Since the early '80s, you've heard Bryan Adams' unmistakably raspy voice belt out radio-friendly pop hits including Lonely Nights, Heaven, Straight From the Heart, Run to You, Summer of '69 and (Everything I Do) I Do It For You. Friday night, the Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter hits the stage with just an acoustic guitar at the Gusman Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, stripping down his tunes to their pure nature.

The Canadian native, 49, talked to The Miami Herald about the show.

Q: How's the tour going so far?

A: Great! I've titled it the Bare Bones Tour, and it's been going on for a little over a year, acoustically, just myself solo. I really haven't gone off tour, ever. I tour a week a month and have been doing it like that for 10 years now.

Q: What can we expect from your Miami show?

A: I'm doing jazz versions of the whole thing. I'm just kidding you -- of course it's gonna be the hits, plus a little bit from the new album [11]. But basically a retrospective of 30 years of my music. It's very singer/songwriter, just me and my guitar.

Q: You quit school when you were 15 to sing in a band [``Big mistake,'' Adams blurts out]. Be your own critic: How good were you then?

A: I was an infant. I was just full of p--- and vinegar and wasn't afraid, just go for it and have fun. So a lot of it was just laughing. And you know what? Nothing's really changed.

Q: When your album Cuts Like a Knife really took off, how much did that surprise you?

A: Well, from the age of 20 to 23 I was on tour in America, and I never left, and I kind of felt a groundswell, like there was something bubbling, because I was able to get access to radio stations. And I had a song before called Lonely Nights, which was getting a lot of airplay and had become a No. 1 Album Oriented Rock song. So when Cuts Like a Knife came out, the timing was kind of perfect, because I had built up a decent reputation.

Q: Do you have one shining-moment career highlight?

A: I guess it was the moment when I could pay my rent from making music. I thought that was the best thing that could ever possibly happen.

-- MICHAEL HAMERSLY

Friday's show at the Gusman,

174 E Flagler St.

in Miami,

starts at 8 p.m.

Tickets at

ticketluck.com

and other

outlets.

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