Still Playing It Straight : John Hiatt’s Latest Album Keeps Track Record of Credibility Intact

When it comes to sorting out the crucial issues and events in his life through music, John Hiatt has not been one to hide behind symbolism, hedge with generalities or obscure his trail with indirection.

What he sang on the albums that cemented his artistic standing near the top rung of contemporary pop-rock songwriters was pretty much what he had lived.

“Bring the Family” (1987), “Slow Turning” (1988) and “Stolen Moments” (1990) were not wholly confessional albums, but together they told a story that was Hiatt’s own: How a man who had sunk to frightening depths, complete with substance abuse and shattered relationships, was able to turn it around in a heartening recovery based on the redemptive power of love and the stabilizing force of family.

This leaves Hiatt, today, at the opposite end of the spectrum from the boy who cried “wolf.” Listeners accustomed to his openness tend to think that whatever he sings must be a true account of his own emotional state.

Thus it was that the phone started ringing last fall at the Hiatt homestead in Nashville after the release of his latest album, “Walk On.”

“Cry Love,” the opening track and first video, was a sorrowful anthem about a marriage blown apart, with suggestions that the at-fault husband was seeking oblivion in booze.

“A lot friends called my wife right after the record came out,” a touring Hiatt recalled over the phone last week from a Kansas City hotel room. “ ‘Hey, are you guys in trouble? Has he fallen off the wagon?’ There’s that habit people have gotten into, interpreting my songs as if they’re all [about] me.”

So, for the benefit of any concerned Hiatt fans out there, here is the singer’s quick rundown of his current personal box score: “We’re coming up on our 10th anniversary, 11 1/2 years sober, happily married and puttering along.”

“Cry Love,” the father of three said, was based on a friend’s experience, although he added that it wasn’t so far removed from what he’d lived through himself.

Some of “Walk On” is clearly written from an observer’s point of view, but a good chunk of the album, which Hiatt wrote while on tour in 1994, addresses his own lot as a traveling musician--the potential for discovery that comes with rambling, along with the strain that separation puts on one’s most cherished connections.

Hiatt, an animated talker whose zest for the wryly turned phrase extends from his lyric writing to his conversation, acknowledges the appeal in his upbeat tale of recovery and that listeners--knowing what he’s been through--may have an emotional stake in rooting for him to stay on the upbeat.

“Absolutely. People love people that come back from some kind of an abyss. It’s a great story, especially for Americans. We love that.”

What keeps Hiatt’s story interesting to follow, as he continues to turn out quality records, is the sense he conveys that these gratifying tales of redemption are not really settled.

The title track of “Walk On” finds Hiatt taking a stroll through New Orleans and growing increasingly spooked by gnawing fears that what is currently joined can still be put asunder.

“There’s a certain shame vibe in that song, being ashamed of your own fear,” he said. “Fear gets in the way most of the time. I would say there are some fears that are quite useful, and you wouldn’t want to lose them. There are just as many that take you right out of the game.”

Hiatt’s favorite game nowadays--besides churning out songs in what he says has been an ongoing, half-year streak of peak creativity--is auto racing, which certainly involves some facing down of fears.

“It’s very, very amateur,” he said of his involvement in driving “Legends” race cars--small, half-ton copies of vintage models from the ‘30s and ‘40s. He said speeds of 80 to 85 mph are typical on the quarter-mile track near Nashville where he usually races.

“I suppose you can get hurt, but racing has gotten so much safer as a whole. There’s a sign in the pit where I race that says, ‘Remember when sex was safe and racing was dangerous?’ ”

Besides the sport of good ol’ boys, Hiatt also peruses avant-garde French poetry. At one point in the interview he quoted a line of verse from the early 1900s that he feels resonates with some of the core themes in his songs: “Must I be reminded? The joy always comes after the pain.”

“It’s by Guillaume Apollinaire. It’s blowing my mind. I’ve written three songs just inspired by his poetry. The guy was amazing.”

Hiatt’s musical inspirations have been wide-ranging. He is at home with rockabilly and country music, hard-kicking Rolling Stones rock and soulful R&B; balladry. A key source is that melting pot of American music, the Band.

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On his previous studio album, “Perfectly Good Guitar,” Hiatt was at his loudest and most rambunctious, and for the ensuing tour he recruited a backing trio of noisily inclined younger players--drummer Michael Urbano and bassist Davy Faragher (who both had played in Cracker) and guitarist Michael Ward.

“Walk On” marks an about-face back to his more folk-leaning side. Hiatt says the change was mainly a matter of accident.

“I wrote all these songs on the road, and they seemed like just another batch of songs to me. I was going to go into the studio with the Guilty Dogs, and Michael Ward decided he had other things he wanted to do. Urbano and Davy recommended Dave Immergluck [former guitarist of Cracker’s parent band, Camper Van Beethoven], and the first time I played with him was in the studio. It just turned out the guy played mandolin. I didn’t plan on having mandolin on the record, but there it was. The fun thing is to put a group of players together and see what happens.”

The album’s warm feel developed as they went along.

“We had this image of these guys wandering around on a dark night, and they stumble upon a cabin with this warm glow from the lights [inside]. Through the screen door you see a family, and they’re all playing instruments. Grandma’s playing a pump organ. That’s the vibe we went for.”

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Hiatt recorded “Walk On” with his own money, then went shopping for a new deal after five straight releases on A&M; Records. He wound up on Capitol, the same label as Bonnie Raitt, whose hit recording of Hiatt’s “Thing Called Love” probably made it the most widely heard song in a catalog that stretches back more than 25 years.

Hiatt, who grew up in Indiana, landed his first job writing songs for a Nashville publisher at the age of 16 and made his recording debut in the early ‘70s.

“It was to sell more records,” Hiatt said of the recent label switch. “How’s that for a crass, calculated move? So far we’re further along [182,000 sales according to SoundScan] than we’ve been before [at this point in an album’s release]. Each record on A&M; sold more than the previous one. Without getting grumpy, it was a good run; we made four good records, and it was time to move on. . . . The main thing is to get the stuff out. In this period when I seem to be fever pitch, creatively, that’s my main objective.”

To that end, Hiatt said, he and his band have been stopping in recording studios as they tour, laying down material that might form his next album.

Hiatt said that if his new habit of writing while on tour is rapidly increasing his extensive song catalog, touring also has something to do with recent increases in the size of his household.

“Every time I go out on the road, my wife gets a new dog. We now have four. As long as she doesn’t change the locks on the door, I figure I’m winning.”

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John Hiatt and Ron Sexsmith play Sunday at 8 p.m. at the Galaxy Concert Theatre, 3501 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana, and Monday at 8 p.m at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. $24.50 in advance, $22.50 at the door. (714) 957-0600 (Galaxy) or (714) 496-8930 (Coach House).