There’s a certain poetry to a story in which the teacher becomes the student and the student becomes the guide. That’s exactly the arc behind You Are My Star, the long-awaited debut album from legendary producer Roger Greenawalt, out now via The Noise Company and produced by his former protégé, indie singer-songwriter Ben Kweller.

If the name Roger Greenawalt doesn’t immediately ring a bell, his résumé absolutely will. Over the course of a decades-long career, the Berklee-trained producer has lent his ear and instincts to the likes of Iggy Pop, Rufus Wainwright, Nils Lofgren, The Pierces, Branford Marsalis, Joe Strummer, and Philip Glass. Before all that, he fronted The Dark, a Boston band whose self-described “Sarcastic Post Punk No Wave Death Disco” was potent enough to catch the ear of The Cars’ Ric Ocasek, who produced their 1982 EP Darkworld and its local hit single “Judy.”

But perhaps Greenawalt’s most famous discovery came in 1995, when he happened to spot a CD on Nils Lofgren’s coffee table — Dizzy, the self-released album from a teenage Texas band called Radish, fronted by a 14-year-old named Ben Kweller. One cold call to Texas later, and rock history quietly shifted.

“Roger was my first musical mentor,” Kweller recalls. “He was the first person who opened my eyes to what the life of an artist could be.” Greenawalt flew down to Texas, worked with the kid intensely for weeks — deconstructing songs, drilling relative minors, teaching him how a kick drum locks with a bass guitar — and helped shape the raw material that led to Kweller’s first record deal at 15.

Fast-forward three decades. Kweller’s phone rings again. It’s Roger. “Hey, BK! You know how I have a million songs that I’ve never done anything with? Well, I think it’s time for me to finally make my own album, and I’d be honored if you produced it.” As Kweller puts it, “This guy has taught me so much of what I know, and here he is coming to me like Mr. Miyagi coming to Daniel-san for help.”

Now based in Bangkok — and, since 2001, never without a ukulele in tow — Greenawalt made the pilgrimage to Kweller’s home in the Texas Hill Country. The two got to work the same way they had all those years ago: song by song, arrangement by arrangement. For an extra hit of full-circle sentimentality, they enlisted original Radish drummer John Kent to round out the sessions.

The result is one of the more genuinely unusual records you’ll hear this year. You Are My Star plays like a lost tape unearthed from a dusty attic — still humming, still loud, still gloriously strange around the edges. Fans of Daniel Johnston, Michael Hurley, or Talking Heads will find plenty to love in songs like “Children on Crack,” “Ain’t It A Shame,” and “Brother Brad” — tunes that are fragile but defiant, cracked open but still standing. There’s humor, darkness, innocence, and disorientation, sometimes all inside the same verse. Nothing is hidden. Nothing has been cleaned up.

Greenawalt, who in recent years has battled cancer, mental illness, and recurring depression, isn’t interested in reinventing himself. He’s interested in finally revealing what’s been there all along.

“I’ve come to realize that we never know when our time is up,” Greenawalt says. “I’ve been through so much in these 65 years and decided that finally making my own album was now or never. When you’re musically connected with someone the way Ben and I are connected, it’s like a spiritual thing. So, making the album with him is something we’ll both have forever.”

An unknown legend, an old apprentice returning the favor, and a set of songs that refused to stay in the notebook. Sometimes debut albums arrive right on time — even when they take 65 years to get there.

Stream You Are My Star on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/search/Roger%20Greenawalt%20You%20Are%20My%20Star