Not average your Joe

It started out as just another day in the life of Joe Henry, the Grammy-winning producer and veteran singer-songwriter, when the baseball legend Willie Mays paid him a visit, unannounced. There Mays was, appearing as an apparition, dressed not in his San Francisco Giants uniform but rather his street clothes — a yellow pullover top and tan slacks — shopping for garage door accessories in Arizona.

The center fielder’s image both informs the opening line and stands as a symbol of a lost America in ‘‘Our Song,’’ a hazy ballad that is the centerpiece of Henry’s new album, ‘‘Civilians’’ (out last week on the Anti- label).

‘‘I saw Willie Mays at a Scottsdale Home Depot,’’ Henry sings with incredulity over muted piano, percussion, and the smoky billow of strings. ‘‘Looking at garage door springs/At the far end of the 14th row.’’

‘‘The first line of that song just presented itself verbatim to me,’’ says Henry on the phone from his Los Angeles home. ‘‘I didn’t pick Willie Mays as a metaphor. Willie Mays showed up to tell me about the song, and I’m not being coy — that’s just how it happens sometimes. He arrived as an image, and I followed it. I really didn’t have a notion as to what that song was about when I started writing it.’’

Indeed, Henry, who performs at the Museum of Fine Arts tonight, likes to talk about music and songs — not just the ones he writes, but the whole vast world of them — as living, breathing things with a spirit all their own: animated, vital, and pulsing with electricity. That approach has led him to embrace a range of styles, detours, and possibilities that have earned him the rightful reputation as one of pop’s most independent-minded, versatile, and respected songwriters and producers. (Even his sister-in-law, Madonna — yes, that Madonna — saw fit to cover one of his songs; she retitled ‘‘Stop’’ as ‘‘Don’t Tell Me,’’ changed the arrangement, and scored a hit with it.) He’s explored everything from rootsy Americana and dusty folk to jazz-tinged atmospheres and elaborately arranged pop.

‘‘Civilians’’ is the sound of Henry stepping, and stripping, back. It’s a muted, low-key affair constructed from open spaces inside which troubled characters and a disquieting tension reside.

‘‘After ‘Scar’ [2002] and ‘Tiny Voices’ [2003], which were more widescreen, big-canvas projects, it seems very natural that the next step would be to try to achieve a similar kind of drama and intensity but use fewer elements and have them speak louder,’’ Henry says. ‘‘It was important to challenge myself to clear away whatever wasn’t essential. I don’t see it as a shift, but I do see it as progress.’’

‘‘Civilians’’ boasts collaborations with jazz guitar master Bill Frisell, dobro specialist Greg Leisz, and Brian Wilson’s frequent collaborator, pianist Van Dyke Parks. In the past, Henry has also worked with jazz titan Ornette Coleman and produced albums by, among others, soul icon Solomon Burke (with whom he won a Grammy for Burke’s ‘‘Don’t Give Up on Me’’), Elvis Costello, pop singer-songwriter Aimee Mann, and blues singer-guitarist Susan Tedeschi. Most recently, he worked with Richie Havens, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and John Doe on the soundtrack to director Todd Haynes’s impressionistic film about Bob Dylan, ‘‘I’m Not There: Suppositions on a Film Concerning Dylan.’’

Tedeschi, who grew up in Norwell, earned her fourth Grammy nomination for 2005’s ‘‘Hope and Desire’’ album, with Henry at the helm. ‘‘It was pretty effortless making the record on a lot of levels because everyone was so talented and easy to work with, and I think a big part of that was Joe,’’ says Tedeschi from Florida, where she lives with her husband, Allman Brothers guitarist Derek Trucks, and their two children. ‘‘He’s a motivated guy — he’s there early and dressed to the nines — and he always knew how to bring the best out of people. I think one of the things that makes him a great producer and artist is that he’s open-minded enough to create all different types of music. He’s not afraid to try to record things differently.’’

There are perks besides kudos from Henry’s peers and an impressive resume. ‘‘My son, who’s 16, is a very serious tenor sax player and goes to a performing arts high school,’’ says Henry, 46. ‘‘So the fact that I’ve worked with Ornette [Coleman] and Brian Blade and Bill Frisell doesn’t hurt my cred in the car pool one bit.’’

Another benefit to working on other people’s projects as a producer, Henry says, is that the experience offers him a unique bird’s-eye view when it comes to undertaking and understanding his own work processes.

‘‘When you’re working with another artist, it’s not about pushing your own persona forward, so you get to see the mechanics of making a record, and you’re liberated of that bit of vanity,’’ he says. ‘‘And you hope that when you come down to earth, you bring that to your own work.

‘‘Strangely, the more I work, the less disparity I see between the two occupations [of producer and artist],’’ adds Henry. ‘‘In either case, my goal is to make something meaningful come out of a pair of speakers. My goal is always to put a light on the song. I do feel that I’m getting better at what I do, and I think the real trick right now — with the music industry being what it is — is this: How can you survive long enough to the point where you might actually get good?’’

Joe Henry performs at the Museum of Fine Arts (465 Huntington Ave.) tonight at 7:30. Tickets are $20, $16 for students, seniors, and MFA members at mfa.org/concerts or 617-369-3306.

BITS & PIECES Tonight: Mr. Airplane Man flies into the Abbey Lounge for the first of a two-night landing. Drug Rug hosts a CD-release party at P.A.’s Lounge. The Black Lips are at the Middle East Downstairs. Rilo Kiley headlines Avalon. Tomorrow: A bevy of Boston bands and artists, including Willie Alexander, Asa Brebner, Dennis Brennan, the Lyres, Robin Lane, Andrea Gillis, and the Charms’ Ellie Vee and Joe Wizda, help local rock critic Brett Milano throw a book bash for his new ‘‘The Sound of Our Town’’ tome at the Middle East Downstairs. Heavy Trash is at T.T. the Bear’s. Sunday: Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals headline the Orpheum. The Handsome Family is at Great Scott. The Klaxons are at the Paradise. Tuesday: Okkervil River is at the Middle East Downstairs. Thursday: Iron and Wine is at the Orpheum. John Vanderslice kicks off the first of a two-night stand at the Middle East Upstairs.