Looking back on his career, Dan Fogelberg observes: ``When I was younger, it was a crusade. Now it's a job.''
That's not all that has changed since Fogelberg debuted 25 years ago with the album Home Free . The singer-songwriter genre lost much of its cachet. Record companies rarely nurture talent the way Epic Records did with him. His discs no longer sell in millions like they did from 1974's Souvenirs through 1984's Windows and Walls .
Still, music remains ``a damn good job,'' Fogelberg says by phone from his home in Colorado.
To prove it, he'll spend the second half of 1997 celebrating his 25th anniversary with a solo acoustic tour and a new four-disc box set.
The 67-song box includes a lengthy biography and track-by-track details. Fogelberg, normally reluctant to reveal too much of himself, decided to open up after reading a Los Angeles Times interview with another famously private singer-songwriter, Joni Mitchell.
``She talked about her songs and what they meant and I said, `God, this is great,' '' Fogelberg says. ``Here I was, a fan of hers, going, `Well, if I'm enjoying this from her, then obviously fans of mine would enjoy this.'
``I didn't have to open up too much,'' he adds with a laugh. ``I don't feel like I had to jeopardize anything. I was just giving some insight into what those songs meant or how they were created.''
Among the stories he reveals: the details behind one of five newly released tunes, Song for a Carpenter . Seems Fogelberg recorded the song in 1983 with the legendary Irish band the Chieftains following an all-nighter.
When the Chieftains showed up, Fogelberg had had little sleep and no food.
``These guys came in with a case of Guinness Stout,'' he says. ``They said'' -- he affects an Irish accent here -- ```Oh, Danny, will you ever be joining us?' And I said, `Uh, uh, sure. You bet.' I say something in the liner notes about the one and only time I had Guinness Stout for breakfast.''
Other previously unreleased songs that appear in the box include Don't Lose Heart , which Fogelberg recorded with James Taylor's band, and Democracy , an anti-Reagan and -Bush song that he recorded for the 1993 River of Souls disc but scrapped when Bill Clinton was elected.
Fogelberg started writing songs as a young man in Peoria, Ill., and at the University of Illinois in Champaign.
He released his first record in 1972. Though it failed to hit, the record company's confidence never shook.
``Young musicians talk to me about what it was like back then,'' he says, ``and the biggest difference I can see is that the record companies needed us. They knew that the artists were what sustained them. Now, it's like the record companies are gods and the kids get their shot. If they don't make it, they're gone.''
Over 25 years, he rewarded that faith with hits such as Part of the Plan , Same Old Lang Syne , Run for the Roses , Leader of the Band and Language of Love .
Some of those will be included on the tour, his first full solo acoustic shows since 1988, though he will skip electric rockers like The Power of Gold . (``Without a rhythm section, it limits what you can do.'')
And fans thinking about yelling out requests should know this: He may not know their favorites.
``People think if you wrote it, you must know it,'' he says. ``That simply isn't true. Some of the songs I haven't sung since the day I recorded them, maybe 20 years ago. In many cases the fans might know these songs better than I do.''
What they can expect, however, is an evening of adult music.
``I'm not writing for kids,'' he says. ``I'm writing about what moves me. I'm a 45-year-old man. I can't expect that what I'm experiencing is going to appeal to a 15- or 16-year-old. Somebody else is writing their story. I'm writing my story.''
