Rodney Crowell proud of ‘relaxed’ work in ‘Tarpaper Sky’

Rodney Crowell went into making his new album, “Tarpaper Sky,” looking to take himself and the musicians who had signed on for the project out of their comfort zones.

One key idea he and producer/guitarist extraordinaire Steuart Smith agreed on was to not use the customary headphones while recording — a seemingly simple and small move that was a game changer once everyone picked up their instruments to start laying down tracks.

If the move shook up the musicians, it had the unexpected opposite effect on Crowell.

“Strangely enough, it put me in my comfort zone,” Crowell said in a mid-April phone interview. “Taking the headphones out of it really made, you had to listen to what’s being played. You had to listen to what’s going on in the studio in a different way. You had to play softer. You had to create the feel of the music by leaning over to see if you can hear what I’m doing on an acoustic guitar like 10 feet away. The first day was kind of puzzling for everybody, including me. But by the second day, we were on it.”

So it’s no coincidence that when Crowell describes “Tarpaper Sky,” his thoughts turn to a word that reflects the comfort he felt in making the album.

“I think it’s relaxed. I think it’s my most relaxed bit of work,” he said. “And I think the songwriting is up to par. It’s good songwriting. It’s not overly ambitious songwriting. And I think it is my most consistent performance to date.”

Crowell’s satisfaction with the album — “I like it. I think it will settle somewhere around the top three of the ones I’ve made so far,” he said — wasn’t just the result of a recording technique.

It’s the latest indicator of a longer term, more fundamental set of decisions Crowell made about his career as the ’90s wound to a close.

The singer/guitarist, who first gained notice as a songwriter for Emmylou Harris and guitarist in her legendary mid-1970s backing group, the Hot Band, had enjoyed huge success of his own in the late 1980s.

His 1988 album, “Diamonds & Dirt,” produced five straight No. 1 country singles. Crowell’s next album, “Keys to the Highway,” added two more top five country singles — “Many a Long and Lonesome Highway” and “If Looks Could Kill” — to the list.

What Crowell did after that, though, remains a source of considerable regret.

“I made a couple of records where I actually saw myself trying to recapture a peak in my commerciality,” he said. “I made a couple of records there for MCA (‘Let the Picture Paint Itself’ and ‘Jewel of the South’) that were, they gave me a lot of money, so indentured servitude. I said, ‘Well, I better give them what they want.’ It was odious to me, because I felt like whoa, this is very cowardly of me.”

After “Jewel of the South,” Crowell decided to unplug from his career, and during a five-year break, he rethought his approach to music.

The result, in the eyes of many observers, has been the most consistently satisfying string of albums in Crowell’s career, beginning with an autobiographical 2001 album, “The Houston Kid,” which many consider his finest effort.

“Tarpaper Sky” may join “The Houston Kid” at the head of that lofty class.

The new album will be prominently featured in shows Crowell plays in April and May with a band that features Smith — who is on break from his main gig as guitarist in the Eagles.

“I think the set list this time around will consist of mainly ‘Tarpaper Sky,’ the new music,” Crowell said. “Generally speaking, I have more interest in what I’m doing now than what I did in the past, but it’s understandable that people want to hear so-and-so from way back. To be honest with you, the things we do outside of the record are things that allow us to feature Steuart somewhat because, I mean, he is a genius.”