Identity Problem a Major Concern for Robben Ford : Music: Guitarist-singer, appearing tonight at the Coach House, says his crisis goes unnoticed by fans.

Robben Ford is a man with an identity problem. But not in the way one might think.

The many fans of the talented blues guitarist and singer are well aware of his work--with Joni Mitchell, the Yellowjackets, George Harrison and Michael McDonald, to name just a few. In 1988, his first album for Warner Bros., “Talk to Your Daughter,” was nominated for a Grammy, and his treatment of Albert King’s “Born Under a Bad Sign” was featured on the soundtrack of Clint Eastwood’s “Pink Cadillac.”

So where’s the identity problem? Ford, who appears at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano tonight, says: “It’s with me.”

“I’m the one who’s had the identity crisis, not my audience,” he said in a conversation last weekend. “They don’t really care what you’re doing, so long as it’s good. But I’ve been going in different directions for most of my musical career.”

Different directions, but good directions. Besides those aforementioned, Ford has played blues with Charlie Musselwhite and Jimmy Witherspoon, jazz with the L. A. Express, pop with Barbra Streisand.

Through it all, though, he’s been driven by a continuing desire to get up front, to be the star rather than the secret weapon in someone else’s group. But his stellar performances as a sideman have not always been matched by achievements with his own bands. His solo discography consists of three albums (one out of print) and a lot of bitter memories.

“I’ve never been in a situation with a record company,” he said, “where they would allow me to be myself on recordings. They say they think you’re great, they string you along for a little while--and then they lay the hard cold facts on you. And you say, ‘Hey, wait a minute, I thought I was happy, I thought I was working with this record company that really liked me,’ and it turns out you’re just another piece of meat. When it comes to the record industry, it’s selling records that it’s all about, and nobody really cares about anything else.”

Selling records was the last thing on his mind when Ford first picked up a guitar in the ‘60s, when he was still a teen-ager. “I loved the blues,” he recalled. “From the time I was 13 to 16, it was all I would listen to. It was a real passion.

“The first blues I heard were from Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield and Charles Musselwhite--who I could sort of relate to, cause they were white. Then, when I began to get into the instrument, it was Elvin Bishop, Eric Clapton, John Mayall and Jimi Hendrix. But I didn’t really understand the blues until I started to hear black players, especially B.B. King and Albert King and a guitarist named Luther Tucker with the James Cotton band.”

Unlike many young blues guitarists, however, Ford was listening to other, quite different music as well. His omnivorous musical interests embraced such performers as Archie Shepp, John Coltrane and Miles Davis.

“Listening to Miles taught me . . . how to use space. When I got my current band together, it felt like a lot of work. For me, playing guitar and singing at the same time is a bit of a load. But listening to Miles, and working with him, taught me how to trust open space, how to just let the holes be there.”

Ford is especially excited about the trio he will bring to the Coach House tonight--more so, he said, than he’s been over any band he’s had. “We’re all sort of on the same level, and we all feel the same way about the music. It’s the kind of chemistry you really long for in a musical group.”

The prospects for a new recording are less clear. “I’ve left Warner Bros.,” he said. “It just wasn’t a good situation for me. I’ve got several new offers, but I don’t want to jump right into another record deal, not until I can be sure to get the music exactly the way I want it.”

Decision time will come when Ford returns from an Italian tour in the spring. “I’ll come back to New York and make another career decision--again,” he said. “I’ve got an offer to go on the road with a real prominent artist, can’t say who right now. I’ll either do that or else continue trying to make it happen with my own group.”

He laughed, somewhat wryly: “There it is again, the old identity crisis problem. One day I’m super-sideman, the next day I’m the guy up front. I sure hope I get it sorted out soon.”

Robben Ford plays tonight at 8 at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. Tickets: $15. Information: (714) 496-8930.