Jeff Daniels steps off the screen 

You mayhave seen him on the big screen in Dumb and Dumber, if not The Squidand the Whale.But have you seen him on a small stage, singing witty and sometimes poignantoriginal tunes with an acoustic guitar?

Actor JeffDaniels has taken some road trips since he went public with his musical side afew years back, but this fall he's going full tilt with a late summer and falltour through the eastern two-thirds of the nation and even into Alaska. Itstops next Wednesday at Radio Radio in Fountain Square.

"It's beenhard to schedule something like this," Daniels says in a phone interview. "Ijust decided, after four or five years of working around the movies and TV, tocarve out part of the year just to do this. That's why I'm going out andstaying out."

Judgingfrom his fourth independent album, Live at the Purple Rose, patrons can expect arelaxed, PG-rated evening that hovers somewhere between "Alice's Restaurant"and Inside the Actors Studio. A scholar of rural blues and old-time music,Daniels fingerpicks deftly while talk-singing about the perils of aging,celebrity and life in general, offering Hollywood anecdotes as segues.

"Themovies precede me – they're part of the reason why people bought a ticketin the first place," he says. "I want to service that expectation, give them whatthey want, and by the time they're done with me, I gave them more than that."

Songwriting,it turns out, has always been the private flip side of his acting career.

"It hadbeen 25 years of writing stuff that no one would hear, and that was fine," hesays. "When I moved to new York in 1976, I bought a guitar and took it with me,knowing I'd be sitting in the apartment waiting for the phone to ring for weeksat a time. The guitar became kind of the '70s answer to a prescription drug— it kept me sane, and I worked hard on it. it was something that I coulddo when my creative services weren't in demand, to kind of keep the motorrunning between acting gigs. it was never intended to come out."

It cameout, however, when Daniels wanted to raise some money for the Purple RoseTheatre Company, a not-for-profit equity theater he founded in his hometown ofChelsea, Mich. The mission of the Purple Rose, where he recorded his latestdisc, is to produce new American plays and provide opportunities for Midwesterntalent. still married to his high school sweetheart, Daniels serves asexecutive director and a contributing playwright for the organization, whichreceives the proceeds from his CD sales and takes its name from the Woody Allenfilm on his resume.

As for thePurple Rosealbum, the titles trace its emotional range from goofy ("When You're Fifty," "ARevisionist's 'Mary Had a little Lamb'") to heartfelt ("The Michigan in Me,""My old Dog, Fred"). "Daddy's little Daughter" recounts teaching a teen todrive while "she's taking every corner like an afterthought." "Allen ParkwayInn" honors the seedy Houston motel that Daniels was relegated to whileshooting his 1983 breakout film, Terms of Endearment. Fellow cast membersJack Nicholson, Debra Winger and Shirley MacLaine stayed at the Ritz Carlton.

Danielsdoesn't apologize for the seemingly lighter moments in his music or his acting.Humor can be serious business with an important social impact, he says.

"That'swhere comedy is best, I think, whether it's Dumb and Dumber or something far moresophisticated, Lewis Black or George Carlin or mark Twain, guys like that," hesays. "As long as there's some truth to it, I think it's absolutely valid andjust as serious an art form as drama and tragedy are.

"I'm not astandup comedian, I know that. Woody Allen was not doing standup on the movieset. Rarely were there jokes. it was all business and seriousness, and how dowe make this funny, and how do we go about improving that move and that stagingand that line. The craft of it all has always been more interesting to me thanbeing able to hold up a tomato and do five minutes."

Whetherpursuing comedy, drama or music, Daniels adds, timing is crucial.

"Theprecision – that's what you learn when you work with guys like JimCarrey, Woody Allen, Robin Williams, Neil Simon," he says. "There's a precisionto comedy that is razor sharp. it looks like they're winging it, but it's asmusical as anything, finding the rhythm to make the joke work. There'ssomething very musical about landing a punch line. It's almost beat-ed out,like a lyric or a chord progression. It's real connected for me."

Aside fromplanning the tour, Daniels has been focusing on his stage career with a role inthe dark comedy God of Carnage on Broadway. The production sold out every showduring its initial March-November 2009 run and won a Tony Award for Best Play.Daniels was nominated for Best Actor, as were his co-stars, and he rejoined thecast in a different role from March to June this year.

As for film,Daniels has a minor role in the upcoming Allen Ginsberg biopic "Howl," butotherwise there's nothing in the pipeline.

"Whenyou're on Broadway for eight shows a week, there's not much time to do anythingelse," he says. "So I don't see any movies coming out anytime soon."

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