Even when working overtime, Bleu’s upbeat

For one thing, it’s Bleu’s birthday (his 34th), and when we talk over iced chai tea at a Central Square coffeehouse, his mom rings his cellphone to leave him a message. “She’s calling to tell me the story about the day I was born,’’ Bleu, who was born William James McCauley III, says with cheerful affection. “She does it every year.’’

For another, the onetime Boston-based singer-songwriter is back in the area to promote “A Watched Pot,’’ after flying in the night before from Los Angeles, where he now lives. He’ll spend the week making radio and in-store appearances, as well as returning to the Berklee College of Music, his alma mater (Class of ’96), as guest instructor for a day. He plays a record-release show tonight at T.T. the Bear’s.

Amid the slew of songwriting and recording projects and production diversions that have filled Bleu’s days since he moved to LA, the long-delayed “A Watched Pot’’ is only his second solo album since his 2003 major label debut, “Redhead,’’ was released by Columbia/Aware. “It got to the point where I kind of gave up,’’ Bleu says.

“I honestly didn’t think it was ever going to see the light of day. I didn’t put out another solo record in the interim even though I’ve done side projects, because I really didn’t want to put one out until I could get this one out. I always felt really strongly about this material. It never stopped being important to me to try to get it out and share it with people.’’

Like so many other artists caught up in music industry upheaval and downsizing of the past decade, Bleu found his future in limbo when his label initially balked at releasing the intended follow-up to “Redhead,’’ and then dropped him altogether. But unlike other artists whose major-label experiences become the stuff of nightmares, Bleu got back the rights to his record. It took an agonizing four years, but Bleu says he feels lucky - and relieved - to have the album in stores and available for download (through Artist Garage and Fontana Distribution) at long last.

“It was really about the patience of waiting and harassing them and saying, hey, can we get that back now? Hey, how about now?’’ he says about contacting Columbia’s parent company, Sony. “When they got around to paying attention, the process was really simple and painless and easy. The only catch is, I can’t go to a major label with this. But at this point, who would want to?’’

“A Watched Pot’’ is loaded with precisely the kind of lush production and sugary pop rushes that have long been Bleu’s blueprint. This is, after all, a guy who’s written songs with the Jonas Brothers (he shared a co-writing credit for “That’s Just the Way We Roll’’) and Hanson (“Go,’’ which appears on “A Watched Pot,’’ was written with Zach Hanson and Shannon Curfman and released on Hanson’s 2007 CD, “The Walk’’). Not coincidentally, Bleu grew up addicted to the candied production techniques Robert “Mutt’’ Lange employed on all those Def Leppard (and Shania Twain) albums, and he counts ex-Electric Light Orchestra leader-turned-producer Jeff Lynne as one of his idols.

A few years back, Bleu enlisted pals like Jellyfish’s Andy Sturmer and the Candy Butchers’ Mike Viola to help him record an album-length tribute to Lynne titled “L.E.O.’’ Bleu says he even met the man himself. “He gave me a nice little golf clap and said, ‘Well done,’ ’’ recalls Bleu, demonstrating by placing his hands together as if about to pray and quietly clapping. “It was awesome!’’

Next up is “Loud Lion,’’ a recording project that Bleu describes as his “homage’’ to Lange, and a new Bleu album he hopes to release next year. “I get bored easily, and I feel like it’s one of those strange equations that the more I have to do, the more I can get done,’’ Bleu says. “For me, being stagnant kind of freaks me out.’’

Jack Perricone, who chairs Berklee’s songwriting department, remembers Bleu as a precocious pupil. “He always went beyond the normal assignments and always seemed to be stretching,’’ Perricone says. “If I asked him to write something with a melody, he’d write it in 5/4 time. And it’s rare to have a student who can write interesting melodies and lyrics, write interesting harmonies, and sing well. I thought he had a lot of what it takes to make it as a songwriter.’’

Music always consumed Bleu, and vice versa. He started writing songs at age 7 and claims an epiphany hit him during a Poison concert at the dawn of the ’90s.

“I was really into hair metal at the time, and I literally had a sky-opened-up-voice-from-God moment,’’ says Bleu, breaking into another grin.

“I don’t know if it was the secondhand marijuana smoke, but the top of the arena opened up and a big light came down and a voice said, ‘If these idiots can do it, so can you.’ And I never looked back.’’