On August 23, one of the most momentous rock music events of the 21st century occurred.

Steve Miller posted a personal video message on Facebook.

If that doesn’t seem all that momentous to you, perhaps you don’t know Miller.

Miller is one of rock music’s more reclusive geniuses. He declines most interviews and is, by many accounts, a bit of a curmudgeon.

So this personal message, telling fans to look out for a new retrospective recording, came as something of a shock.

The Steve Miller Band comes to the Foellinger Theatre on September 20.

Reached by phone, Kenny Lee Lewis – Miller’s bassist and one of the band’s songwriters – said he understands fans’ astonishment.

Lewis explained that Miller’s fourth wife Janice appears to be having a mellowing effect on him.

“His new wife is really working hard to get his brand a little more out there,” Lewis said,” and trying to get him to interact with his audience more.”

Lewis knows all about wives who know best.

On two occasions in his musical career, Miller asked Lewis to drop everything and join him on the road and Lewis, nudged by his wife, decided to drop everything both times.

The first time, Lewis was cultivating a respectable solo career and the second time, he was making good money designing and selling musical equipment.

Music fans assume these decisions are no-brainers, but there are mitigating factors to consider, Lewis said.

Like dental insurance.

“When you went on the road back then,” he said, “you sort of had to tell everyone else, ‘Sorry, but I am not going to be available.’ You had to turn down a lot of clients and a lot of work.”

Lewis’ first encounter with Miller happened in the early 1980s.

Lewis, guitarist John Massaro and drummer Gary Mallabar were working on songs together for an amorphous project: probably a band to be named later.

Miller showed up and offered to buy all eight songs the trio had written. The songs make up the bulk of Miller’s hit 1982 album, “Abracadabra.”

Lewis joined Miller’s touring band for a few years and departed after Miller decided to play jazz for a while.

“He basically wanted to go in a different direction,” he said. “He used Ben Sidran as a producer. Ben had a band and Steve decided to go with that.”

Miller eventually asked Lewis to return to the fold to write and perform the 1993 release “Wide River.”

Lewis said he isn’t the only one in the band who’s been asked to drop everything by Miller.

A few years back, Miller recruited guitarist Jacob Petersen in similar fashion.

At the time, Petersen was living in Austin, Texas. His local band had become popular enough that he’d been able to quit his day job at Guitar Center.

The Steve Miller Band rolled through town and Lewis called Petersen, ostensibly to see if Petersen wanted to watch the show and hang out backstage for a bit.

But he had an ulterior motive.

Tacos.

“I knew he lived in Austin and I really wanted a taco after the gig,” Lewis said. “But I didn’t have a car. So I called Jake. That’s literally why I called him.

“He didn’t want to come,” he said. “But I finally talked him into it. Because I really wanted a taco.”

Miller recognized Petersen in the green room, recalled seeing perform and hired him on the spot.

“Jake and his wife thought they were just coming for free guacamole and a beer backstage,” Lewis said. “They were in a catatonic trance. I had to invite them up to my room. I explained to him how his life was going to be totally upside down and disrupted.

“We did get the tacos by the way,” he said.

Next year, Miller will mark the 50th anniversary of the band that bears his name and Lewis said Miller is commemorating it by releasing a collection of laboriously remastered songs called “Ultimate Hits.”

It drops September 15.

Miller has been sufficiently disheartened up to now by the digital revolution not to have much interest in recording new material, Lewis said.

But he thinks that is about to change, given Janice Ginsberg Miller’s calming and encouraging influence on her husband.

Meanwhile, Lewis has many irons in the fire.

He recently self-published a horror/sci-fi novel called “Skeleton Children,” which is getting rave reviews on Amazon.

It’s about a pair of twins who seem to invent their own language, a language that turns out to be ancient and long thought lost.

Lewis said he is also embarking on a series of detective novels set in the music industry.

Moreover, he has a screwball comedy script that he is shopping around and he is writing a biography of Deney Terrio.

Yes, Deney Terrio. The seventies disco dance king.

Lewis said he pursues multiple artistic projects because it makes him happy, but also because an artist has to be prepared.

“We were prepared in the early ‘80s when Steve called looking for songs,” he said. “He sold 8 million copies and I bought my first house.

“You never know,” he said. “You have to be prepared in many areas, because you can’t know what’s going to catch on next. You just have to keep creating, even if there may not be a goal. Art for art’s sake. That’s the thing a lot of people in the music business have lost sight of.”