The commitment to a farewell Aerosmith tour looming on the distant horizon, Steven Tyler is getting his solo wings for the first time in his career. His 20-date Steven Tyler … Out on a Limb tour kicks off Saturday in Las Vegas, and his long-awaited country album We’re All Somebody from Somewhere is scheduled for a July 15 release. Although Tyler’s been emphasizing “the brand of myself” following a 2009 fall from a concert stage, this summer finds him sharing stories about his life with audiences along with his new music in a way he’s previously done only on the printed page. As a singer who arguably embodies hard rock and perfected the living-on-the-edge lifestyle that goes with it, Tyler has a lot of tales to tell.

Tyler, 68, relocated to Nashville after spending several years living in the Hollywood Hills, where he could be close to his gig as a judge on American Idol. “Nashville’s been so good to me in the last year and a half,” the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer said in a June 8 news conference. “And I managed to put together 15, 16 songs that are … it just came out much better than I ever expected.”

Out on a Limb, which Tyler developed with film director Brett Ratner, was previewed at a benefit for Janie’s Fund—his charitable initiative that provides financial assistance to abused and neglected girls—in New York at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Theater in April. His backup band is Nashville-based Loving Mary, whose members provide the instrumentation and harmonies that help contrast Tyler’s solo material with Aerosmith’s catalog.

While Tyler has related his life story in his own memoir Does the Noise in My Head Bother You? and Aerosmith’s official biography Walk This Way, the Out on a Limb tour provides him with an opportunity to be more intimate with audiences. “I get to talk to people and be up close and personal,” Tyler told reporters. “And tell them how the music business is a dark trench; a dark, dirty, money trench. And just talk about where I get my passion from.”

Whether or not Out on a Limb leads to Tyler distancing himself from his longtime bandmates remains to be seen. Both Tyler and guitarist Brad Whitford have mused publicly about going out on top while guitarist Joe Perry recently said he’s not working on a timetable for the end of Boston’s hardest-rocking sons. Tyler’s commitment to country may be as permanent as he says his move to Nashville is.

“I’m really getting a chance to play, to sing some—sing a different style of song, if you will,” said Tyler. “A little bit more open. We play a little quieter onstage. So you can hear banjo and slide guitar and you can hear the mandolin … it’s beautiful the way it pokes out. I’m really grateful that I got a chance to come down to this musical mecca called Nashville and write with the great people that I have. Because I got some great songs.”

The Venetian, 8 p.m. July 2, starting at $80 plus tax and fee. 702.414.9000