8 things you might not know about Chris Isaak

Chris Isaak has enjoyed a charmed life. His parents led a blue-collar existence in Stockton, California. However, Isaak, 62, decided not to follow in their footsteps. Music has always been Isaak’s passion. The clever singer-songwriter, who will perform Thursday at the Carolina Theatre in Durham and Friday at the Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts in Charlotte, has also eked out a pretty cool side gig as an actor. Here’s eight things you might not know about him.

1. Isaak is an unabashed music fan

The charismatic Isaak has had such heroes as Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan pay their respects. According to the Arizona Republic, the latter actually visited him after a show and asked why he didn’t play “You Owe Me Some Kind of Love.”

Isaak will occasionally deliver anecdotes about such encounters during his concerts.

2. On the road again

Like legendary football analyst John Madden once did, Isaak travels from town to town by bus. He doesn’t have a fear of flying, and occasionally takes to the skies, but Isaak prefers traveling by bus.

3. Isaak is self-deprecating

In the social media age, fewer and fewer recording artists make light of themselves. “I always think of myself as a lousy guitar player, but I think, you know, give me another 20 or 30 years and I might get better,” Isaak said to Las Vegas Magazine in 2016.

4. He’s an actor, too

Isaak hasn’t just taken a chance at acting, he has a few huge roles to his credit. He starred in “Little Buddha” with Keanu Reeves in 1993 and in 1992’s “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me.” He also appeared in “Married to the Mob,” “Silence of the Lambs” and “That Thing You Do.”

He also had his own TV show. “The Chris Isaak Show,” which aired on Showtime from 2001 to 2004, was an inspired fictionalized version of Isaak’s life. The program, which featured Isaak’s band, was amusing and quirky.

5. Isaak can relate to the old Bryan Adams hit “Run to You”

Adams wrote a love song to his guitar a generation ago about how he would always run to his favorite instrument. Isaak has made no bones about his affection for guitars. “A lot of people go, ‘What do you do in your time off?’ and I go ... I’m talking to you now and there’s one guitar, two guitars, three guitars, four guitars,” Isaak revealed in the same Las Vegas Magazine interview. “They’re just all around me. That’s just sitting in my bedroom. I’ve got four, five guitars within 6 feet of me. I love playing, you know.”

6. The show must go on

Isaak never cancels concerts. “I never have missed a gig,” Isaak told Billboard in 2015. “If I was sick, I would show up anyway. I’ve said, ‘Save your tickets if I don’t show up for a gig, because it would mean I died.’”

7. Expect Isaak to deliver “Wicked Game”

Some recording artists eschew the songs that put them on the map. But Isaak, who is a crowd-pleaser, loves rendering the moody and beautiful “Wicked Game.”

8. His band is still the same

Isaak’s band is comprised of the same guys he played with a generation ago. When you’re surrounded by the same crew for more than 30 years, that says something. Isaak’s bandmates must enjoy working with him if they devoted their lives to his music. That type of stability is uncommon in the music industry.

Details

Who: Chris Isaak

When: Thursday, Sept. 6, 8 p.m.

Where: Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan street, Durham

Tickets: $65 and $85

More info: 919-560-3030, www.carolinatheatre.org

This story was originally published September 2, 2018 at 6:37 PM.