With a recession, two wars and a new president, we might have expected Joe Grushecky to weigh in on current events from the Average Joe's point of view, as he's done so eloquently in the past, but he takes a different course on his new album, "East Carson Street."

"I am personally on overkill with all the political stuff," he says. "I wanted to write about personal things this time. I wrote some scathing songs just to get them out of my system, but the songs we used on the CD were much better."

The follow-up to 2006's "A Good Life" is a collection of songs with a familiar ring for Houserockers fans -- there are gritty bar-rockers, a family ballad or two and another meeting with good friend Bruce Springsteen -- but he adds a few new twists like his first duet with Bill Deasy and a Nashville-inflected departure aided by Big Kenny Alphin of Big & Rich.

The South Side title track is also new turf for Grushecky, who lives in Dormont and whose early career and songs were so connected to the now-rather-dull Atwood Street in Oakland.

"I've had the title sitting around for years," Grushecky says of "East Carson Street." "When I mentioned it to [my son] Johnny, he said that it was a great title but I needed to write a song with it. It just came to me. The opening line -- 'Some people said I should leave' -- refers to all the times I've been asked 'Why didn't you leave Pittsburgh?' The song answers that question. It's my love letter to the city."

The scorching "Another Thin Line" is a song little known outside of the most dedicated Springsteen fans. Bruce and Joe wrote it together back in the late '90s and Springsteen debuted it on his E Street Band reunion tour in 2000.

"Bruce had recorded a version that he did not release," Grushecky says. "I asked him if I could record it. He agreed and also sings and plays some killer guitar on it. We recorded the band at Studio L and Bruce at his studio in New Jersey."

While there's a real feeling of desperation in "Another Thin Line," the darkest song on the record is "Broken Wheel," in which Grushecky and Deasy spin the desolate tale of a tragic road incident over a galloping rhythm with a snarling slide guitar.

"This is our first effort together," Grushecky says. "Bill is a great songwriter and singer. It was inspired by listening to a Johnny Cash CD of murder ballads. A drunk driver crashes into a car killing the protagonist's girl. He chokes him in a blind rage and runs."

It slides right into the upbeat "Carried Away," which slips an allusion to Bob Dylan's "All I Really Want to Do" over a Motown groove.

"Dylan has been a major influence," Grushecky says. "Actually, the song started out as a folk-rock type of thing. I kept playing with the chords and got Art [Nardini] to play the Motown-type bass line. That transformed the song into something completely different -- 'Joetown' if you will. Rick Witkowski and I did the backing vocals and we were definitely thinking Temptations."

Throughout his career, Grushecky has been more likely to take one of those R&B excursions than cross paths with the Nashville scene. But Nashville is a gold mine that's been attracting rockers of all stripes -- from Bon Jovi to Def Leppard -- and Grushecky joins them with the power ballad "This is Someday," written with Alphin and Deborah Allen.

"I have been going to Nashville on a regular basis to co-write songs and have written quite a few at this point," Grushecky says. "I'm hoping that I can eventually get someone to cover them. If not, I'll use them myself."

As for the previously mentioned personal songs, Grushecky sends the apology ballad "Lee Ann" out to his wife, who he says, "is in all my LPs/CDs since the day I met her," and he explores the "cycle of life and family" in the touching empty-nest song "Just Like That."

With his two kids now grown -- and his son Johnny in the band -- Grushecky has had the opportunity to keep his Houserockers in the clubs and festivals on a more regular basis.

"It seems that we've had a bit of resurgence of popularity," he says. " 'A Good Life" brought a lot of people back to us along with the KDKA commercials," which featured the song.

With more input from the band, there's a reason "East Carson Street" is billed as "Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers" rather than just his name like the last one.

"This is definitely a band record. Everybody is playing so well that this was an easy record to do," he says. "The sound has been revised a bit with the addition of [guitarist] Danny [Gochnour] and Johnny. All the guys say this is our band's favorite record of theirs and Art, who is known for really playing it close to the vest, says it's our best since 'Have a Good Time.' "

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