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Music on the Road

Chris Isaak is a happy man

By Joanne Suh
CNN Entertainment Correspondent

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Pop crooner Chris Isaak is on tour in the U.S. for the first time in four years.

With his critically acclaimed Showtime television series, "The Chris Isaak Show," on hiatus, the 46-year-old singer/songwriter/actor has turned his sights to hitting the road and performing his music for fans around the country.

His latest platinum-selling CD, "Always Got Tonight," released in February, is filled with his trademark love tunes, which he's been steadily putting out since his 1990 breakout ballad, "Wicked Game."

CNN caught up with Isaak in Los Angeles at a rehearsal for his tour to talk about his latest album, foray into primetime TV and Elvis.

CNN: You always write songs about love -- yearning or relationships or being unlucky in love. Why?

ISAAK: The two things that are really interesting to me to write about are "What's this life all about" kind of songs because that's the kind of thing I think about at 3 in the morning. I like to tackle a big subject. And the other thing is relationships and love songs because everything else to me is secondary. It can be good -- I love "Little Deuce Coupe," Beach Boys, I wish I wrote that. But the really important songs to me are the "big picture" songs and love songs.

CNN: Do you have a favorite song on the album?

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Chris Isaak performs 'American Boy' from his 'Always Got Tonight' album at an Irvine, California, concert. (July 18) Play video

ISAAK: "Worked It Out Wrong" and "Life Will Go On," those are two favorites. "Life Will Go On" I like because I wrote it for an ex-girlfriend who passed away. She got cancer young! You don't think it's gonna happen, and I found myself at her funeral thinking, "You know, this is my first girlfriend." It just blew my mind. So I wrote that song, but I tried to write it from a perspective of maybe an old couple looking back and one of them has lost the other person. I wanted to write a song about the fact that you can go on.

CNN: Where does performing music live on stage rank with all the different things you do?

ISAAK: Performing live on stage is like being at a pool party. I've been with my band since the Dead Sea was sick. I've had the same lineup forever. We have a ball when we're out on the road. I mean I'm just so excited to be getting on a tour bus.

CNN: Does the TV show help the music in any way?

ISAAK: I think the show helps because we play live on the show all the time, and you know change is good. Instead of making a record and touring, making a record and touring, all of us tried something brand new, and I think that's good for us.

CNN: When you were growing up in Stockton, California, what kind of music were you most influenced by?

ISAAK: I listened to a really weird variety of music. My parents used to shop at second-hand stores. My mom would be looking through the clothes to see what was in and I'd be over going through the records just to keep out of her hair. And you could buy records for like a nickel, so you'd get stacks of used records. And I'd even have lists of my own Top 10 because I'd buy like 50 records and I'd listen to them all and make my own list of which songs I liked. So I was going through a lot of music instead of just listening to the radio and what was popular then.

CNN: Who were some of your favorite artists?

ISAAK: I'd have things like Hank Williams and the Beatles, like "Hamburg Sessions," real early Rolling Stones when they had Brian Jones, Connie Francis and Elvis.

CNN: Weren't you an exchange student in Japan when you heard the re-issue of Elvis Presley's "Sun Sessions?"

ISAAK: In the States, I had bought at a junk store, I bought a "Sun Sessions" 45, and "Sun Sessions" is where Elvis first started making his records. I thought, "Wow! This is really the first rock and roll, like the beginning of it." And then I went to Japan, I was boxing over there, and I didn't have much to do and my language skills were not great. But I got this record and it was ALL the things that he cut at Sun Studios and that just changed everything. I said, "Where's the Vasoline? I'm greasing my hair! Gimme my guitar!"

And about a year ago, somebody handed me a magazine and I'm looking through it and it was by Sam Phillips, he produced all the "Sun Sessions." And at the end of the article, it said, "Who do you listen to now?" And I'm just reading this thing and it says, "Chris Isaak!" And I cried I was so happy.