James Blunt, an electric-guitar-wielding rocker?
The wispy English troubadour, whose name is synonymous with his 2005 ballad of spurned love, "You're Beautiful," a stage-diving front man? Seriously?
"I'm absolutely serious," said Blunt, who is now embarked on his latest North American concert tour.
"I've broken my right little finger from doing it. But (stage-diving) fits into the live show. Our show is much more lively and energetic than people normally expect. I can prove it, because I'm scarred from launching myself into the audience often enough."
Considering what a sedate affair Blunt's 2005 U.S. debut tour was, his newly energized stage shows come as a surprise. So does "Turn Me On," the hard-rocking closing song on this five-time Grammy Award nominee's new album, the uncharacteristically upbeat (by his standards) "Some Kind of Trouble."
"I had to find myself as an artist to enjoy myself as a musician and (create) some excitement," Blunt, 37, said of his decision to try a different musical tack.
"If I had repeated myself, it wouldn't have given me any pleasure. These are the songs I always wanted to write, record and perform. But I didn't have the means, because I felt limited on my acoustic guitar."
Accordingly, Blunt wrote or co-wrote all the songs on "Trouble," his third album, on electric guitar.
The emphasis is still on the ballads and soft-rock songs that are Blunt's aural bread-and-butter. But the more bouncy lyrical and musical tone of much of "Trouble" strikes a lighter, notably more inviting note than on his previous album, 2007's "All the Lost Souls," and his 2005 debut.
"Writing with my acoustic guitar made me write a particular (kind of) song, which — on the whole — was slower and more melancholic," Blunt said from a recent tour stop in Atlanta.
"So it's fun to write songs with an electric guitar that are upbeat and energetic. Interviewers would always ask me: 'Are you a sadly romantic person?' I suppose that's in me and it's understandable they'd ask, because my previous albums have reflected only that side of me."
The first instrument Blunt bought when he was 14 was an electric guitar, not an acoustic one.
But when it came time to write the pensive ballad "Goodbye My Lover" for his debut album, he used a piano. The fact that said piano was in one of the bathrooms in actress Carrie Fisher's Beverly Hills mansion — where Blunt was a house guest — raises one question: Exactly how large is her bathroom?
"It's only an upright piano," he replied. "So the bathroom is smaller than people would imagine."
Blunt's debut album made him a worldwide star and earned him legions of fans. At least at first, though, he made a decidedly negative impression on singer-songwriter Tristan Prettyman, who in 2005 toured North America as an opening act on Blunt's tour.
"I hated him!" Prettyman said in a 2008 Union-Tribune interview. "My feeling was: 'This guy is so (expletive) annoying. He's a womanizer — I can't stand him — get him out of here.' I was such a (straight) talker, and (later) I told him, so I don't feel bad about saying this now."
A year or two later, Prettyman found herself in London, where she was recording her second album with Blunt's producer and members of his band.
"One of Blunt's band members said 'I remember you! You were no fun at all. You're really different now,'" Prettyman recalled in that 2008 interview. "Then, I met James and I think he didn't like me, because he knew I didn't like him. But his band members said 'Oh, her record's really coming out good, you should hear this.'
"We all went out together one night, and I said, 'I thought you were so lame,' and he laughed. We're good friends now and it's so ironic. He's a super-nice gentleman and his work ethic is amazing, especially given his reputation for partying. He's as flabbergasted by his fame as anyone else."
So, then, exactly how ...
"That's a long way of getting to the question!" Blunt interjected with a laugh that sounded half amused and half alarmed. "Tristan and I get on very well now."
... how flabbergasted was he by his quick ascent to fame five years ago?
"I was totally blown away by it," he replied. "It was totally unexpected to me and, in a away, it was daunting. I saw myself as quite a private person. I wanted to write and make albums so people could enjoy them. I didn't expect to (now) be on my third world tour, playing to up to 10,000 people a night. I still find it kind of unreal."
In a Union-Tribune shortly after her late-1980s rise to stardom, Tracy Chapman lamented that there were no classes for young musicians to take that prepared them for being thrust in the pubic eye.
"I think I totally know what Tracy Chapman means," Blunt said.
"It (fame) is a very weird world where you are finding your way and every mistake you make is publicized. It's a harsh environment. For me, it definitely took its toll — and you can hear that on my second album, 'All the Lost Souls.' It looks at the world with a little cynicism, which is not necessarily in my character.
"But I got used to that. And I know I can't control you and what you write, and I won't try to, either. I love what I do and I'm excited that people turn up at my concerts. You have to get a thick skin or learn to ignore (criticism), so I just focus on what I do."
Is his impetus for making music now different than before he became rich and famous?
"That's a good question," Blunt said. "Sometimes, as a songwriter, you have moments where you think: 'Am I doing this the same way or for the same reasons (as before)?' Nowadays, when I'm shuffling around between different countries, it's harder to have those moments to yourself. Once upon a time, I did, and it was easier to feel things and have questions about life and start naturally writing music.
"Now I have to make time to do that and things don't always come to you when you're making time. That's why, after my second world tour, I went home and forgot about my job. I hung out with my friends and had time for myself to fill up the well of inspiration for myself, naturally."
"Superstar," one of the best songs on Blunt's new album wryly addresses what it's like to be the focus of so much attention. After stressing that the song is not autobiographical, he traced its evolution to the dissertation he wrote for his college sociology class when he was 20 or 21.
"Its one of my favorite songs," Blunt said. "Obviously, it's not about me — it's about the world in which we find ourselves today. When I turn on the TV today, every program is a reality show about how to become famous or rich, instantly or quickly. These shows tell us success is measured in fame and fortune, and kids today say they want to be famous, which seems remarkably shallow to aspire to. You open magazines and they tell you what clothes to wear and what music to like. I don't want to be told; I want to be myself."
And what grade did he get on his dissertation?
"I got a 2.1," Blunt said, "which I'm guessing is over 70 percent."
To find out more about George Varga and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.
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