COUSINS - He still enjoys what he does.

Whoever said old dogs and new tricks don't mesh well has never met Dave Cousins. After reinventing British folk and prog with the Strawbs in the '70s, Cousins dropped out of music for nearly 20 years to work the business side of UK radio. In the late '90s, he cashed out of his radio job and organized annual reunions of the electric Strawbs while tentatively exploring his acoustic vibe in a duo with Strawbs guitarist Brian Willoughby.

In 2002, a duo gig with Willoughby was threatened when Cousins was injured in a fall. After a night at his local pub, Cousins stumbled on his way from the bus stop and sprained his wrist, making any guitar activity impossible. Willoughby suggested recruiting former Strawbs guitarist Dave Lambert for the gig so that Cousins could simply sing. It was a momentous tumble.

"We did two shows, one in a folk club and one in a local pub," says Cousins. "We got booked for the Edinburgh Festival and I said, "Well, we better make an album for it,' so we made Baroque and Roll. That was in 2002 and I haven't stopped playing since. It was a total accident. If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't have done it."

Since then, Cousins has worked steadily with the Strawbs (in acoustic and electric formats), various duos (including Willoughby and former Strawbs/Yes keyboardist Rick Wakeman) and on his own. In this latter role, the 63-year-old British icon is ready to exhibit his newest trick - playing truly solo for one of the rare times in his career.

"The first half-dozen gigs, I've got a fiddle player with me: That's just company to get me used to what it's all about," says Cousins with a laugh. "You can count the number of solo shows I've done on the fingers of one hand. With this tour, I'm going to be doing songs that mean a lot to me personally and are not a part of our regular catalog."

Cousins' true solo tour, titled Stories and Songs, comes on the heels of his new album, the just-released Secret Paths. Everything about the album, from its unlikely birth to its whirlwind recording to its sonic clarity, is remarkable.

"I suddenly thought, "Hold on, we're going to play in America, I'd better do a record that's going to reflect what I'm doing on stage,'" says Cousins. "I'd seen a fellow named Melvin Duffy in a local pub with another band and I e-mailed him and asked him if he'd fancy doing it. He came along on New Year's Day to my house and we rehearsed for two hours. He'd never heard any of the songs before in his life. The next day we went into the studio and we recorded the album between 11 in the morning and 6 in the evening. We mixed it the next day and that was it. I thought, "On the sleeve, I'd better not put that it was recorded in one day or people will think it's a lot of old crap.' I seriously think it's one of the best things I've ever done."

Secret Paths features several of Cousins' previously released solo tracks that have been long out of print (including his tribute to late former Strawbs vocalist Sandy Denny) which he and Duffy re-recorded, along with a newly written track, "Plainsong," and a country-tinged cover of Marlene Dietrich's "Falling in Love Again." Cousins' Stories and Songs tour will feature a number of these songs as well as others from his solo and Strawbs' catalog. In addition, Cousins will relate the tales behind the songs (listen for references to Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, the Clancy Brothers and the Church of England), hence the album's song selections and the tour's name.

"I'll actually be talking about Sandy, how she joined the group and singing that particular song," says Cousins. "I wanted songs that had a story behind them, songs that I can actually talk about and what the songs mean. People hear the songs, they say, "Oh, that's a nice tune,' and they don't really know what they're about. But when you explain them to people, they go, "Wow, I didn't know Sandy Denny was in the band, or that you were in Cleveland when you'd heard that she'd died.'"

When Cousins wraps this American jaunt, he'll head home to complete songs for a new Strawbs album, which is slated for a September release, featuring the very popular 1974 lineup of the group. Those who buy Secret Paths through Witchwood (Cousins' Strawbs/solo label at witchwood.co.uk) will receive a free MP3 of the proposed title track, "The Broken Hearted Bride," which Cousins wrote for Secret Paths but shifted to the band project instead, timed to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the band's debut album.

"I pinch myself every now and then and say, "Is it 40 years ago I started doing this?'" says Cousins. "It's amazing to me that I'm still actually doing it and still talking about and still enjoying it. If I didn't enjoy it, I wouldn't do it."

Dave Cousins: 9 p.m. Friday, March 14, The Winchester, 12112 Madison Ave., 216.226.5681. Tickets: $15. And 8 p.m. Saturday, March 15 (with Alex Bevan) at Kent Stage, 175 E. Main St., Kent, 330.677.5005. Tickets: $15 advance, $20 day of show.