Kris Kristofferson's status as a former Rhodes Scholar is one of the shinier gems locked away in his vault of personal minutiae. Nowadays, nearly a half-century removed from his Oxford education, an academic is the last thing you'd mistake him for.

The 70-year-old songwriter, film star and father completely lacks pretense or polish, and in conversation he seems incapable of completing a present participle: He's goin' places, doin' things and workin' hard at singin' and writin' songs.

All in all, he's downright charmin'.

"I'm tryin' to be as honest as I can be up there onstage," said Kristofferson, who kicks off a two-week stateside tour at American Music Theatre Feb. 20.

"I enjoy what's happenin' now — the communication that's goin' on between me and the audience and the reaction, you know. For a long time, I was either unmarketable or I was with some company that wasn't marketin' me. ... Well, that was probably from '80 up to now. For a while, the work in films supported me and my band. And now I'm workin' more on concerts, and it's supportin' me and my family. I enjoy what's happenin'."

Over the past two decades, Kristofferson's musical career started looking more like a footnote — as much as a body of work that includes three Grammys and such standards at "Me and Bobby McGee" and "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down" could ever be considered a footnote — to a film career that had him perfecting the role of Craggy Old Guy With a Mean Streak.

But when musicians of a certain stature live long enough to get old, the music industry finds a way to remember them, and now is Kristofferson's time. Plaques and plaudits are the order of the day for Kristofferson, who recently received the Academy of Country Music's highest honor, the Pioneer Award for outstanding achievement.

"I certainly didn't think I'd be gettin' all these awards and stuff," Kristofferson said. "I just feel blessed for so long to be able to do somethin' I love to do. God, I was listenin' to some of the early songs I had written, and I don't know where I had the audacity to think I could make a livin' at it. But it's workin', and I feel pretty lucky."

Kristofferson has left an indelible mark on country music with his songs about the American ideals of freedom and sincerity. He revisits those themes in his most recent release, "This Old Road," a stripped-down compilation of new songs that do more looking back than looking forward.

Most tracks feature Kristofferson with his guitar and harmonica and little else, which is how he's been touring for the past few years.

"It's a little scarier at first when you're goin' out without a band to hide behind," he said. "But after you get hit in the face once, you get used to it.

"Fortunately, I don't have anything to live up to. Everybody for so long thought that I had no voice at all, includin' my close friends, like Willie [Nelson]. But I think that it's holdin' up well. I'm able to stand up there and sing for a couple of hours if I need to."

Kristofferson enjoys the intimacy and honesty of being alone onstage with his Gibson and the audience. It's a setting well-suited to his new songs, most of them reflections on old passions and relationships.

Time seems to have weighed down  Kristofferson's shoulders a bit, but it hasn't broken his spirit. He easily acknowledges his advancing age and talks frankly about where life has taken him.

"As far as my significance, you know, what I've done positively on the planet, it's really been my kids." (He's got eight, and a bunch of grandkids.) "They all love each other, and they're all gifted in their own ways.

"I think that my songs have a good effect, and the films, too. I've come to respect that craft, and I'm doin' work that I'm not ashamed of. But I think the most important will probably be my love for my family and my songs."

Kris Kristofferson will perform at American Music Theatre, 2425 Lincoln Highway East, at 8 p.m. Feb. 20. Tickets cost $42. For more information or to purchase tickets, call 397-7700 or (800) 648-4102, or visit www.americanmusictheatre.com.

 Contact Michael Long at mlong@lnpnews.com.