Jackson Browne plays the Michigan Theater on Wednesday.

Jackson Browne has evidently been in an acoustic state of mind the last few years.

His latest project, “Love Is Strange” — a 2010 live document of a tour he did in Spain with David Lindley (his on-again, off-again musical partner / accompanist for the last 40 years), was largely an acoustic affair.

On that disc, Brown mostly played acoustic guitar and Lindley wielded his usual warehouse full of acoustic instruments — with extra textures provided by various Spanish musicians and singers. (Either Browne or Lindley also played baritone guitar on five of the disc’s 28 tracks.) That disc earned a Grammy nomination in the Best Contemporary Folk Album category.

Browne continues his acoustic mojo on his current tour, but in a more stripped-down fashion: This outing is a solo-acoustic tour, with just Browne, his various unplugged guitars and a piano.

In fact, one of the many guitars Browne will have in tow for this tour is the just-released Gibson Acoustic Jackson Browne Signature acoustic. It’s inspired by Gibson's legendary 1930s-era Roy Smeck model, and is the first guitar to bear Browne's name.

This spare acoustic treatment befits the emotional tenor of many of Browne’s songs. Over the years, he’s earned a reputation as a writer of songs that are often pensive, melancholy or just plain dark.

And he’s definitely no stranger to this format, and knows full well that it has as much appeal to his audience, and to the industry, as his full-band albums and shows: In 2005, he released “Jackson Browne-Solo Acoustic, Vol. 1,” which also earned a Grammy nomination, and he followed up in ’08 with “Jackson Browne-Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2.”

For this tour, which comes to the Michigan Theater on Wednesday, Browne will draw from his entire body of work, with set lists that will vary from night to night.

In his solo acoustic shows, Browne also interacts more with the audience than when he’s got five other players onstage with him. When Anthony DeCurtis reviewed the “Solo Acoustic, Vol. 2” disc for Rolling Stone, he noted that, “between songs, Browne speaks about his life and music with moving candor...This is Browne at his best, engaging his audience, his own experiences and the world around him, all in songs that will not lose their resonance any time soon."

The “Love Is Strange” CD was subtitled “En Vivo Con Tino,” and was a bit of a play on words: Browne and Lindley were also joined by celebrated Spanish percussionist Tino di Geraldo, and the words "con tino” also translate into “with skill,” or “wisely.”

The set lists for those Spanish dates also spanned Browne’s long career, including such favorites as "I'm Alive," "Take It Easy," "For Everyman," "Late For The Sky," "Running On Empty," and "The Next Voice You Hear," as well as two of Lindley's best-known songs, "Mercury Blues" and "El Rayo-X" — both from Lindley’s signature 1981 album, also titled “El Rayo Ex,” and produced by Browne.

The other Spanish guest artists were Luz Casal, Kiko Veneno, Javier Mas and Carlos Núñez.

In the liner notes for “Love Is Strange,” Browne pondered that Lindley's reputation for being elusive was nearly as mythic as his musical prowess. "Why had I not thought of this before? Take him where he doesn't speak the language and he will HAVE TO leave the gig and come with you to the restaurant, or to the club," wrote Browne. "This was an unexpected strategy breakthrough in a pursuit that for a legion of friends, disciples and admirers has become known as ‘stalking the wild Lindley.'"

With his set list varying from night to night, Browne has been pulling out some surprises on his current solo tour — performing some obscurities that have not typically been part of his live set in recent years.

“To recall these songs and to sing these songs, especially the older ones, is a way for me to get deeper inside them,” Browne recently told AOL. “If the set list was all planned, there’s a level of show business that would take over that wouldn’t really allow me to get as deep into the songs. The experience is great because it gets really spontaneous. So in that sense, I hope these shows end up being exciting for everyone. I know for me, they’re great.”

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