Jon Herington of Steely Dan to perform in Mystic

Guitarist Jon Herington doesn't have a day job. Instead, he has two night jobs - and sometimes one gets in the way of the other.

Take, for example, 2011, when Herington released an album called "shine (shine shine)." It's a terrific, smart and hooky pop-rock effort - worthy of big sales and critical adulation - and ideally Herington and his trio would have hit the road, working the release extensively in time-honored fashion.

Alas, his other night job got in the way. Not that he's complaining.

As the lead guitarist for Steely Dan, which chose that year to embark on the "Shuffle Diplomacy" tour, a 50-plus-dates sojourn across three countries, Herington put "shine (shine shine)" on the back burner for a bit. Now, it's a new year, and Herington and his band are out in support of "shine" and will perform Thursday at the Olde Mistick Village Art Cinemas in Mystic.

Given Steely Dan's iconic, arena headliner status, Herington says there are indeed some differences when he's traveling under his own banner.

"With my band, it's just the three of us floating out here with help from my assistant, Susan," Herington says, laughing.

He points out he's calling from a mall in New Jersey where he and his group - Dennis Espantman (bass, vocals) and Frank Pagano (drums, vocals) - have stopped en route to a Pennsylvania gig.

"Logistically, it's my credit card, and I'm renting the car and finding the hotels. There are a lot more hats to wear, but the rewards are in the absolute freedom to play and make a creative investment in my favorite musical project of all," he says.

"Shine (shine shine)" is Herington's third solo album. In 2002, he recorded "Like So," a similarly envisioned collection of crafty, irresistible tunes that should appeal to fans of artists from Elvis Costello to Jackson Browne and Crowded House to - yes - Steely Dan. An earlier album, "The Complete Rhyming Dictionary," a jazz-rock instrumental showcase, was released two years ago as "Pulse & Cadence."

Hopefully, the stunning quality of "shine (shine shine)," along with the Herington band's propensity for killer live shows, should pay off with increased awareness of his skills as a singer/songwriter as well as a guitarist. (In addition to Steely Dan, his reputation is huge as a session and touring player; he's worked with Bette Midler, the Blue Nile, Lucy Kaplansky, Boz Scaggs, Phoebe Snow, Madeleine Peyroux and a host of other pop and jazz luminaries.)

Basically, though, the scope and innate hookiness of material on "shine" is just world class. Yes, Herington, Esplantman and Pagano are virtuosos, but the musicianship is always in support of the songs. Listen to "Thirteen Feet of Rain," "The Only Fool," "Dreaming," "Say You'll Stay" - they're representative of a whole album you can just put on REPEAT and enjoy over and over.

A true gem is "Mr. Fabulous," which has effortless Beatles-y magic you can't just trot out because you want to.

"Often the most successful songs have the sense of leading you along," Herington says. "The song tells YOU what it's going to be, and this was one of those. Just from the start, it seemed to flow organically, and the lyrics and music evolved simultaneously. Of course, I had to pull out all the stops in the studio, Beatles-wise, and throw in some backwards guitar and arpeggio-ed 'Lucy in the Sky' figures. It was a lot of fun to do."

The tune, Herington says, is a comment on modern day celebrity, hero worship and strange fan obsession, but the original title came from an incident when Herington was out on tour with Midler. On a night off, he and another musician caught a performance of Cirque du Soleil, and the accompanying band was pushing all of the required Euro-pop glitz of such a gig. Herington's colleague watched the poseur-style theatrics of the band's guitarist and commented, "Well, isn't he just a little fabulous."

"I had to laugh. It was genuinely a funny line, and it lodged in my brain. I thought it would be a good title, but I also wondered what it would be about," Herington says.

With his own band, pushing his own songs, or with Steely Dan, Herington knows he's living a dream - and he's wise enough to realize both situations have their distinct advantages.

"You're really taken care of with Steely Dan," Herington laughs. "Over the next few years, while my daughter's in college and the bills are coming in, it's easy to make a choice. My band has to exist in the cracks of other wonderful opportunities."

Herington has been with Steely Dan over a decade, meaning he's the longest-tenured guitarist in the band's star-axed history. In addition to roadwork, he's been a prominent presence on their "Two Against Nature" and "Everything Must Go" albums, and he is also the player of choice on the solo records by Dan co-founders Walter Becker and Donald Fagen.

"Steely Dan is an amazing opportunity for a player and a musician," Herington says. "My chair is a featured chair, and it's completely open-ended in terms of what they want me to play. It's a top-notch tour, the pay is good, and there's nothing on my shoulders except for the responsibility of performing great songs in a great band."