Songwriter Jim Lauderdale is doing his own thing in Alaska

Plus, you know those songs that people love by artists like Strait and The Dixie Chicks? Lauderdale wrote a few of them. He is one of the preeminent songwriters in the Nashville, Tenn., music scene, having also penned songs for the likes of Patty Loveless and George Jones.

That said, Lauderdale stays plenty busy working on his own material, having released 19 albums since 1984. It's that work he will be performing for Alaskans on Thursday and Friday, Feb. 3.

No matter what type of show Lauderdale brings to the table, he's someone who likes to perform.

"I enjoy playing solo, with an electric band (or) with a bluegrass band. I enjoy all of them," Lauderdale told roots music magazine No Depression. "It's really fun to play in different configurations ... and solo is a nice challenge to do too."

Lauderdale has touched on a number of genres in his prodigious output, but the tag he's mostly associated with is Americana. That's one variety of music that is hard to pin down, but Lauderdale has a good idea of what it is.

"Americana is basically an umbrella term that includes bluegrass, country, rock 'n' roll, folk, soul, blues," he told No Depression in another interview. "To me, it's getting down into the music that has influenced our origins, our beginnings."

Neko Case, Allison Krauss and The Avett Brothers are among the list of contemporary Americana artists, but Lauderdale remains an important figure. He won the first Americana Music Awards for Artist of the Year and Song of the Year in 2002. He then hosted the show for the next nine years.

His most recent album, "Reason and Rhyme," was co-written with close friend (and former Grateful Dead lyricist) Robert Hunter in a flurry of activity.

"When I got back from touring last summer in Europe ...I just got a drive to write with Robert and to do something quickly," Lauderdale said. "So over a 10-day period, we wrote 18 songs."

The whole album was recorded in just one day, which Lauderdale told No Depression was the quickest he's ever recorded an album.

For some, the rushed process might suggest a meager creative effort, but the album has earned widespread acclaim, including a Grammy nomination for Best Bluegrass Album, an award he won in 2002 for "Lost in the Lonesome Pines."

"It's been a particularly great period for me," Lauderdale said on his website. "Thanks to the records -- I'm performing more and more, which I love."