Hugh Laurie on music: ‘I’m in it for the long haul’

Any time an actor decides to try a new career, say, music, there will always be some degree of eye rolling.

Hugh Laurie understands the skepticism, and agrees that he would be dubious himself if he was sitting in the audience rather than behind the piano.

But his detour into music isn’t a half-hearted novelty. Laurie believes in the songs he recorded for his first album, the New Orleans-tinged “Let Them Talk” and is equally enamored with the blues tunes he and the ace musicians in the Copper Bottom Band swagger through on his recently released “Didn’t It Rain.”

His fall tour, which wraps on Sunday at Buckhead Theatre, has brought out genuine music fans, not merely curiosity seekers wanting to see the handsome crank from the TV show “House.”

“We’ve had the most amazing time in the most surprising places,” Laurie said earlier this week, calling a few hours before his appearance on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

The much-awarded actor, 54, and his band have been offering up a set list rife with classics such as Professor Longhair’s “Go to the Mardi Gras” and Lead Belly’s “You Don’t Know My Mind.” But he’s also shuffled in topical covers such as a tribute to Lou Reed – “The only official fan club I ever joined when I was 14,” Laurie said – and area-specific songs such as “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” in Minnesota and the “Tennessee Waltz” in Nashville. Chances are you’ll hear “Georgia on My Mind” in Atlanta.

In conversation, it’s evident how much the humorous and self-effacing Laurie relishes music, whether playing it, talking about it or performing it. Here is what he had to say:

Q: Do you have to consciously shift gears when it comes time to promote your music compared to acting, or is music so innate that it’s easy to live in that world?

A: It's certainly the thing that I love. Not to say that I've been in the position of promoting things that I don't love, but sometimes you have to put on a brave face. I usually find myself alone in the bar after everyone has gone to bed, banging on about [late country blues singer] Lightnin' Hopkins. But maybe it's just that I'm a bore.

Q: What does music bring you that acting doesn’t?

A: There's a sheer, physical sensual pleasure playing with a band. I'm fascinated by the whole business of storytelling and trying to convey what a character is thinking and why they're behaving that way. But to me it very often seems that people become actors in order to hide their true identity, and music — for the most part — is about taking masks off and revealing yourself. For that reason it's a terrifying form of expression. But when it connects to the audience it's such an emotional thing, while acting can be satisfying like solving a problem.

Q: You’ve played piano since childhood, and even though you made no secret of being a musician, your first album didn’t arrive until 2011. Was it merely logistics that prevented you from doing it sooner or did you reach a point when you thought, OK, it’s time?

A: Option B, I suppose. But then there's fear, uncertainty, I'm not qualified — all of those natural feelings that inhibit all of us. The first time someone came to me and said, "Do you want to do this?" I said no, I'm not ready. And then I thought, as you say, this may not come my way again and I don't want to be the guy in 10 years saying, I could have done that. But I don't think anyone is ever really ready. Even astronauts counting down for liftoff are probably sitting there saying, "I never read paragraph seven in the manual."

Q: Now that you’ve released your second album, do you feel more secure in proving to those who might not take an actor-musician seriously that you are?

A: I don't imagine I'll be over that (insecurity) for a decade. I'm in it for the long haul. All I can do to show my serious intent is to keep going. Every night we go out and put on as good a show we can do. I'm very proud of it. I think I would have a good time if I was in the audience and I don't normally like watching me. If we keep doing that, with as much energy and joy and sincerity as we can, eventually I'll get over that hump.

Q: What’s next for you? Are you still working on the film “Tomorrowland”?

A: Yes, that goes on until the beginning of February. The characters are live action, and it's great, wonderful experience. It's surreal to go back and forth between that and playing in a band. But when the movie is finished we're going to South America, Australia, Japan. I hope to keep on going around the world until people get sick of us.