square to celebrate Meaford Hall's Centenary. In an exclusive interview with The Express last Friday morning, he said he was ready to put on a great rock show for Meaford.

"It will be a cross-section of my whole career. I'm all about customer service when I play. What do you want to hear?" said Mitchell. "I love playing all of my songs, they're all my kids. I enjoy playing them all," he said.

Mitchell is universally regarded as one of the most influential rock musicians in Canadian history.

He has two Juno Awards and has gold, platinum and double-platinum albums. Throughout his career he has maintained a busy touring schedule and last he year released his first album of new material in eight years.

Mitchell has lived in the Collingwood area for 15 years and has been to Meaford numerous times.

He played in the municipality just a few years ago at the Great Lakes Jam. He said it is a real pleasure to be involved with an event as important as the Meaford Hall Centenary celebration.

"I'm totally honoured to be doing this, it's excellent. It's going to be really nice," he said, admitting his love for outdoor shows in smaller Canadian towns. "I prefer rocking outdoors in the summer and I prefer small towns to major Canadian cities," he said.

Mitchell said the Meaford venue in the middle of the downtown area will certainly be unique and he's excited about the show.

"I'm really looking forward to this," he said. "There are some friends I haven't seen in awhile up there and I'm sure they will want to come backstage and drink my beer," he said with a laugh.

Mitchell said you can expect to hear all of his hits such as Patio Lanterns, Easy to Tame, Go For a Soda and I Am a Wild Party from his solo career and material from his Max Webster days as well.

Mitchell's latest album - Ain't Life Amazing - was released last year. He hadn't written or recorded new songs in several years, but realized song writing was something he loved to do.

"I didn't set out to make a record. I took a break from song writing, when I played people wanted to hear my hits, but I just missed writing songs. It is something I love to do," he said.

He has been very pleased with the reaction to the album.

"Everybody who hears this record says: 'wow, Kim, I didn't know you had it in you in your mid-50s,'" he said. "They love hearing me rip it, I couldn't be prouder of this record from top to bottom," he said.

In addition to his music, Mitchell also hosts the afternoon drive radio show on Toronto rock station Q-107. He calls that gig his "day job" and on Fridays after the show usually he's getting in a plane or a car to get to his next concert venue.

"I have two jobs I love doing. I'm one of those lucky people and I get to wake up and do something I love," he said.

Mitchell said for him there was a serious learning curve when he started in radio. After a couple months he was ready to pack it in and move on, but his bosses wanted to stick with him and give him the opportunity to catch on and make an impact with the audience. Mitchell is involved with all the details of the radio show.

"I try to bring my personality to it and do something unique," he said, noting that his father thinks it's hysterical that his rock star son has a day job. "I never had a day job in my life. My father just howled when I told him," he said.