Chris Isaak performs in Sarasota

Chris Isaak has been a star for more than a quarter of a century. He still can't believe that he has an office.

"I'm so grateful that I have an office," he said in a phone interview from that very office. "When I started out doing music I was living in a room underneath a house. It wasn't even legal. If there was a fire there was no way I could get out. If people called and asked me what the weather was like I couldn't tell them, because my only view was a gray wall."

On the walls of that room, he said, there were no pictures or other decorations, just lists.

"I had lists of musicians I wanted to play with," he said. "Other guys were chasing pretty girls. I was chasing bass players."

That was more than 30 years ago, and Isaak is still playing with musicians who were on that list. He's considered a solo artist, but he and his buddies are "a real band," he said.

They'll be at Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall in Sarasota Thursday for a stop on the "First Comes the Night" tour.

The tour's named after his latest album, which came out in November. But he's not one of those artists who force feeds his new work to his audience.

"I have kind of a set list," he said. "When we started this tour I had about eight songs from the new album, but then I thought, 'That's too many.' "

The show he does here will probably include a few songs from "First Comes the Night," but Isaak said he always makes sure to include his hits.

"People want to hear 'Wicked Game' or 'Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing' and I want to play it for them," he said. "I never get tired of playing them."

One advantage of performing with the same guys for 30 years, he said, is that when they get an obscure request from the audience, the band can play it, even if it's one they haven't done in years.

If there's something Isaak really feels like playing on a given night, that doesn't really matter. He plays what the audience wants to hear.

"I can sit in my bedroom and play anything I want," he said.

There's been a happy by-product of attracting that dream band from those lists that were on his dingy walls decades ago. The guys he performs with every night aren't just his co-workers, they're his best friends. After the show, they'll get on their tour bus and keep playing music together. They never tire of playing, they never tire of touring and they never tire of each other's company.

"If people are going to envy me of anything, that's what they should envy me for," Isaak said. "I've got real friends."

Details: 8 p.m. April 28, Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota. Tickets: $45-$70. Information: 941-953-3368, vanwezel.org.

Marty Clear, features writer/columnist, can be reached at 941-708-7919. Follow twitter.com/martinclear.

This story was originally published April 27, 2016 at 6:08 PM with the headline "Chris Isaak performs in Sarasota ."