While La Jolla doesn’t have too many venues to catch live music, it does boast one of the best, the Athenaeum. Long respected as a wonderful room for classical and jazz, now — thanks to the efforts of promoter Jefferson Jay — it has also become one of the top places to hear singer-songwriters. On Monday, May 18, the Athenaeum kicks off the second series of Acoustic Evening Concerts with a concert featuring Jack Tempchin, Eve Selis and Jason Burleson. Further performances in the series, with different artists to be announced, take place on June 8 and July 13. Jay was inspired to approach the Athenaeum about starting up an acoustic music series when he wrote his master’s thesis in history about the library for San Diego State University in 2008. “It seemed like such a natural fit with their successful jazz and chamber music series,” he said. “For me, it’s all about the vibe, people doing the right things for the right reasons. Art, music and learning have been going on at the Athenaeum for over a century, and that can be felt in the room. The Athenaeum is a special place.” For Jay, finding worthy artists to take part in these concerts is easy enough but the sheer number of artists to choose from can be daunting. “I am looking for artists who are positive and have made their mark on their community in some indelible manner,” he remarked. “There are far more than we can showcase in only two years of having these shows so far, but hopefully people will come enjoy our programs and we will get to continue to promote the incredible acoustic artists who live in San Diego, for years to come.” When it came to a headline artist for the first show in the series, Jay wanted to secure someone special, and in Temp-chin, the greatest songwriter ever to call San Diego home, he’s done just that. San Diego has many great musicians and even a few other world-renowned tunesmiths as residents, but nobody can match Tempchin. The modest, unassuming North County resident has been a mainstay of the local music scene for more than 40 years, all while penning some of the biggest hit songs of all time. Among his Top 40 classics are the Eagles’ “Already Gone” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling,” Johnny Rivers’ “Slow Dancing” and Glen Frey’s “You Belong to the City.” Just the tip of the iceberg for Tempchin. While most folk singers of the ’60s started out playing cover material, Native San Diegan Temp-chin opted to pen his own tunes. “Hoyt Axton, Lightning Hopkins and Reverend Gary Davis all played in San Diego,” Tempchin recalled. “They inspired me to play, (but) I’ve always written my own songs, from the beginning.” He cites “Slow Dancing” as his personal favorite from among his tunes. While his songs have ended up on albums by artists as diverse as pop singer Olivia Newton-John and country stalwarts New Riders of the Purple Sage, he cites a recent online find as the strangest yet. “There are ten Japanese guys singing ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling’ all together on YouTube,” Tempchin enthused. “They do a great job.” Indeed, there are several pages of amateur performers crooning the song to be found online. Tempchin has kept a relatively low profile in recent years, a situation that’s changed since the release of the 2008 album “Songs.” Response to it has been particularly strong in Europe, where “It Could Have Been You and Me” was recently included at No. 9 in the charts of influential British music magazine Mojo. In addition to further Southern California dates, trips to Ireland and Portugal are in the works. Tempchin has had dozens of his songs covered, but he doesn’t take the situation for granted. “A lot of my songs have been recorded, and every recording to me is a big deal,” he said. “I am very honored when anyone wants to sing a song that I wrote. It makes me want to write one more song even better than all the ones before… if I can. Trying to do that makes life great.” Acoustic Evenings at the Athenaeum, with Jack Tempchin, takes place Monday, May 18, at The Athenaeum Music & Arts Library, 1008 Wall St., at 7:30 p.m. The show is open to all ages. For tickets ($10 -$15) and more information, visit www.ljathenaeum.org or call (858) 454-5872.