Soulful vocalist James Hunter has gotten some accolades in his time, including one just recently when the music mag Mojo called him the greatest soul singer in the UK. He responds to that with typical English humor: “I haven’t got the humility to object. I mean if somebody wants to embarrassingly overpraise me, I’ll take it. It’s like Peter Cook used to say, ‘I’ve got no time for false modesty, I agree with you’.”

Another of Hunter’s admirers is Van Morrison, who’s handpicked him and his band, the James Hunter Six, to open his two shows at the Wang Theater March 3 and 4 — presently the only two shows either of them have scheduled in the US. The two have been friends and collaborators since the early ‘90s, when Hunter was a featured singer in Morrison’s band. More recently Morrison guested on Hunter’s new album “Off the Fence.” They duet on “Ain’t That a Trip,” a high-spirited blues that he says they’ll perform at the Wang.

“He used to encourage me to do harmonies with him, and I envy certain aspects of his voice — especially when he was with (’60s band) Them. That’s a real paint-stripper of a voice, an acidic sort of vocal that’s just marvelous. Then he’d go into that real heady voice on songs like ‘Crazy Love’.” And what of Morrison’s famously cranky reputation? “I’ve seen it, me and him have butted heads slightly over the years. But the fact is that I genuinely like the bloke, and I think that’s why we get on.”

There’s no denying that Hunter’s music is steeped in the classic sounds of ‘60s R&B, but it’s a sound he’s managed to personalize over the years — so as vintage as his records may sound, they’re never a pure throwback. “I understand why people put that (retro) tag on me and I can’t argue against it too fiercely, much as I’d want to. But I’m not attracted to the style and sound because it’s old —It’s just that at a certain period, people were making music the way I like to hear it.” Still, he’s retro enough to record his albums in mono — thanks to his association with New York’s Daptone label, former home of the late Sharon Jones and briefly, Amy Winehouse. “That was our producer’s preference. But mono can have more punch, it’s more direct. And if you have speakers on either side of the room, everybody gets to hear the same thing.”

No surprise that Hunter’s a record collector himself; during our Zoom chat he holds up a vintage Clyde McPhatter album, just acquired through the internet. “Most of my favorite singers are like this guy, people I have no hope of emulating.  But yes, way back 40 years ago I used to go to London on the weekends and busk with some friends, we’d make 40 quid (pounds) a week which was good money in those days. And I’d spend it all at the record store.”

As a songwriter Hunter’s also in the classic mold; his songs tend to run a tight three minutes and hit you with a good hook or a clever line upfront. “It’s got to be conversational. That’s what I always ask when I’m writing a song: If this was a conversation, what’s the next thing I would say to someone? And I find that people gravitate to those kinds of songs. But I did outfox myself once. There was one song where I started off with a good line that was a boxing metaphor, and I thought that was really clever so I kept writing around it. Then I realized I’d forgotten the metaphor and written a whole song about a boxing match. So that one got thrown out.”