Paul McCartney says returning to his usual bass playing duties on his new album, "Driving Rain," was "simple and satisfying." As previously reported, the set, McCartney's first since 1999's "Run Devil Run," is due Nov. 13 in North America. "One of the things that began when we were doing 'Run Devil Run,' was me remembering that I'm mainly the bass player," he said. "Talking about the old way the Beatles used to record brought that back to me. So although I've played a bit of guitar and stuff on the occasional track, I've basically been the bass player. That's my role."

The 15-track "Driving Rain" was produced by David Kahne (Tony Bennett, Sugar Ray) and features Rusty Anderson on guitar, Gabe Dixon on keyboards, and Abe Loboriel Jr. on drums. First single "From a Lover to a Friend" hit U.S. radio outlets last week and will also be featured in the upcoming film "Vanilla Sky," starring Tom Cruise.

"We came into the studio on Monday morning, I'd show them a song, and we'd start doing it," McCartney says. "We recorded 18 tracks in the first two weeks, in February, and then I went back to [Los Angeles] in June and recorded another couple of tracks and mixed the album. So making the whole album from beginning to end has taken about five weeks. That's still pretty good going, but that is the kind of work rate we'd do in the Beatles."

As previously reported, McCartney will be at the center of the star-studded Concert for New York, set for Oct. 20 at New York's Madison Square Garden. Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, the Who, and Billy Joel are among the other confirmed participants for the event, which will benefit tragedy relief efforts.