Acclaimed musician and songwriter John Hiatt will perform at Capitol this weekend

When it comes to naming albums, singer-songwriter John Hiatt has no words.

“I hate naming albums,” he said Monday in a phone interview with the Daily News.

When it came time to put a title to his 20th solo album – “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns,” scheduled to be released Tuesday – he looked to the lyrics of one of its songs, “Adios to California.”

“I had to give it a title. I was combing the lyrics and ran into the line ‘dirty jeans and mudslide hymns,’ ” he said. “It fits the tenor of the record and the songs.”

Although Hiatt’s tour for the new album doesn’t officially start until Aug. 4, he and the Combo will perform in Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Capitol Arts Center. Tickets are $20.

“I thought, ‘We’re fixin’ to get going. You gotta do a first show. Let’s go play,’ ” he said, laughing. “My manager said, ‘I got this gig in Bowling Green.’ We’ve never played in Bowling Green.”

Hiatt has done other things here, though.

“I raced stock cars at Beech Bend in the early 2000s or late ’90s,” he said. “It’s great we’re going to Bowling Green.”

Capitol Arts Alliance Director Karen Hume said she is looking forward to a great show.

“He has a wonderful down-to-earth voice and tone. He speaks to the common man,” she said. “He has a good, steady following in Bowling Green. It’s a pleasure to have a musician of his stature perform here.”

With a career that has spanned more than 30 years, Hiatt has had his work covered by a variety of artists, including Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Iggy Pop. When it comes to writing songs, he said he gets his inspiration from “all over the place.”

“How can you not be inspired by this parade that opens up before us every day?” he said. “What a fantastic place!”

Take, for instance, the album’s opening track and first single, “Damn This Town.” The character in the song is angry about the cards that life has dealt him and his family.

“I’m taking that feeling to the extreme. It starts from that feeling we have all had, that if I can just get out of that place, out of this marriage, out of this job, I’d feel better,” he said. “There’s a side of that to all of us.”

Another song, “When New York Had Her Heart Broke,” was written three days after Sept. 11, 2001. Hiatt was working in New York when the terrorist attacks happened.

“I never wanted to record the song. I played it for Kevin (Shirley, “Dirty Jeans” producer). He lived there and had kids in school in Manhattan,” he said. “It really hit him as a resident. He said, ‘I really want you to record it.’ ”

Most of the time, though, he gets the music before he gets the words, Hiatt said.

“I play every day. It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid. I want to play these chords because it makes me feel good. I’ll get a riff from playing the guitar. The riff will inspire a melody, and I’ll start singing nonsense,” he said. “Out of the nonsense you get lucky and sing a song that has some meaning to it. It’s kind of because you need something to sing. You get in and take a ride. You go where the words go.”

Hiatt said he hopes people come out to see the show at the Capitol and will take the music to a variety of places for the rest of the year.

“We’ve got a handful of dates the first couple of weeks of August, September, October and November. We plan to go all over the great United States of America and Canada,” he said. “We plan to go to Europe in January, then come back and tour in the states again.”

Hiatt, who will turn 59 in August, has no desire to slow down his pace.

“I want to work. I feel good. Time is of the essence,” he said. “I want to work while I can. I’m foolish enough to think my best work is ahead of me.”

— For more information about Sunday’s show, call 782-2787. For more information about tour dates, visit www.johnhiatt.com.