Music: A First for Leighton

He probably has gotten more Twin Cities residents to pay a cover charge over the past 15 years than any other rocker in town. After his Pizza Hut commercial and last year's botched fight song for the Twins' inaugural season at Target Field, he probably has been seen on TV by more Twin Cities residents than Charlie Sheen.

One thing Brian "G.B." Leighton has never done, however, is headline the Twin Cities' most famous rock club.

"It still sort of scares the hell out of me," he said of First Avenue. "I'm as in awe of the bands that have played that place as anyone else."

The king of the suburban sports-bar circuit will finally take charge of the downtown rock haven Friday to celebrate his latest album. That he hasn't headlined there before (though he has been part of other lineups) says something about the lack of respect for one of our scene's hardest-working musicians in its hipper, trendier circles.

Of course, the Springsteen-styled, 40-year-old son of a cop couldn't care less. He's playing First Ave, he said, "to do something that feels more like a concert than just another gig in a bar."

That goal reflects the ambition behind the new record. Titled "Hope 1 Mile" -- with the highway exit for Hope, Minn., on the cover -- the record was three years in the making and covers a lot of personal turmoil. Leighton battled testicular cancer (and won), fought to save his marriage (and lost) and struggled with sobriety (outcome TBA).

"It's really hard when you show up to work and there's a case of Bud and a bottle of Crown in the dressing room," he said.

To capture the personal tone of the new material, Leighton found a co-writer and producer in longtime friend Kevin Bowe. It was a sharp contrast to the rather impersonal experience of his last record, "Shake Them Ghosts," hastily made with Don Dixon (R.E.M., Smithereens).

Leighton and Bowe spread out over several locations with numerous guests, including "Funkytown" singer Cynthia Johnson for the totally Boss-like opening track, "All Over Again." That song helps set the tone of perseverance that permeates the record, from the pure-country title track to the bleary-eyed rocker "Waiting for Trouble." As a companion piece to his own personal war songs, Leighton threw in "Johnny Comes Crawling Back Home," inspired by the soldiers he met while playing military bases in Iraq and Kuwait.

Leighton faced his own shellacking of sorts last year when Fox Sports North recruited him to write a song for Twins telecasts. "I took it with a grain of salt," he said of the backlash. "[FSN] gave me a set of certain words to use. In my head, I was thinking, 'I'm not really a commercial writer,' but I gave it a shot."

In the end, that debacle was the least of his concerns.

"This record is about cancer, alcoholism, divorce," he said. "I've made it through it all over the past three years, and hopefully these songs can help raise the spirits of anyone who might be going through the same things."