The soft-spoken, slow-talking John Hiatt [ tickets ] is somewhat somber this morning. It's been just over a week since the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, and Hiatt was in New York at the time for promotional interviews.

He did not see the planes hit the Trade Center, but he and his band high-tailed it back home to Nashville as quickly as they could. "It's been a rough week," he says. "We all felt we needed to be home with our families."

Shows were canceled. He had planned to play a two-night stand at New York's Bowery Ballroom in between dates of the Lloyd's Blues Music Festival with B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Tommy Castro--his main fall gig--but that show was called off. (Some of the blues festival dates were rescheduled in the wake of the attacks.)

Though recent events have thrust a measure of uncertainty into his life, the past year has been a productive one for Hiatt. Last year, he released his first album for Vanguard Records, "Crossing Muddy Waters," a set the label deemed his "acoustic" album, a classification that somewhat baffled Hiatt, as the album features plenty of electric instrumentation. "There were no drums," he says of the album.

And in September, "The Tiki Bar Is Open" (Vanguard)--essentially the same album that Hiatt's previous label, Capitol Records, passed on--hit the shelves. Since parting with Capitol, Hiatt has essentially been on a per album deal with Vanguard, historically a very strong singer-songwriter label.

In August, Hip-O Records released "Anthology," a two-CD, 40-song retrospective from six Hiatt solo albums, with no previously unreleased tracks.

LiveDaily: You aren't really a blues artist, although you have some blues influences. So how did it feel to be asked to be on B.B. King's blues festival?

John Hiatt: I was totally flipped out, thrilled to be asked. The idea of playing with B.B. King and Buddy Guy was a thrill, a dream come true to be on a bill with giants. It didn't take long to say yes.

I have blues influences, but I don't make any distinctions. Blues has influenced me musically and as a person. No, you won't find me in the blues section of record stores.

For the shows, have you added any blues songs?

I haven't added any blues songs. I thought I should play some of my more blues-ier songs, but that lasted only two shows. I now do my regular set.

What input did you have on the Hip-0 "Anthology?"

No real input. They sent me a list of what they wanted to include, but it's not the "official" anthology. If I had input, it would be different probably. Maybe I will do one in a few years.

Would it include the songs you did on the "White Duck" album, which preceded your solo career?

I was 19 years old. It was my first tour. The songs were "Sail Away" [not the Randy Newman song of the same name] and "You Caught Me Laughing." [Hiatt sings, "You caught me laughing/underneath the holy smoke" and begins to laugh.] Boy, it feels good to laugh.

As a songwriter, what are some of your favorite covers of your songs?

Bob Dylan sang the s--- out of "The Usual" on the soundtrack of "Hearts of Fire" ... The Neville Brothers ("Washable Ink"), Emmylou Harris ("Icy Blue Heart"), Willie Nelson ("The Most Unoriginal Sin") ... Iggy Pop's version of "Something Wild" was a cool take. Odetta did a song of mine, "Listening to Old Values," and it made me cry. I listened to her as a kid.

How do you come up with the names of your groups, like John Hiatt and the Goners and John Hiatt and the Guilty Dogs?

They're just fun names. They're actual entities depending on who I record and tour with, but there have been some honorary Goners. And don't forget the Nashville Queens, and then there was the Fugitive Popes.