Kiefer Sutherland’s New Love

To hear “24” star Kiefer Sutherland tell it, his longtime TV alter ego, Jack Bauer, is probably a Republican. “One of the things that was unique about Jack Bauer is that he served at the will of the president. He was at the service of the country.”

On stage, you get pure Kiefer, not Sutherland the actor. “These songs are very personal, very autobiographical,” he says.

As for Sutherland? He’s Canadian, so he doesn’t have to delve into his political leanings or comment on Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or anyone else. “This is where my Canadian citizenship becomes a blessing,” he told LifeZette in a press call. “I have to be honest, in the 49 years I’ve been alive, this [presidential campaign] has been one of the most extraordinary things I’ve ever seen in my life. If you have tried to write this as a script, no one would have believed you. It’s been something to watch.”

He’d much rather talk about his new love: music. Like fellow actors Jeff Daniels and Kevin Bacon, Sutherland is an actor who has discovered another creative side of himself.

“That has always made my eyes roll when I would hear about someone doing that,” Sutherland, who turns 50 in December, says of the whole actor-turned-musician thing. “And I completely understand. But — I don’t really care.” He’s loving it. “It’s so new and fresh for me. It’s very hard for me to describe how exciting it is.”

Sutherland — who isn’t giving up acting; he’s shooting a new fall ABC conspiracy thriller TV show, “Designated Survivor” — had written 25 to 30 songs, he says, when he got the idea to try to turn music into a new career. With his friend and business partner, Jude Cole, Sutherland launched an independent record label in 2002. He eventually began to try music himself and is now prepping an album to come out this summer. In March, he released a music video for the song, “Not Enough Whiskey,” one of 11 very personal songs on his debut album, “Down in a Hole.”

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He’s touring now to introduce fans to his music.

At a recent stop in Annapolis at the Rams Head on Stage, Sutherland played a number of songs off the forthcoming album. He related genuine and heartfelt stories about each one to the audience. One song, inspired by his love for country-western stars, was about a death row inmate writing a letter to his only love the night before his execution.

Sutherland was open about his own rough life and mentioned a few stints he has done in jail. He talked about being no stranger to bars and drinking and recalled one night when he left a bar in the early morning hours. He noticed a young man having trouble with a bouncer and tried to help out. The young man grabbed him and said, “I’m an Army veteran and I’m in trouble. I’m scared and confused and think I’m on the wrong medication.” Sutherland got him a cab and went with him to a VA hospital, where it was discovered he was on the wrong medication. He got it fixed.

The encore performance concluded with Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door,” which prompted Sutherland to relate a wonderful childhood memory of his father, actor Donald Sutherland. After having just made the 1970 movie “Kelly’s Heroes,” the elder Sutherland was driving Kiefer and twin sister, Rachel, to school in a Ferrari. Kiefer said, “Even at six years old, I knew that the car was cool and I knew that my dad was cool.” In the Ferrari there was an eight-track player with one tape in it. It was one that his father played over and over. It was Bob Dylan.

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On stage, you get pure Kiefer, not Sutherland the actor — that’s clear. “These songs are very personal and very autobiographical,” he says. “When I play a show I spend a lot of time explaining, ‘This is where I was at in my life when I wrote this song.’ It’s not a character. It’s actually me.”

He cites Aerosmith as being a favorite band when he was in third grade (thanks to his older brother, who turned him onto it), and in his teen years he loved heavy metal bands like Rush, AC/DC, and Triumph.

Sutherland says he has always been especially drawn to lyrics, and found himself liking Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Bob Seger, Van Morrison, and James Taylor. He fell in love with country music when he competed on the rodeo circuit in his early years, traveling through California, Utah, and Oregon. That influenced him more than anything.

“If you look at Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, George Jones — they tell amazing stories and they tell them in the first-person narrative. I’m almost positive Johnny Cash did not shoot a man in Reno, but he takes that on, and I think it’s a really bold way to approach music. If I was going to define myself on any level it would be to be that of wanting to be a storyteller.”

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His musical ability is the real deal. “My mother made me play violin from the time I was four,” he says. “When I was seven, I wanted a guitar. She made me play violin until I was 10 and then she let me get a guitar. Then when I got a guitar, I never let it go.”

Now, still early in his tour, he says that the personal nature of performing is what has surprised him the most. “The first moment it dawned on me that I wasn’t hiding behind a character, I became incredibly nervous. It took me a minute to get used to that. I was talking one-on-one to an audience, and I was talking as me.”

If you want to get to know Sutherland, he says, just go to one of his shows.

“I’ve had one of the most fortunate lives of anyone I know. But, having said that, there are people I’ve loved that I’ve lost, mistakes I’ve made in my life, and all of those things are in the storytelling, in my songs. At the end of the night, we start to realize — myself and the audience — that there’s not much difference between us.”