AceShowbiz - Damian Lewis is getting ready to release an album. The former "Homeland" actor has inked a record deal with Decca Records and releases his debut single "Down on the Bowery' on Thursday, April 13 ahead of his LP "Mission Creep" this summer, but he insisted he doesn't think he is the next Bruce Springsteen.

"There's nothing more annoying than an actor who thinks he's Bruce Springsteen. By the way, I don't. This is a mini midlife crisis, but not a full-blown one," he joked to the Daily Mirror newspaper.

The 52-year-old actor's wife, "Peaky Blinders" star Helen McCrory, died of cancer in 2021 and Damian suggested the tragedy has influenced some of the "poignant and deeply personal" songs he has written for the record.

He said, "It encompasses many life experiences, and won't take Sherlock Holmes to work out what some of those are... I suddenly had a lot to say. People will judge if it's any good or not, but for me, it felt entirely natural."

The "Wolf Hall" star - who has 16-year-old daughter Manon, and 15-year-old son Gulliver with his late wife - went busking through Europe after leaving school and he rediscovered his love of the guitar during the COVID-19 lockdown, which allowed him more time to play and write songs. He said, "I wanted the album to give a sense of a journey to this point, from busking 'til now."

Decca Records are delighted with their new signing. Co-presidents Tom Lewis and Laura Monks said in a statement, "We are so delighted that Damian chose Decca. His songwriting is poetic, poignant and deeply personal. The album, recorded just down the road in Kentish Town, has a raw and refreshing honesty to it. Damian really opens his heart and invites us in. It is a thing of great beauty."

Damian has gigs lined up for this summer, including at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival and Black Deer Festival, as well as London's Union Chapel.