You may not recognize Jim Lauderdale's name, but you almost certainly know his songs. The ever-expanding group that has covered his tunes includes Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and George Strait.

But if a guy is this high in demand as a songwriter-for-hire, he must not have nearly enough other original material to record on his own albums, right? Apparently, such is not the case for the unusually prolific Lauderdale because he has just released two - count 'em two - new CDs simultaneously on Yep Roc. One is "Bluegrass," and the other one is "Country Super Hits, Vol. 1." In fact, he even had material leftover after he was all done with these fresh discs.

"Odie Blackman, my co-producer on the 'Country' record, and I have enough for a volume two," Lauderdale explains. "We wrote about 44 songs over the course of the year that I recorded with him. It was just kind of a matter of finding the songs that were the right fit and all that."

Not long ago, Lauderdale recorded two CDs with bluegrass great Ralph Stanley ("I Feel Like Singing Today" and "Lost in the Lonesome Pines"), so his appropriately titled "Bluegrass" CD should come as no great surprise to those already familiar with the man's work.

"Country Super Hits, Vol. 1," on the other hand, sticks with straight honky tonk country, which is another finely honed skill in Lauderdale's stylistic repertoire.

Other than their contrasting musical styles, the biggest difference between "Bluegrass" and "Country Super Hits, Vol. 1" is that while Lauderdale wrote many of the "Bluegrass" songs by himself, he collaborated with somebody on everything for "Country Super Hits, Vol. 1." Most often, he penned songs with Blackman. But he also shares credits with Leslie Satcher and Shawn Camp.

"With the 'Bluegrass' record, I like to keep myself challenged by writing solo, too," Lauderdale says. "So I have few solo songs on that record that aren't co-writes, and that usually takes me a little longer. It's a much quicker process for me to write with somebody else."

One wonders if Lauderdale, and especially his record company, might have been concerned about there being too much Lauderdale product on the market at one time.

"I was a little afraid about it," Lauderdale admits. "But I didn't see any other alternatives because I didn't put out anything last year, and I'm working on something else for next year. If I didn't put these out then...I was approached by a few different labels that just wanted to put one out. It would have kind of put me too far behind. And someday I might kick myself for that, but for now I just wanted to get both of these out and kind of get caught up."

Lauderdale contributed to Solomon Burke's recent "Nashville" release, which was produced by his old friend, Buddy Miller. These two men have often worked together on various projects over the years, and they'd one day like to work on a specific Lauderdale/Miller collaboration.

"One reason why I wanted to get both of these albums out this year is that he (Miller) and I have been talking about doing a duo album for years," Lauderdale explains. "I've got to have some space for that when that comes out as well. I usually try to have him (Miller) involved in some way on each release I do. This round, I recorded a song that we'd written together that he's recorded, called "Love In The Ruins," and put that on the 'Bluegrass' record."

With a title like "Country Super Hits, Vol. 1," this is an album name that appears to be more than a little ironic - especially when you consider that Lauderdale has never been much of hit machine with his own recordings.

"Well, maybe," Lauderdale replies. "Unfortunately, I won't get the country radio airplay myself. But if I was able to, this would have been a collection of my hits. And, perhaps, some other country artist will make hits out of some of those songs."

Although it must have been frustrating at first to see other artists taking his songs to the top of the charts, he's probably over that by now.

"I think a long time ago, I was kind of down about it, but then every time somebody would record a song, and it would do well, that really helped to ease the pain," he considers. "Then I didn't have that expectation anymore, so it didn't hurt."

"I always kind of strived to become a recording artist and had that dream from the teenage years," says the North Carolinian. "I am able to make records, so that is very fulfilling. That is kind of my creative outlet - to be able to make records. I do enjoy writing for other people and writing with other people, but it's the most fulfilling to make my own records."

Lauderdale may have come late to the recording of his own bluegrass albums, but that great traditional style was his first great musical love. Had he had his way, he would have first gained attention for his bluegrass playing.

"That was the first style of music that I wanted to be a recording artist in, was bluegrass. Ever since I was in high school," Lauderdale explains. "And it just never happened. I even recorded a duet album with Roland White, gosh back in about 1979, and then we couldn't get a deal for it. I was an unknown and not on the festival circuit. So nobody was willing to take a chance on it. So that was real disappointing to me."

