When Canadian country-folk-rocker Fred Eaglesmith was planning his latest album, he wanted to make “a dance record,” he says.

But, by that, he doesn’t mean synthetic, computerized, contemporary dance-pop. What he had in mind was a mix of the bossa nova and jazz styles of the late-1950s / early-‘60s, including movie music from that era.

“As we were coming to the end of one decade and coming into a new one, that old classic Hollywood stuff was more on my radar, and I felt like I wanted to capture that late-‘50s Rat Pack vibe, and the music of Nat King Cole and Chet Baker,” says Eaglesmith, who comes to The Ark with his band on Friday, Dec. 31. “But I also wanted to bring some rock ‘n’ roll elements into it.

“And I also wanted to write some songs that Elvis would have sung. I love Elvis, and always thought he was the best.”

By the time the record was complete, the bossa nova elements weren’t as dominant as he originally envisioned, but the Latin grooves are ubiquitous enough that the album’s title, “Cha Cha Cha,” is fitting.

Indeed, there are the Latin beats of “Careless,” “Shallow” and “Tricks,” but there’s also the garage-rocking “I Would” and the heady, seductive “Dynamite and Whiskey.” “Gone Too Long,” meanwhile, has a ghostly quality, and “Sliver of the Moon” and “Silhouettes” are the songs he envisioned Elvis singing.

And many songs revel in deep-twang guitar reverb, or feature the cooing background vocals of the Fabulous Ginn Sisters. And as is often the case, Eaglesmith writes about lovers who are either disloyal, or troubled, or lonely, or planning their escape from romantic entanglement.

“I wanted them to be mysterious,” says Eaglesmith by phone from his home in Victoria, Ontario. “I felt like I had to make the characters mysterious and devious, because that seemed to suit the music we were making” — some of which also has a bit of a spy-movie quality.

Many of Eaglesmith’s characters, including several on “Cha Cha Cha,” seem to live on the margins.

“That’s because I live that way myself,” says Eaglesmith. “I’m a marginal dude. I’m 53 years old, I’m not married, I don’t live in suburbia — I live in an old Masonic Lodge that I bought and turned into a living space and music studio. I don’t sit on the patio, or go to hockey games, or veg out and watch TV with my girlfriend.

“Most guys my age don’t live like I do. They’re worried about if they can afford a new car this year, or how much they have in their retirement account. I often ask people, ‘What do you do after 5 o’clock, after you get home from work?’ I’m fascinated by how they live, because my own life is just different. I spend most of my time writing songs, or recording them, or being out on the road, doing shows.”

Indeed, Eaglesmith is one of the most tireless road dogs in the business. He says he does about 200 shows a year with his band, and another 40 or 50 solo dates.

But in other respects, Eaglesmith is a traditionalist. He takes a dim view, for example, of much modern-day music making, with its reliance on computers, Pro Tools programs and Auto Tuned vocals.

“A lot of that stuff is not going to stand the test of time, because it just sounds so formulaic and processed,” says Eaglesmith. “It’s like, back in the ‘60s, when our mothers would make a cake, they would make it from scratch. Now, most people, if they make a cake, they make it from a box. That’s what a lot of this music is now — it’s music in a box.”

So, it’s no surprise that Eaglesmith prefers vintage gear. “I have some old amps that are broken, but I still use ‘em, because you just can’t duplicate those great old sounds they make by using a computer.”

“Cha Cha Cha” is a departure, sonically and topically, from Eaglesmith’s previous record, “Tinderbox,” which explored spirituality, mysticism and mortality.

“Yeah, I don’t like making the same kind of record over and over. In the past, sometimes I’ve done a few in a row that had a similar sound and vibe, but now I like to switch things up.

“Like, right now, I’m working on a country record — the kind of country music you would hear in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, when the setting for most country music was in a bar, or in seedy settings. I love those old country crooners, and the songs that were sad, but also had some humor in them, and with great instrumentation. It’s going to have pedal steel, and fiddle, and great backing vocals.”

In his recent record-company bio, Eaglesmith is quoted as saying that he and his band are out there "just turning it up and smoking it every night just like 1967.”

So, why 1967? What was it about that year, or that era, that Eaglesmith finds so compelling?

“Back then, those bands played like the meant it,” he says emphatically. “They didn’t look like they were doing it for the money. A lot of times, they played for no money. This was before ‘fame’ was the word, before that was the primary goal. Now, everybody just wants to be famous. But the attitude back then was, ‘Let’s have a great band, and if the money and fame follows, fine.’

“But the most important thing was the music.”

Kevin Ransom is a free-lance writer who covers music for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at KevinRansom10@aol.com.

Fred Eaglesmith performs on "Late Night With David Letterman":