The cure for the blues: Hugh Laurie celebrates New Orleans

LOS ANGELES - Hugh Laurie is sick of playing "House." You sense it in his performance, which has become as routine as a checkup. You sense it in the way he shies away from the press, trodding wearily down the red carpet at media events and then quickly dashing to his limousine as if every reporter carried a deadly virus.

I don't blame him. Seven years as TV's grouchiest doctor is bound to get to you. But I miss the old Laurie, the one who basked in the possibilities when the show first premiered, cheerfully spilling anecdotes long into the evening and still pinching himself that a British actor was getting a shot in America.

That giddy sensation was back one afternoon last July -- and it's probably because no one was talking about Gregory House. Laurie was promoting "Let Them Talk: A Celebration of New Orleans," a PBS special and a CD that confirms he's not faking it when his TV character picks up a guitar or meditates at the piano.

"I suppose this whole project is really closer to who I am than many things I've done," said Laurie, 52, confessing that he often gets lost at the keyboard for hours after a taping of his drama. "It was a genuine journey of discovery."

The concept is simple: Laurie spends the daylight hours bicycling around the Crescent City. At night, he takes his perch in a makeshift club with stripped-down walls to jam on classics like "You Don't Know My Mind," "Tipitina" and "Swanee River" with Louisiana heroes Irma Thomas and Dr. John.

Laurie's love affair with blues and jazz began in his youth in England. He spent much of his teenage years obsessing over Muddy Waters and trying to imitate the piano playing of Otis Spann. He also began to hear tales of a near-mystical city across the pond.

"New Orleans just had a sort of fragrance and spirit to me, even for a young English boy thousands of miles away," he said. "That's how powerful its spirit seemed to be. It's always exuded this sheer love for life and happiness and joy, but at the same time it has a sort of mournful side to it."

But even after his stateside success, Laurie never made it down to New Orleans, so he was intimidated when someone approached him with the idea of cutting an album there.

"I could feel the word 'no' rising up in me. I was about to say, 'You're out of your mind. I'll be killed for trying to do that,'" he said. "But then I put the brakes on. I thought that this might not come my way again and one day I'll be able to say to my grandchildren, 'I made a record,' and they will go, 'That's the worst thing I've ever heard in my life.'"

Not likely. Laurie has the chops to keep up with music legends, thanks mainly to a delicate touch at the piano. Guest Tom Jones dares to compare him to Jerry Lee Lewis. And while his singing voice wouldn't wow Simon Cowell, it's bluesy enough to pass.

Laurie also plays in a rock cover group called Band From TV with fellow actors James Denton, Adrian Pasdar and Greg Grunberg.

He gave some indication that once "House" ends -- this is most likely its last season -- he might make music a full-time gig.

"I've had this rather romantic idea since I was very young of playing in a jazz trio in Lisbon," he said. "I don't know why. I've never been to Lisbon. But they must have lots of vibrant jazz clubs. Or maybe I'll be playing 'Autumn Leaves' in some hotel lobby somewhere. If someone said we'd love for you to do another one of these and it starts at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning, I would be there like a shot. And if that eventually leads me to that cafe in Lisbon, so be it."

njustin@startribune.com • 612-673-7431 • Follow Justin on Twitter: @nealjustin