Old cowboy up to new tricks.

Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard

Back in the 1960s, Ian Tyson started out his musical career in folk. His music got a second wind when he moved into cowboy country.

Now, at the age of 72, he's flirting with a mellower, jazzier sound on his latest album, "Songs From the Gravel Road." Tyson will sing those tunes when he appears at the Shedd on Wednesday.

"I wanted some different textures, some different colors," Tyson said in a phone interview from his cattle ranch in Alberta, Canada.

"I kept hearing jazz influences in the songs I was writing. I thought if the players were really good, which they were, they could take it into a somewhat different dimension.

`It's still Western. It doesn't have to be simple. It can have some sophistication."

Four decades ago, with his then-wife, Tyson was part of the duo Ian & Sylvia. The pair sang traditional folk, covered Bob Dylan and Gordon Lightfoot, and threw in a few of their own compositions, such Sylvia's "You Were on My Mind" and Ian's classic "Some Day Soon."

Ian & Sylvia drew a decent following in the '60s folk scene, but they never had the commercial clout of a Joan Baez or Peter Paul & Mary. They popped up again as The Great Speckled Bird, a jazz-rock group that never attained much traction.

The couple divorced in the 1970s, each pursuing separate singing careers.

Tyson's biggest song from those early days was "Four Strong Winds," which was covered by Neil Young and numerous others. It has survived the collapse of the folk scene.

Earlier this year, listeners in a Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio poll dubbed it the "most essential" piece of Canadian popular music.

In his most recent musical incarnation, Tyson has had a strong presence in the world of cowboy poetry, playing the big gathering at Elko, Nev., each year.

A few years ago, Tyson even wrote a song about Claude Dallas, an Idaho buckaroo turned cop-killer who is a darling of the cowboy poetry set.

"I knew a lot of the buck- aroos that knew him and some that were even somewhat involved in his (1986 prison) escape," Tyson said. "So Tom Russell and I wrote the song. We did a lot of research.

`I found out only last week that Claude Dallas had heard it and he was rather embarrassed by the song at first. I got this message thirdhand from two of the buckaroos."

This will be Tyson's first performance in Eugene, though he has played frequently in Bend.

"I like Eastern Oregon, of course," he said.

"Songs From the Gravel Road" refers to Tyson's ranch in the foothills of the Canadian Rockies in Alberta, where the former rodeo cowboy still runs cattle.

"I am moving cattle this afternoon," he said. "A cowboy next door came and helped me. I am running other people's cattle this summer on a per-day basis.

`It works out good for me. There are about 250 here now."

Despite its slightly jazzy arrangements, Tyson's latest album is recognizably Western, with that distinctive voice turning out paeans to the landscape in "Land of Shining Mountains" and to love and loneliness in "So No More."

Tyson isn't worried about alienating his cowboy country fans by sliding edgeways into jazz.

"I have alienated fans for 40 years," he said. "I can't worry about that now. Fans were outraged with the Great Speckled Bird, and that was 30 years ago.

`I have a pretty loyal following."

CONCERT PREVIEW

Ian Tyson

What: Contemporary cowboy music

Where: Jaqua Concert Hall, the Shedd, 285 E. Broadway

When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday

Tickets: $26.50 to $36.50 (434-7000)

Also: Pre-concert dinner at the Shedd, $17.50, by reservation only, 434-7000

CAPTION(S):

Ian Tyson isn't worried his new music will alienate fans.