Costner rocked before he danced with wolves

He stepped onto his latest field of dreams for the first time -- the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. Kevin Costner approached the microphone with the trepidation of a newly minted recording artist, but the confidence of a veteran screen actor.

"My mouth went pretty dry," he said of that November debut at the most hallowed institution in country music. "That was a real moment for me. It wasn't casual."

Luckily, Costner was accompanied by his bandmates in Modern West -- some of whom he's made music with for more than 20 years -- and made it through four songs on the Opry stage that night. Now Costner & Modern West are taking to the road to promote their debut album, "Untold Truths," with a performance slated for tonight at the Cabooze in Minneapolis.

Truth be told, Costner, 54, has been making music longer than he has been acting. He was trained as a classical pianist in Compton, Calif., the hotbed of hip-hop. He never did the rock band thing as a kid, but formed his first band while taking acting classes in Los Angeles. One of his fellow students, John Coinman, is in Modern West (another classmate is a semifamous musicmaker, John Doe of the band X).

"I like being in front of an audience, presenting original music," said Costner, who has done 70 to 80 gigs with his band in the past three years. "I didn't even know that we'd record ultimately. I'm a performer. I like to do things I'm not always certain are going to work. I don't repeat myself theatrically; I haven't made 'Bull Durham III' and 'Dances with Wolves IV.'"

"Untold Truths" came out in November on Universal Republic. It was co-produced by Coinman and Teddy Morgan, the band's secret weapon.

The Minneapolis-bred Morgan, 37, is a hot-shot blues-rock guitarist who has put out five albums under his own name. (He got his start at 17 with the Lamont Cranston Band, so he knows the Cabooze.)

Calling from Los Angeles, Costner talked about his "dysfunctional" band (two guys live in Nashville, two in L.A. and two in Tucson, Ariz., but they've managed to write and learn about 30 songs) and his contingency plans if his wife, who is due to give birth to their second child on Feb. 20, goes into labor while he's on tour.

He also touched on his film work: He's developing a movie about Modoc the elephant; he shot "New Daughter" with a first-time Spanish director (it's in postproduction) and he wasn't aware that his notorious "Waterworld" was released on DVD in November. ("I love that movie, but I know what its flaws are.")

After Costner's Cabooze gig, the group's bus is headed to tiny Leland, Iowa, where Coinman has relatives. While Costner was filming "Field of Dreams" in Iowa, Coinman penned a song, "Leland, Iowa," that's on "Untold Truths."

"We're going to stop and plug in and play five or six acoustic songs for that community," Costner said. "I don't know what that's even going to look like. It'll obviously be very humble. We're all going to get something out of that moment."

Jon Bream • 612-673-1719