For her new band, Rock Hall of Famer Chrissie Hynde refuses to take top billing, conduct interviews without her co-lead singer or perform any Pretenders songs.

"JP [Jones] and I are total collaborators. We're like two bandleaders," rock's most enduringly famous frontwoman said of her new group, JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys.

Two bandleaders, high on the fumes of something new and exciting.

Hynde, notoriously peevish in interviews, sounded positively serene on the phone last week from New Hampshire in a joint call with Jones. She was polite, patient and as passionate as any woman with a new band -- or a new man. Actually, the privacy-craving Hynde is unforthcoming about her relationship with the man or her old band, the Pretenders. But she is obviously giddy.

"I didn't see it coming. I didn't look for it. It's kind of a gift in my lap. I loved the other band," she said. "It's great to play new material and not have this legacy behind you that you're beholden to. It's very liberating. The band is amazing. It's a ball being onstage with them. Singing to the guy that I wrote all the songs with, and he's standing next to me -- it's just a joy and it's great to share the limelight."

However, there is a hiccup in the relations within JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys, who will perform Monday in Minneapolis: Hynde is 59 years old, Jones is 32. He even grew up with a picture of Hynde on his bedroom wall.

First, the back story. At a London party in November 2008, Jones, who'd had a few drinks, summoned the courage to approach Hynde, who also had been drinking. He said his band had just broken up; she was intrigued that he grew up on a Welsh fairground, or amusement park. They exchanged phone numbers. She went off on a Pretenders tour and, at her request, he sent her a song, "Fairground Luck." When she returned to London, they met for coffee and decided to write music together. On a whim, she invited him to go to Havana.

What happened in Havana in April 2009?

"After a day, we realized we loved being together and got along," Hynde explained. "He said, 'If you were my age, would you perhaps start a life with me?' And I said, 'Well, yeah, but I'm not your age.' What we found is that we have this great musical chemistry and we're both songwriters. It was taking each other away from the directions we were going in, and finding a much better direction for both of us."

No romantic confessions

So what came first -- the falling in love or the songwriting about the romance?

"We never said anything about falling in love," Hynde answered. "We realized that we adore each other and want to be in each other's lives. But the nuts and bolts of it is that it's not going to work."

"Neither of us would ever admit to anyone who our lovers are anyway," Jones continued. "A lot of people just assume we are in a relationship. We've never been a couple and we never will be. But we wish we could have been."

"This kind of People magazine confessional society is very au contraire to where I'm coming from," Hynde said.

The songs on their new album, "Fidelity," speak louder than a Facebook page. They are direct, romantic, honest. The performances are fresh and raw, their voices a compatible midrange marriage of burr and rasp.

"The songs are like conversations we were having," Hynde said. "We're like each other's muse."

One of the most powerful tunes is "Leave Me If You Must," which sounds like Leonard Cohen gone country. With Jones doing the vocals by himself, it comes across as a solo number.

"Actually, Chrissie was meant to sing that song," said Jones.

"It's totally from a woman's point of view," continued Hynde, who has daughters, ages 27 and 25, with rock-star fathers Ray Davies (of the Kinks) and Jim Kerr (Simple Minds). "In that song I was saying, 'I don't blame you for leaving if you want, I'm past my prime, I can't give you a family, we have no future together romantically.' But when I heard him singing it, I thought that was showing a part of his voice that I hadn't heard before and didn't seem to be on the album. It sounded better with him singing."

Futures of two bands

With Hynde immersed in this new band, the future of the Pretenders is unclear, beyond 12 concerts in Australia and New Zealand in November and December.

"I love playing with them. But we've been touring above and beyond the call of duty," she said. "I've never really thought about another Pretenders album since we've been doing this. And all the other guys have other things going on. I don't think the world is waiting for the next Pretenders album. We'll see what feels right at the time."

What's the future for JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys?

"We definitely have enough songs and we're going to do another album at some point, for sure," Jones said.

Hynde is thinking more about his career than hers: "I certainly want to record an album of his songs to showcase who he is and what kind of songwriter he is. Everyone knows who I am. I'd like to get that done next. I've never called myself a producer, but I'd be on the other side of the glass."

For now, though, Hynde relishes riding on the bus with her new mates and performing in clubs and small theaters.

"This doesn't feel like a side project. It feels like going out with a new band," she said. "When we go through airports and people say 'What's the name of the band?' and we say 'JP, Chrissie & the Fairground Boys' and they say 'Never heard of you, but good luck,' I just love that."

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719