HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Chris Isaak is splashing back onto the scene in a big way, with a new album and another television series to boot. But while his latest release, “Mr. Lucky,” is his first set of entirely new material in seven years, the pop star wants to assure everyone that he hasn’t been taking a lot of siestas.
“Believe me, I never stopped and went to the Bahamas,” jokes the 52-year-old Isaak in an interview with Billboard.com. “I’ve constantly been in the studio and working. I’ve been writing and always had part of this (‘Mr. Lucky’) coming and part of this album finished, and then another part and then kept going, ‘I want to put that one out. Let’s go!’ “
Isaak’s new album features duets with Trisha Yearwood (“Breaking Apart”) and Michelle Branch (“I Lose My Heart”) and he plans to support his twelth studio release by touring over the summer.
“I love playing live, so if people like (the album) I’ll stay out there,” he tells Billboard. “I’ll be at every state fair and barbecue and arena there is. Anywhere they’ve got, I’m ready to go.”
Thursday also marks Isaak’s return to television, with the debut of his new Biography series, “The Chris Isaak Hour,” a weekly one-hour interview and music-making show featuring guests artists like Yearwood, Stevie Nicks and Smashing Pumpkins.
“We have more time than most talk shows, and we go off the beaten path and ask some weird questions,” he says of the series, his first since “The Chris Isaak Show” on Showtime went off the air in 2004 after three seasons. “It really opens up a little more for the artists, and musically we get to play five or six songs — a little more than just the hit.”
