Discovering His Voice

If you’re a country music fan, there’s a good chance you’ve heard Jim Lauderdale’s songs. Vince Gill, Patty Loveless, George Strait, the Dixie Chicks and George Jones are a few country notables who have recorded the North Carolina-native’s tunes over the last nine years.

Yet Jim Lauderdale the performer, who plays with bluegrass great Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys on Monday in Orange, isn’t nearly as well-known as most of those who have sung his songs.

It’s not because the gifted 42-year-old has been hiding under a rock. Over the past couple of decades, he’s recorded numerous albums for four major record companies and one independent label.

Lauderdale simply hasn’t been able to find his niche in the notoriously category-conscious record business. At times, his albums have been deemed too eclectic or rock-oriented for the country market. Conversely, his 1997 “Whisper” album was considered too traditionally country for the contemporary country audience.

Occasionally, the critically respected musician feels frustrated that he hasn’t achieved wider fame as a solo artist. But most of the time, he’s managed to remain grateful for the things he has achieved in his career.

“It’s a really difficult business,” Lauderdale said recently by phone from his Nashville home. “Some days I’m appreciative and philosophical about how everything has turned out. Sometimes, if it’s an off day or I’m a little down in the dumps, I’ll feel a little depressed.

“But those feelings usually pass fairly quickly, especially when I think about how lucky I am in so many ways. I mean, I got to do a record with Ralph Stanley,” he said. “Those kinds of things take the sting away” from not being better-known as a solo artist.

Last year, Lauderdale released two albums: “Onward Through It All” solo disc for RCA Records and a collaborative album with Ralph Stanley and the Clinch Mountain Boys on the independent Rebel Records label.

The latter, titled “I Feel Like Singing Today,” will be vying for a Grammy Award later this month in the bluegrass album category.

Ralph and Carter Stanley, as the Stanley Brothers, were bluegrass pioneers between the time they started singing professionally in 1947 and Carter’s cancer-related death in 1966. The Stanley Brothers, Lauderdale said, were a huge influence on him when he was a young teen.

“Hearing Ralph for the first time had a big effect on me,” Lauderdale said. “That’s only happened to me a few times--with the Beatles, Otis Redding, George Jones, Buck Owens. . . . After I heard Ralph [and the Stanley Brothers], I got a banjo and started to sink my teeth into [bluegrass]. That was the first form of music that I really learned to play.”

Lauderdale first approached Stanley about recording together about three years ago when both appeared on Ricky Skaggs’ TV show for TNN. The pair recorded one track on Lauderdale’s “Whisper” album.

Lauderdale subsequently joined Stanley for a song on the latter’s 1998 Grammy-nominated “Clinch Mountain Country” double album, a star-studded affair for which Stanley also paired up with Vince Gill, Bob Dylan, George Jones and numerous others.

Despite their two song collaborations, Lauderdale said it took him several months to muster the courage to ask Stanley to do a full album with him. After Stanley agreed, Lauderdale made the trek to southwestern Virginia’s Clinch Mountains, where Stanley has lived for most of his 72 years, to work on the album that became “I Feel Like Singing Today.”

“I was very nervous about the whole thing because he has been such an influence and such a hero,” Lauderdale said. “But he’s so warm, down-to-earth and kind and has a great sense of humor. He really helped me relax.

“Being in that area also helped me to understand Ralph a little bit better,” he said. “Just by looking out at the mountains and listening to people talk, it helps you get a feeling for his life.”

Stanley, amazingly, still plays about 170 shows a year. He told The Times last year that he’ll continue to perform as long as he’s physically up to the task and there’s an audience wanting to see him on stage.

Their concert Monday in Orange will be split into gospel and secular sections. Lauderdale, who will precede Stanley with an acoustic set, will join him for several songs during the bluegrass legend’s performance.

Lauderdale, who now calls Nashville home, still makes regular pilgrimages to Southern California, where he spends time writing songs at a cabin near Joshua Tree. During the late ‘80s, Lauderdale was a part of Los Angeles’ alternative-country scene, which also included Lucinda Williams and Dale Watson.

Songwriting is Lauderdale’s bread and butter. But he admits that he’s less obsessed with churning out new material as he once was.

“I’m starting to lighten up a little bit,” he said. “I’ve kind of had my nose to the grindstone for a long time just trying to keep moving forward and keeping a toehold in the music business.

“I’m into tai chi exercises now,” he said. “That kind of helps me keep my sanity in the business. But I really get so much of a reward when I finish a song. Melodies come to me almost every day. . . . So I still set aside a good amount of time to write.”

Lauderdale also is less worried about the commercial direction of his career as a performer.

“I just have never fit in [commercially],” he said with a sigh. “But now I don’t try [to fit in]. This new record I’m working on now will be different from my last record. But I know it’s not going to fit into [the mainstream]. It won’t come as a shock to me if it doesn’t get on mainstream radio.”

* Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys, Jim Lauderdale and the Bladerunners play Monday at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, 1250 Heim Ave., Orange. 7 p.m. $5-$15. (714) 974-4275.

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Songs by Jim Lauderdale

Major and minor country artists have recorded more than 50 Jim Lauderdale songs in the last decade. Here are 10:

“Hole in My Head”--Dixie Chicks (1999)

“What Do You Say to That”--George Strait (1999)

“We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This”--George Strait (1998)

“You Don’t Seem to Miss Me”--Patty Loveless & George Jones duet (1997)

“I’m on Your Side”--Kathy Mattea (1997)

“Wake Up Screaming”--Gary Allan (1996)

“She Used to Say That to Me”--Rick Trevino (1995)

“Gonna Get a Life”--Mark Chesnutt (1994)

“Where the Sidewalk Ends”--George Strait (1992), Jann Browne (1991)

“Sparkle”--Vince Gill (1991)