When the Eagles released Long Road Out of Eden in 2007, the first single was How Long, a J.D. Souther tune from '72. It might have been the first time people had thought about him in years. After all, it's been an astounding 24 years since his last album or tour.

But now If The World Was You is here, a set of Souther originals in a bit of a jazz setting. The Nashville-based singer-songwriter is touring as well, with a show Tuesday at the Soiled Dove with just him and three custom-made Gibson acoustics. The co-writer of some of the Eagles' biggest hits spoke recently with Rocky pop music writer Mark Brown on the phone from Detroit, the city of his birth.

Everyone's asking what you've been doing for 24 years. We'll go the opposite way: What made you come back now?

The answer is the material was there. I started writing a particular bunch of stuff in Cuba when I was there in '98. It grew into this album. One thing on this album predates that: Journey Down the Nile I started in about '74.

Fans assume you have a huge backlog of songs.

I do have a lot of backlog, but it's more unfinished pieces than unreleased pieces. As I finish things, I tend to have an idea where they're going. . . . I was just looking for something fresh to say - or a fresh way to say it. I have hidden parts of romance, politics and sociology scrambled in the lyrics.

How did you assemble the band for this album?

I was just bored with guitar bands. Not that I don't love them. I've had some of the best guitar bands in the world. But I just wanted to do something different. When I was a kid I grew up playing jazz, a horn player and a drummer. The sonic shape of the band is really modeled pretty closely after those '59 to '65 Miles Davis bands. Two horns, a keyboard and these guys have to tolerate me as an acoustic guitar player. I try to give myself as little to play as possible. I wrote these songs based more on modes and lines rather than just chord changes. Playing in these horn keys are much different. . . . The challenge was learning how to play decently and minimally in these keys I'm not used to playing in. . . . I just decided I was going to do something I didn't know how to do.

Are they on the road with you?

No, (the tour) is me and a bunch of my guitars and a piano. I thought after all this time I'd do the most audience friendly, comfortable way to play. This way people don't have any doubts that they're going to hear songs from all the years I've been writing.

Was it hard to find a label?

I wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear from the major labels, such as they were - actually, they were kind of folding up. People in the business are so genre-afflicted and they've segregated themselves. They're afraid to step across the lines that used to be almost invisible. When I moved to California in '68, you could turn on nighttime FM shows and hear Jimi Hendrix, followed by the Burrito Brothers, followed by Cream, followed by Hank Williams. That's what made music the revolutionary force it was back then.

You're most known for your collaborations. Do you prefer that?

That's just because of the Eagles stuff. That was just a really fortunate period of time with some great friends. We were all absolutely poverty-stricken at the same time. When we all met none of us had record deals, or else we had miserable record deals. It's like we went through basic training together. For that particular band, I will say Glenn (Frey) and Don (Henley) and I and Jackson (Browne), too - the four of us knew what that band needed. It was completely unspoken. We just wrote songs together. . . . People always credit me with putting that band together, but the fact is my girlfriend was Linda Ronstadt and she needed a backup band. Glenn and I had been a duo, and Glenn wanted to add more people to the band while I wanted to stay home alone and work on songs. We were all doing our own thing but the Eagles thing was just a fortuitous moment in history.

I like the line in If the World Was You: "If the world was you I'd travel it extensively / visiting some places twice." How did that song come about?

That's the only time that song has ever been played. One take, 'Follow me guys, I've got an idea.' The guys rolled their eyes. I sat at the piano, wrote the last verse and a half, noodled around for a minute, found this weird tuning on the guitar - a C-sharp-minor-7-9. It only plays one song. It's made for this song. . . . We got these astonishing solos and interplay among musicians. We tried for two weeks to edit it, and it didn't work.

What's your view of your career?

I'm a lifer. I'm in this for life. I met Tony Bennett summer before last on the way to his 80th birthday party. He says to me 'So are you dong any dates?' I said 'Not so much. . . . How about you, you still doing dates?' He goes, 'Naw, we're cutting down to about 60 a year.' I just thought, 'Holy crap, this guy's 80 years old. He sounds great. He's doing 60 gigs a year.' There is no excuse for wimping out on this stuff.

J.D. Souther

* When and where: 8 p.m. Tuesday, The Soiled Dove, 7401 E. 1st Ave.

* Cost: $15-$20

* Information: 303-366-0007 or www.SoiledDove.com