"Then about, oh seven years later, I recorded a bunch of stuff with some of the guys that run the group The Country Gazette. But still, nobody would give me a deal because I wasn't on the regular circuit. That was really kind of crushing for me because I put that on the backburner for a long time until I'd begun making albums."

"Then I was going to do a country album, I'd gotten my deal with RCA, and I did a TV show with Ralph Stanley. Ricky Skaggs was the host. Patty Loveless was on the show. I proposed the idea to see if I could write a song for him (Stanley) and the Clinch Mountain Boys to end my album, my country album. I thought that would be a good closer. And he agreed! And then we just kind of hit it off, and I was on his 'Clinch Mountain Country' record. And I started sitting in with him more and more, and then I just kind of got up the courage to ask him to do a whole record. When he did, we got a Grammy nomination. And then he agreed to another one, and we won a Grammy for that. I'm just so grateful, and just still can't really believe that I ever got to work with him."

"Country Super Hits, Vol. 1" is dedicated to Buck Owens, another legendary Lauderdale friend, who is "singing with the sweethearts in heaven" now.

"One of my favorite songs that Buck did a long time ago is called 'Will There Be Sweethearts In Heaven,'" Lauderdale says, explaining the dedication. "He passed last summer. He's really gonna be missed. I first met him out in California when he was doing a record called 'Hot Dog.'"

"Later, he flew me with him to Austin, Texas several years ago. They had these Buck Owens birthday bashes - I guess it was about10 years ago. So I got to sing harmony with him, and that was a real career highlight. And then I went to his club, the Crystal Palace, several times for his birthday. He'd have a lot of folks come out and sing. Dwight (Yoakam) and Marty Stuart were there several times. He was a very gracious guy. Just larger than life. He definitely filled up the room when he came in."

The differences between Lauderdale's two new releases are not just musical. There is also a distinctly different look about them, too. Whereas "Country Super Hits, Vol. 1" has loud, colorful, animated cover art, "Bluegrass" features a forlorn looking Lauderdale.

This Lauderdale portrait was painted by esteemed musician and artist Jon Langford. It finds Lauderdale in the center, colored with brownish tones, surrounded by flowers and musical notes. This stylish packaging is quite a compliment when you consider that Langford has previously painted portraits of Hank Williams, Buck Owens, Jimmie Rodgers and Patsy Cline, to name a few.

"I had seen his work in magazines, and there's a gallery (of his) in Austin called Yard Dog," notes Lauderdale. "And during South By Southwest, there are usually parties behind the place and a lot of bands playing. I'd heard (Langford's band) The Waco Brothers. I really liked them a lot. I was just fascinated by his work. It was just brilliant. We have a mutual friend, a great musician named John Rice, who lives in Chicago and does some work with Jon. And so I sent messages through John Rice to Jon Langford, and spoke on the phone. And actually we did a show together in California a year ago last fall, and I mentioned it (the cover painting). And I'm really fortunate that he was able to do that. He's just really so gifted."

The best song on either of Lauderdale's new discs is something Lauderdale wrote with Satcher called "I Met Jesus In A Bar." It has the kind of title that might have made the old Saturday Night Live Church Lady react with mock horror. Jesus in a bar? Isn't that blasphemy? But after you listen to this sadly, honest tale, you quickly realize that its lyric is about a man who gets religion in a most unlikely place.

But he still gets religion, nonetheless. And not to get too overly theological about it all, but the Biblical Jesus also caused a lot of controversy with religious leaders of His day because he hung out with sinners and such.

"That was Leslie's idea," Lauderdale explains, "and it's an interesting story. During the summer of 2004, I was touring, and my dad became ill. It turned out to be cancer, and he passed away. And I kind of stopped everything, and it kind of really hit me hard. I kind of didn't care about anything anymore, and I just missed him. I had a writing session with Leslie about six weeks or so after my dad passed away. We wrote one song fairly quickly, and then she came back in the room and said, 'I've just got this great idea! This idea just came to me!' She had this kind of excitement about her. I said, 'What's the title?" She said, 'I Met Jesus In A Bar.' And I thought, okay, yeah. I thought that would be a great line. And she went, 'No, no. That's what it's about.' She said, 'Just go with me on this. Just trust me.' And so we started working on it, and it just all came together. It was just really moving for both of us. I couldn't listen to it or sing it without crying."

Ask any talented songwriter: musical magic like that just happens sometimes. But because Lauderdale is such an active artist, he may feel that special magic more often than most. Whether he scores country super hits or not.