IF memory serves, Kurt Wagner's alt. country/soul revue collective, Lambchop, once played York with 12 musicians on the Grand Opera House stage, as many as seven of them on guitar at one point, one strumming away blissfully unaware no sound was coming out.

This was in May 2002, and come March 2004, Wagner's Nashville troupe returned to the city, this time with a streamlined seven-piece line-up adding lounge to the country/soul gumbo at the York Barbican, where Wagner encouraged audience members to join him in smoking on stage.

He chopped Lambchop the next time he ventured to York in November 2007, performing solo as he revisited songs from 20 years of Wagner compositions, complemented by new material and cover versions, as he sought to "move things along creatively somehow, to try and become a better music person".

Reminding Wagner of his chameleon performing modes, as he prepares to open Lambchop's 12-date tour at the Leeds Brudenell Social Club tomorrow, he says: "We've certainly had our moments!"

This tour will be different again for the ever-changing Lambchop, whose last British show was an one-off for the In the Round season at The Roundhouse in London in January. "We've been incredibly shrinking!" says Wagner. "We're going to be a trio, with the fabulous Mr Tony Crow on piano and Mr Matt Swanson on bass.

"We've done a few of these trio shows now. We started doing them last year, in September, and it puts more focus on the songs, as opposed to the grand spectacle."

The focus of this month's shows will be on FLOTUS – For Love Often Turns Us Still, to give last November's album its full name. "I think the line-up has definitely evolved from the way we recorded that material and it's nice to perform other material in this format too," says Wagner. "It should be a good chance to see how the connection works between the new and older songs, and that seems to be feeling pretty good at the moment."

Almost four years had elapsed since Lambchop's previous album, Mr. M. "Over the years, things have changed in the way that records are released: there does tend to be a longer cycle between records, but I like things to come out as they are created rather than being restricted by deadlines," says Wagner.

"We like to keep working with the same record companies: Merge, in America, who first took us under their wing, and not long after that City Slang decided to help us out in Europe. They allow me to be the artist that I am, and I put enough pressure on myself anyway.

"I just sort of let things occur as they occur and it's more about dealing with how the songs might fit together somewhere along the line, rather than coming up with a specific idea for a record."

Lambchop play Leeds Brudenell Social Club tomorrow. The new 12-inch limited-edited single The Hustle Unlimited, backed by a cover of Prince's When You Were Mine, will be available at tour dates and on City Slang from August 11.