Seven years ago singer/guitarists Marty Lloyd and Wayne Healy hopped in their car and set out for their first gig — a Thursday night show at a small-town bar nearby — without a name for themselves or clue as to what the future had in store for them.

On the way to the show, they were slowed down by a flat tire. As the two musicians were fixing it, a passerby pulled over to help them.

“His name was Fred Jones, and if it wasn’t for that guy, we wouldn’t have made it to our very first show,” Lloyd joked. “So we thought we would name the band after him. It was supposed to be funny.”

A few thousand shows later, the Freddy Jones Band is far from a joke. The duo became a five-piece group with the addition of bassist Jim Bonaccorsi, guitarist Rob Bonaccorsi and drummer Simon Horrocks in 1991, and they released their debut record a year later.

In 1993, the band’s burgeoning grassroots audience caught the attention of Capricorn Records, which went on to sign the band and release its next three records, 1993’s “Waiting For The Night,” 1995’s “North Avenue Wake Up Call” and 1997’s “Lucid.”

But recording sessions have only been a few vacations in the journey that is the Freddy Jones Band, which has played an average of 200 dates each year since its formation.

“Grassroots is really what drives the band,” Lloyd said. “It is nice to have a fan base that you can rely on.”

A prime example of the band’s dependable fan base is the band’s homecoming show last week in Chicago. The group played at the Riviera Club in front of a sold-out crowd of 2,500 people.

“It was amazing,” Floyd said. “Usually there are a lot of distractions doing a homecoming show. You’re either just starting a tour and so you are not warmed up yet, or you’re just finishing one and you’re so worn out it’s hard to get into it. This show was neither. It was magic.”

The band is currently touring in support of its new release “Lucid,” a name Lloyd said describes the record perfectly.

“Sometime during pre-production, Simon was on the phone with a friend of his who is an attorney, talking about all of this frustrating business stuff,” Lloyd explained. “The next day, he called him back and said ‘I’m sorry if I sounded pretty bummed last night.’ His friend told him ‘actually you sounded rather lucid.’

“Simon really liked the word and we all agreed that it seemed to fit what we were doing. The whole idea of clear thought matched perfectly with how extremely focused we were recording this record.”

“Lucid” was recorded at the legendary Ardent Studios in Memphis, Tenn., with producer David Z, who in the past has worked with Prince, Jody Watley and Big Head Todd & The Monsters.

Unlike the previous two records, which were written while on the road, the Freddy Jones Band wrote “Lucid” in a rented warehouse in downtown Chicago.

“We were doing dates in between recording the previous records and it was getting in the way of recording,” Lloyd said. “On this record there were no distractions at all and we were able to work each song just enough to the point where it wasn’t overworked.”

Freddy Jones Band released “Wonder” as the first single last month and the song has since been praised by critics who describe the tune as “exemplifying the band’s knack for crisp songwriting and impassioned delivery.”

“We came up with that song on the road during soundcheck one night,” Lloyd said. “It really seemed to represent what we wanted to get across on this record as far as going back to our early sound of Wayne and me singing back and forth and doing a lot overlapping and harmonizing.”

Lloyd said the band plans to release a few more singles in a carefully planned out order. “We had the concept from the beginning,” he said. “We’re going to release ‘Mystic Buzz’ next. It has a unique sound and we’re hoping it will intrigue people — possibly people that weren’t already Freddy Jones fans — to buy the CD.”

The band is also in the middle of crafting some big tours for the coming year, including a possible stretch with Sister Hazel. Next week, the band is heading to Florida to play two shows with Sarah McLachlan and the Barenaked Ladies.

“We’ll probably start writing another album some time next year and then maybe get on an outdoor tour next summer,” Lloyd said.

Fans can check out the Freddy Jones Band Sunday at People’s Bar and Grill. The show is scheduled to begin at 9 p.m with singer/guitarist Matthew Ryan. Tickets to the show are sold out.