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Were Kevin Abernathy a baseball pitcher instead of an acclaimed singer-songwriter, his latest album -- "A Beautiful Thing" -- would be considered a curveball.

Or a change-up. Or something that comes blasting off the mound, beautifully thrown but completely unexpected. Whatever it is, it's something local players haven't seen from Abernathy before, and the puzzlement over his new record -- scheduled for an official CD release tonight at The Catalyst in Knoxville's Old City -- is something he finds amusing.

"I think some people are confused," Abernathy told The Daily Times this week. "Some people are calling it power-pop; I think it's more of a big rock record and less of a rural rock record. Some of those characters on my last record ("Rock and Roll Fiasco") were the downtrodden types who wouldn't mind cutting you if you weren't careful.

"There's one song on this record where I kind of killed off those unsavory types. I think it should have been on 'Fiasco,' because all of the other songs have the same vibe. They're about relationships and love and trying to make a dollar and get along."

Abernathy's previous albums have been character-driven; this time around, he's turned inward. There's a bittersweet vibe to the songs on "A Beautiful Thing," a rumination on the sorts of things that come with age -- chances not taken, roads not traveled, girls not pursued. It's everyday, workingman stuff -- and it's something Abernathy has been doing well for several years now.

A native of Madisonville, Abernathy was turned onto rock 'n' roll when an older cousin visiting from Florida played a young Abernathy Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive." When he received a video game for Christmas instead of the guitar he originally asked for, he traded it for a six-string and his first amp. Locking himself in his bedroom after school every day, he taught himself Van Halen and Jeff Beck solos and fell asleep cradling his guitar.

After graduating high school in 1982, he drifted to California's Bay Area, hooking up with the pop-rock outfit One and did the "starving artist" scene for a while - couch-surfing, sleeping in cars and never really putting down roots; as long as he had his guitar, however, he was content. After moving back to the Volunteer State, he did a stint in the East Tennessee hair metal outfit Shag Nasty before winding up in the Shapeshifters, a Nashville band that would land opening spots for Southern Culture on the Skids, Billy Joe Shaver, Webb Wilder and Junior Brown.

With those experiences to draw upon, he recorded the folk-heavy "Better Days," released in 2007. He followed it up with "Rock and Roll Fiasco," and for "Beautiful Thing" he dipped into old songs he'd had for a while but had never gotten around to recording.

"I had this one song that was kind of sarcastic (the title track), about giving me money for my artwork, throwing change in the jar for this band that everyone's come out to see, just wanting to get laid -- all that stuff," he said. "It was sarcastic, but it fit into the theme of some of the other songs I'd written in the past. I told the guys (bassist Jeff Simms and drummer Jeff Warren) I had these old songs that were about the same thing, and we decided to work them up and see how they fit."

Another notable difference between "A Beautiful Thing" and Abernathy's previous albums is the studio polish. There's a distinctive grit to "Rock and Roll Fiasco," while "Beautiful Thing" shines a little brighter.

"On the last record, we hardly did any overdubs and recorded it about 75 percent live in the studio," he said. "This record is a little more polished. It's just a straight-ahead, big rock record. I don't think it's power-pop -- to me, that's Loverboy, or Squeeze, or Cheap Trick."

Regardless of the sound, the music hinges on Abernathy's songwriting. He's not one of those guys who carries around a notebook and jots down every idea that pops into his head; he rarely writes anything down, he said. More than anything, his songs come from just opening his eyes.

"For me, it's a lot of driving and staring out windows," he said. "I think if you think of something enough, it'll come through for you. Dylan once said that -- 'writing a song is like trying to make a dream come true,' and it totally is, kind of.

"When I'm working on a song, I'm trying to make it come into reality. I want it to be something people can relate to. I like to create this stuff, and if I can go out and play it for five or six people, then I'm happy."