Although he stopped just short of using the "c" word (as in "concept") to refer to his new LP, Cracker singer David Lowery described his band's latest material as having a recurring theme of sorts.

"There's a theme for sure," Lowery said. "There's lots of sinning, then repentance, then some God, some doubting, some excess. Yeah, I guess it is sort-of a weird theme record, but I didn't intend it that way."

In fact, Lowery wasn't even aware of the budding theme, he said, until the band's long-time video collaborator Carlos Grasso ("Low," "Euro-Trash Girl") pointed it out. "He came to hang out and mentioned it to me and said he'd like to do a silent film that went along with the whole album. So if we do any videos, that's what they might be like."

Lowery, who was in the midst of mixing the album, entitled Gentlemen's Blues (set for a late spring release), said it was hard to tell if the pseudo-religious theme would shine through, since it will have to have a certain number of the songs on it to work, he explained. Lowery said he and guitarist Johnny Hickman recorded more than 90 minutes of music for the album, which he promised would be long, but would (hopefully) avoid the dreaded "d" word (as in "double album"). "It will be long," Lowery said, "but not a double album. I've never been the kind to make one of those. I've always made fun of that."

The album was recorded over two months in the Bearsville studios in Woodstock, N.Y., and in Lowery's adopted hometown of Richmond, Va. It features the return of bassist Davey Faragher, who sings backup on a few songs. Faragher, who left the group after the recording of 1993's Kerosene Hat, was Cracker's original bass player and co-founder, along with Lowery and Hickman.

Other featured players include former Replacements bassist and current Perfect leader Tommy Stinson, Benmont Tench (organ) and Mike Campbell (guitar) of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, all of whom play on the up-tempo rocker "The Good Life" and "I'll Make You A Star."

Several of the songs on the album, including "Hallelujah" (which is in the indie film River Red, in which Lowery has a cameo) and "James River," are songs Cracker have been kicking around for a while. "That one ["James River"] never really worked before," said Lowery of the song he described as an "ambient, sparse thing that has a sort of blues-country jazz-souled, American-mountainy" vibe to it and which features Campbell on cello. "We just tried it again this time and it came out this odd way that worked really well," Lowery said. "I'm sort-of singing the parts differently and we did the chord progressions backwards."

The band often writes more songs than it can use, Lowery said, adding that this means tracks sometimes sit for a while until he and Hickman can figure out the best arrangements. Another track that got a second look this time is "I Want Out of the Circus." The record has a looser, more improvisational feel than 1996's The Golden Age, according to Lowery, mainly because the group didn't prepare as much. "We didn't worry about the songs as much beforehand," he added. "I just had a bunch of songs, but we didn't have the band learn them so that we could figure it out in the studio."

Producer Don Smith (Tragically Hip, Keith Richards), who produced the band's first two albums and is back on board for this project, said part of the "more pop" sound of the album comes from the bevy of drummers that Cracker called upon for the sessions. "We ended up with at least three different drummers," said Smith, who mentioned Steve Jordan and Charlie Drayton of Keith Richards' X-pensive Winos as two of the crack veterans brought in for the sessions. "Mike [Campbell] brought his cool pop thing to the record and Steve and Charlie are just groove masters who really gave a few songs more of a pop, rock edge, like 'Get Off This' [from 1993's Kerosene Hat."

Cracker were scheduled to play a special one-off show with Joan Osborne and Counting Crows' Adam Duritz on Friday at the Canyons resort during the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. [Sat., Jan. 24, 1998, 9 a.m. PST]