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East Tennessee has always held a special place in the heart of Americana musician/producer David Rawlings.

The last time he performed here was in August, when "The Big Surprise Tour" featured his band -- the Dave Rawlings Machine, which includes his partner Gillian Welch -- along with Old Crow Medicine Show, the Felice Brothers and Justin Townes Earle. Held in World's Fair Park, the performance was the last night of the tour, and Rawlings and his fellow musicians stayed up until the wee hours of the morning, picking instruments and playing the bean bag-toss game cornhole.

But even before that, Knoxville was a memorable place, he told The Daily Times during a recent phone interview.

"One of our very first shows that Gillian and I did before the first record of hers ("Revival") even came out was at a little church (The Laurel Theater) in Knoxville," he said. "I remember I took a nap in the balcony, and when I woke up, I heard some kids who were coming to the show down below, playing 'Orphan Girl' on guitar and singing along. It was the first time I ever heard anyone else playing one of Gillian's songs."

In the years since, a number of folks have learned Gillian Welch songs, and not just campfire pickers. She's become something of a neo-folk icon since "Revival" was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1997, and in the years since, her songs have been covered by everyone from Emmylou Harris to Jimmy Buffett. She was also a part of the Grammy-winning "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" soundtrack, but it's been six years since she last released an album -- 2003's "Soul Journey."

Of course, a new Gillian Welch CD might have arrived much sooner, if Rawlings hadn't commandeered the songs that were in the planning stages for her. Not that she minds; the two met in Boston almost 20 years ago, moving to Nashville in 1992 and slowly building a successful career on the fringe of country music's mainstream.

"Gillian and I had been working on songs for her new record, and during that time period -- a few years ago -- I had been in California for a little while and had started a few songs, playing with musicians out there," Rawlings said. "I had started singing a little more and playing some shows under my name to work in some of the new material for Gil's record, outside of the context of a show under her name.

"A few songs got written that we felt would be served well with me being the lead singer, and it began to put the idea in my head a little bit when those shows went well. Those things, combined with the songs I'd written in the past and my cover versions written by other people, made me thing there might be enough there to make a full-length record. I didn't know if we'd be happy with it or even put it out, but by the end of it, we felt like we had something."

If anything, Rawlings knows a little about that "something." Not only has he served as Welch's musical partner and producer since the two first met, he's collaborated with alt-country "It" boy Ryan Adams, musician Conor Oberst's band Bright Eyes and produced albums by Old Crow Medicine Show. He's comfortable in the control booth of the studio, and his frequent role as a sideman/session musician made the transition to the other side of the studio glass only slightly uncomfortable, he said.

"It's just one more thing that you pay attention to in that way -- you need to be focused on the story you're telling, and I felt like I had a little more leeway, working with Gil and the Crows, when I'm behind the glass," he said. "I feel like I sorted of drifted into it, with working with Gillian when I had to sing harmony and be in the room. Having done that, and knowing how to produce one way just meant I was taking a further step and being the lead singer and deciding how to frame it and what would be satisfying to people."

The end result is "A Friend of a Friend," released earlier this month -- an earthy album that hits with all of the beauty of early-morning sun through swaying trees on a drive down mountainous Southern backroads. Rawlings strikes the ideal balance between his vocals and instrumental work; his voice approaches the high, lonesome quality of many of the icons of bluegrass, yet there's a quiet center to it that keeps the album grounded.

The album's anchor is the sprawling, 10-minute epic that sees Rawlings bleed from "Method Acting," a Bright Eyes cover, into the Neil Young classic "Cortez the Killer." The transition is seamless, the mood languid and melancholy and spiritual, all at the same time.

"The first time I did it, I was playing 'Method Acting' live while on tour with Bright Eyes, and somewhere in the middle I got as far into the song as I did on the recording," Rawlings said. "In that tempo and feel, it made me think of 'Cortez,' and I started drifting that way. Gillian picked up on what I was doing, and in that artistic flash, we played them together.

"The challenge was figuring out how the mood and spirit of the songs fit together. I can't really tell you how I did that -- there's no better answer than I was brushing my teeth and it popped in my head. It was like a question of reverse engineering, and I decided I liked it. Musical endeavors like that, I think, are very different than thinking of how to do them in a conscious way."

Of course, no project in which Rawlings is involved can be described or written about without some inclusion of Welch. She's a part of the Dave Rawlings Machine, and obviously to not use her, he added, would be a mistake.

"I'd be a fool not to have her sing some," he said. "Most of the people who come to see us are familiar with my work, and because it's starting to get some radio play here and there, they know that this is the Dave Rawlings Machine. Those who don't come out because of the work I've done with Gillian or Ryan or Bright Eyes, but even then it's nice to have people discover you through music you've worked on or contributed to in some way.

"On this tour, we'll probably play a little bit of her stuff, but it's a different catalog, and that's part of what's rewarding for us. It's nice to have a different batch of stuff to play, and stuff that's a little bit of a different flavor. I've felt from the beginning that I wouldn't keep doing these songs if we went to do Gillian's shows afterward and they hadn't contributed to what she does. This project has brought a different kind of energy, and different musical influences have crept in through this that we've been happy about.

"We've always respect the audience by understanding that the vast majority of people who come are there to hear what the artists want to do," he added. "They're not buying a CD once a year and coming out expecting to hear the hit single, and we feel lucky that that's not where we are."