Mark Erelli: A singer with a vision of beauty on 'Lay Your Darkness Down'

"I'd say hopefulness is the dominant theme," said Melrose songwriter Mark Erelli of his new album. "It has a rock 'n' roll sort of format, but I want to move some hearts, and also have it be an enjoyable, entertaining experience."

There's an appealing humility in that statement, which might make it easy to overlook the fact that Erelli is a world-class songwriter who creates music that matters.

Erelli, who has released 13 albums of his own, may be better known for his long collaboration with Stoughton hitmaker Lori McKenna, playing lead guitar in her band. But he's also been a prodigiously talented songwriter himself, and he said he is excited to get back out onstage performing these new songs. Erelli will be fronting a quintet when he headlines The Crystal Ballroom in Somerville's Davis Square on Friday night.

We last talked with Erelli a couple of years ago, when he was trying to get out and perform as the pandemic was winding down. His previous album, "Blindsided," had been released in early 2020 just as COVID-19 hit and put most live music in mothballs. Back then, Erelli had talked about the album and how its songs showed his debt to Tom Petty's sound, and how much fun he'd had recording it. But before 2020 was over, that album title had assumed a sadly ironic tone.  After experiencing some puzzling vision problems, Erelli learned he had retinitis pigmentosa, or RP, a debilitating decline in vision with no cure, and no exact prognosis. Erelli could eventually lose his vision, but there was no firm timetable of how quickly, or if that would be the final result.

'Rock 'n' roll history':Nervous Eaters and Mark Cutler rock Narrows Center

Erelli threw himself into creating more original music, and dedicated himself to recording even more of it at his home studio − his living room. Initially he was playing all the instruments, and matching up the various tracks, but he enlisted longtime cohorts Zachariah Hickman on bass and Dave Brophy on drums to provide a rhythm section.

The new album, "Lay Your Darkness Down," was released in February on Soundly Music and includes 10 new songs, all featuring an inviting scaled-down rock sound. As a lyricist, Erelli specializes in smart lyrics that include stick-in-your-head turns of phrase, yet are relatable to every listener, for a marvelously accessible and affecting blend.

The album opens with "Break in the Clouds," an effervescent folk-rocker whose optimism is palpable. It is a superb appetizer for the rest of the album, which delves into some deep emotional territory, but always returns to the theme and feeling of hope.

"I think the first line of that first song says it all," Erelli said last week. "'Alone ain't no way to live ... if we survive, it'll be together. ...' It is a concept that is so profound, and yet so basic; we are a social species. We need to be together, and that's something the pandemic really took away from us. For this kind of storytelling that I do, an essential part of it is having people witness the processing of emotions through music. It's part of what makes us human. Being able to play these songs live is what gives them wings.

"With my last record, 'Blindsided,' I never had a chance to really take it out on the road and let those songs evolve," Erelli said. "When you can do that, the songs change and can become whatever they want to be on a given night. The pandemic made that aspect of the art feel less alive. Everyone heard the record, eventually, but it took a couple years for the songs from 'Blindsided' to take on their own identities.

"This time I'm committed to almost immediately touring these songs, fully invested in playing them onstage every night I can. It is not easy. A lot of venues that played important roles in my career are either out of business now or in trouble. Music fans' habits have changed also, where they don't seem to go out as much. In my experience, it hasn't been a case of audiences roaring back after the pandemic, and there are various reasons like inflation or changing habits. But coming out of the pandemic, and my own RP diagnosis, I've felt the need to commit myself even more intensely to the live performance experience."

The title cut to the new album is stunning, a starkly evocative number reminiscent of Bruce Springsteen's legendary "Nebraska" album, but Erelli's tune "Lay Your Darkness Down" is NOT about his own vision loss. It is rather an elegy of sorts to Justin Townes Earle, the talented songwriter son of Steve Earle, who had his own array of problems and succumbed to them in August 2020, at age 38. It is a powerful song about doing your best and leaving your mark, and how much someone was loved despite their demons. But Erelli had never met the younger Earle.

"I started that song because, specifically, I had been inspired by his passing," Erelli said. "It evolved into a general meditation on loss, at a time when I had experienced a big loss of my own. It was a time of asking, 'Who am I? Who was Justin?' I didn't know him, but I admired his work, and it was a meditation on how something like that affects us. It is always a heavy moment when I play that song live, a pretty powerful moment for a lot of people, it turns out. I just hope I dealt with his passing with a sense of grace and respect."

