The Reverend’s Own Soulful Blend of Gospel and Romance : Pop Music: Al Green is still devoted to songs of spiritual love, but his more earthly tunes have a place in his repertoire, too.

When the Rev. Al Green takes the stage Sunday at the Long Beach Blues Festival, he’ll be doing what he likes to do most: singing soulful love songs, with equal amounts of wailing and warmth.

“It’s all about sharing my gift with y’all . . . and spreading love,” said Green, who was shooting a new episode of “Ally McBeal” at Fox Studios last week while on a break from his first road tour in a few years.

“Not physical, but emotional and spiritual love. Y’know, that deep-seated feeling that lights up your insides,” said the 53-year-old soul and gospel singer.

The Arkansas-born Green was responsible for some of the greatest, most influential soul music of the 1970s. Working with musician and producer Willie Mitchell between 1970 and 1977, he placed 23 records on the R&B; chart and 18 on the pop chart, including seven top 10 singles. Such tunes as “Love and Happiness,” “Take Me to the River,” “Tired of Being Alone,” “Right Now, Right Now” and his signature “Let’s Stay Together” offer timeless tales of romantic longing.

Green, who became an ordained minister in 1976 and continues to be a pastor at his Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis, Tenn., was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, the same year he released “Your Heart’s in Good Hands,” his first recording of secular music in some 17 years.

*

Green says it was in Anaheim in 1973, practically at the commercial height of his career, when he got his spiritual calling. That particular morning, he said, he simply came into the knowledge of Christ and was transformed in both mind and spirit. He kept recording pop music and touring into the late 1970s--until he fell from a stage in Cincinnati and spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from injuries.

That incident in 1979 was a sign that he wasn’t moving fast enough to fulfill God’s work, Green said. After that, he sang only gospel music and released his first gospel recording, “The Lord Will Make a Way,” in 1980.

“I had to find out my purpose in life, and what it all means,” he said. “I asked myself, ‘What am I gonna do with this new light that’s come into my life?’ I didn’t do any secular music for a long, long time. My whole orientation was religious.”

Only recently has Green returned to singing and recording soul and R&B; as well as gospel music. His live shows now embody the sacred and the profane, where sermons and prayer mingle with sweat-inducing songs of earthly desires and struggles.

“A voice in my head said, ‘It’s OK to sing ‘Love and Happiness’--as long as I continue to acknowledge the Lord in my life,” added the singer, who began touring at age 9 with his father and brothers as a gospel quartet called the Greene Brothers.

“Now I’m comfortable mixing everything up, and my audience has responded favorably. When I finished a short prayer at this gig in Glastonbury, Conn., a couple of months ago, people stood up and cheered. That told me I could give audiences a little bit of the Reverend and they’d likely rejoice.”

Most importantly, Green said, it unites the separate sides of himself.

“I’m one person . . . and I can’t be divided. It doesn’t work if you say, ‘Well, this is Al the gospel singer, and that is Al the rock and R&B; singer.’ Uh-uh--that doesn’t achieve the kind of unity I’m after for all our brothers and sisters.”

Although Green is best known for his soul and Grammy-winning gospel music from the ‘70s and ‘80s, respectively, he’s trying to raise his profile in the present. The 18-track “More Greatest Hits” was released last year by the Right Stuff, a subsidiary of EMI-Capitol; Green’s playing his first tour in two years; and he’s been busy overseeing the creation of his first Web site (https://www.algreen.com), an ambitious project that includes a photo gallery, new sermons and prayers, a religious bookstore entry and other related news and notes.

And then there are his appearances on the popular and acclaimed “Ally McBeal” series. In an episode set to air in November, Green said, he plays “an aloof version of himself.”

“I’m this character who keeps appearing and disappearing in Ally’s subconscious. While she sorts out some conflicts in her personal life, we sing a few songs . . . like ‘Let’s Stay Together’ and ‘To Sir With Love.’ It’s the second ‘Ally’ episode that I’ve done, and it’s a thrill working with the cast and [producer] David E. Kelley.”

*

Might we be seeing more of Al Green the actor in the future?

“I feel it’s really something I could do more of,” he said. “Some offers for small roles are coming in. . . . I might even do some commercials for a little more experience. We’ll see what happens.”

Whatever the course, he said, he’s still smitten with work.

“I sing R&B;, I do gospel in the church world and I’ve worked on Broadway with Patti LaBelle [in 1982’s gospel musical ‘Your Arms Too Short to Box With God’],” Green said. “I feel blessed to have such well-rounded experiences. I still love what I do. I don’t feel like it’s been 30 years since I started out . . . but I guarantee you it has.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

1999 Long Beach Festival Lineup

The 20th annual Long Beach Blues Festival will take place Saturday through Monday on the athletic field of Cal State Long Beach.

SATURDAY

11 a.m.: Guitar Shorty with Sonny Rhodes

12:30 p.m.: Koko Taylor

2 p.m.: The Fabulous Thunderbirds with Smokey Wilson

3:30 p.m.: Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown

5 p.m.: Buddy Guy

*

SUNDAY

11 a.m.: Clarence Carter

12:30 p.m.: Johnny Rawls with Roy Gaines

2 p.m.: Little Milton with Bobby Rush

3:30 p.m.: Al Green

5 p.m.: Bobby “Blue” Bland

*

MONDAY

11 a.m.: Harpmasters with Snooky Pryor, Carey Bell, Billy Boy Arnold and Sugar Blue

1:30 p.m.: Joe Louis Walker with Billy Branch and Jimmy Thackery

3 p.m.: Ruth Brown

4 p.m.: Charlie Musselwhite

5:15 p.m.: John Lee Hooker

Tickets are $25 to $30 per day or $70 in advance for all three days. Children under 12 are free. Parking, $4 to $5. For more information, call (562) 985-7115. Gates open at 9 a.m. Music plays from 11 a.m. until dusk.