Rodgers Returns to Glory Days of Blues Rock : The vocalist, who will perform in Irvine, stands by an ‘old approach’ on a new album that features such guitar heroes as Jeff Beck.

When bands such as Cream, Led Zeppelin and the Jeff Beck Group created the guitar-dominated roar that would come to be known as heavy metal, they drew form and inspiration from the blues.

In more recent years, metal has metamorphosed into an often proudly vulgar babble bearing little resemblance to the music of its late-’60s pioneers, and even less to the wailing sound of the Chicago ghettos in the ‘50s. For better or worse, metal long ago came into its own, having abandoning its early tenets of tradition --and, sometimes, taste and talent--along the way.

But Paul Rodgers, who will play Friday at the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles and Saturday at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, remembers the days of hard rock’s genesis, when power and volume combined with erudition and virtuosity to result in creative brilliance.

Rodgers’ new album, “Muddy Water Blues: A Tribute to Muddy Waters,” harks back to those glory days. As the title indicates, it features many of Muddy Waters’ signature tunes. There also are a couple of Albert King standards. The title track, written by Rodgers, is included in two different versions.

Rodgers combines forces with a number of guitar heroes on the album (see box, F3). Among them: Beck, Buddy Guy, Steve Miller (for whom he will open in Irvine), Brian Setzer (of the Stray Cats), Slash (Guns N’ Roses), Brian May (Queen), Richie Sambora (Bon Jovi), David Gilmour (Pink Floyd), Gary Moore (Thin Lizzy), Neal Schon (Santana, Journey) and Trevor Rabin (Yes).

The former lead singer with U.K.-based groups Free, Bad Company, the Firm and the Law, Rodgers, 43, can boast a legacy of soulful, blues-based rock that runs deep as the Thames. His style never has been as flashy or flamboyant as Robert Plant’s or Rod Stewart’s; his understated dignity, fluid melisma and honest feel for his music have made him one of rock’s most respected vocalists for more than 20 years.

“The old approach was what I was looking for,” he confirmed during a recent phone interview. “What we did was rock the blues, which is what a lot of early Zeppelin, early Stones and Jeff Beck on the ‘Truth’ album did quite a bit of.

“I feel that the way Muddy did it originally was like total perfection--his voice, right up to the end, was so warm and rich, a beautiful thing--so I didn’t try to re-create that. I just reinterpreted it in my own style, you know, and tried to keep the original spirit of it alive.”

In keeping with that spirit, Rodgers has been taking his roadshow to a number of nightclubs, raising more than a few eyebrows among his fans. It’s rare for an artist of Rodgers’ stature and renown to play small rooms but, as he put it, “the clubs are where I cut my teeth.”

He also thinks clubs are “a great way to sort of reintroduce myself on the scene,” from which he has been absent for a few years. “Realistically, I think I need to do that. I can’t expect to fill the Forum right now; I have to build public awareness.”

Along those lines, Rodgers’ current repertoire includes, along with songs from “Muddy Water Blues,” such hits from his past as “All Right Now,” “Fire and Water,” “I Can’t Get Enough of Your Love,” “Bad Company,” “Mr. Big,” “Rock ‘n’ Roll Fantasy” and “Feel Like Making Love.”

“I’m playing a mixture of everything I’ve written together with the blues thing,” he said, “and it works because they all had that common blues thread to begin with.”

*Paul Rodgers opens for Steve Miller Saturday night at 8 at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, 8808 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Tickets: $27.25 and $20.75. Information: (714) 740-2000 (TicketMaster).