Erelli said he doesn't know if Steve Earle or any other members of the family have heard the tune, and he hasn't tried to contact them. It is simply his humble tribute to a fellow musician.

Keira Knightley on 'Boston Strangler':'Love song to female investigative journalists'

McKenna had helped introduce Erelli to co-writing during the pandemic, and one of their Zoom sessions resulted in "You're Gonna Wanna Remember This." When Erelli had turned 40, a bunch of his fellow musicians threw a party-show for him, where they all performed songs he'd written. The title was something McKenna had said, pulling him aside and reminding him his friends were giving him a keepsake moment. On the record, the tune begins with a folk-music intimacy, but swells into room-filling rock.

"Lori likes to write off of titles, taking a good phrase and turning it into a whole song," Erelli said. "We had a Zoom co-writing session, and I remembered what she'd told me that night of my 40th birthday. I have come to love co-writing. Working with another songwriter takes you to places you never would have gone alone."

The new album ends with a brightly rocking song, full of joy despite admitting "the world's gone crazy," and "Love Wins in the Long Run" is another mission statement for Erelli.

"It comes right after 'Lay Your Darkness Down' on the record, and I couldn't leave people with the sad one," Erelli said. "I felt, especially after my RP diagnosis, that it was really important that this record not be a pity party. The main theme is hope and optimism and you can still find joy and love in places. It was important to me to end the album this way.

"I believe that what I'm doing now is the best work I've ever done. But, it is not as good as what's to come. I don't feel as if I'm the same artist as I was before RP, but it has opened my mind and senses to other ways and methods of songwriting − given me an extra dimension. It feels like the start of a new road, and I'm certain the best work of my career is still ahead of me." 

Upcoming gigs: Ryan Montbleau Band, Rubblebucket and more

THURSDAY: Goose, the jamband from Norwalk, Connecticut, headlines Roadrunner. Swedish songbird Tove Styrke sings sweetly at Brighton Music Hall. Garage rockers King Tuff take over The Sinclair. British electro-pop star Elderbrook at Royale. Young Nudy raps at The Paradise.

FRIDAY: The term "iconoclastic Texas songwriter" is overused, but Bob Schneider embodies the description, at City Winery. Rubblebucket gets down at Big Night Live. Jawny, friend of Doja Cat, brings his own show to The Paradise. Trouble No More, a multistar tribute to the 50th anniversary of the Allman Brothers Band, featuring alumni including Chuck Leavell, takes over The Orpheum Theatre. Sparrow Blue harmonizes at the South Shore Folk Music Club's show at First Parish in Duxbury. The reggaeton duo Jowell and Randy heats up MGM Music Hall. Two up-and-coming local songsmiths when Sam Chase and Chelsea Berry do separate sets at The River Club Music Hall. The Caribbean sounds of Ibeyi at Brighton Music Hall. Comic Lenny Clark has sold out his show at The Spire Center. James McMurtry's solo show at The Narrows Center. Big Dez and Sax Gordon rip it up at Boston Harbor Distillery.

SATURDAY: Popster Joshua Bassett at Big Night Live. The Ryan Montbleau Band rocks at The Narrows Center.  Joe Musella's Led Zep Tribute at Boston harbor Distillery. The soul and jazz of Oz Noy and the Ozone Squeeze at City Winery. Illusionist Lyn Dillies does her magic at The Spire Center. Bearly Dead jams at The Sinclair. Songwriter/rapper Caye at Brighton Music Hall. The Movement, reggae from South Carolina, at The House of Blues. Don't forget the festive scene at the New England FreeJacks rugby tilt at Quincy's Veterans Memorial Stadium, with Booty Vortex topping a disco-flannel-themed day, with a chili contest also, and finally a 4:30 p.m. game against the Dallas Jackals.

SUNDAY and beyond: Sunday night, Royale is rocking with Oso Oso and Microwave. Monday, catch Fenway Park organist Josh Kantor and his Seventh Inning Stretch band, with cohorts like Ryan Montbleau, at City Winery. Tuesday: Here's your chance to catch up on post-punk from Belarus, as Molchet Doma invades Roadrunner. Wednesday, the sublime R&B of Jill Scott is at MGM Music Hall.

Mark Erelli onstage

When: 8 p.m. March 24

Where: The Crystal Ballroom, 55 Davis Square, Somerville

Tickets: $15

Info: 617-245-2900 or crystalballroomboston.com

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: Mark Erelli: Singer with vision of beauty on 'Lay Your Darkness Down'