Shooter Jennings heads out with 'The Wolf'

For country music progeny Shooter Jennings, the title of his newest record, "The Wolf," is apropos.

"The [title track] is the theme of the whole record," Jennings said in an interview with SoundSpike. "The album is about isolation and being different. The song's really about that--and [the name] sounds cool, too. It's about being an outsider, like a wolf in a pack of dogs."

Jennings, the son of the late Waylon Jennings, wrote nine of the 13 tracks for his third studio album, due in stores Oct. 23. Produced by his longtime knob-turner Dave Cobb, "The Wolf" includes the autobiographical country/blues-tinged title cut, as well as "Slow Train," featuring guest vocals by iconic country music group The Oak Ridge Boys. Pigeonholed into the "outlaw country" genre, Jennings experimented a bit more with this album.

"It was a great experience this time around," Jennings said. "We had a horn section, background singers, The Oak Ridge Boys and all these people singing on it. It was wild.I think experimenting was something we always wanted to do. This time, it just felt like the right time to do it. It's much more of a traditional [country] record. We played around with more traditional sounds. We went crazy in our own way."

Jennings penned the new album's songs while touring in support of his sophomore studio album, "Electric Rodeo." He said he prefers to stay on the road, except when he's recording.

"We just come home to do the records and that's about it. The songwriting process just kind of happens organically as the year goes on. I wrote most of the songs for this record while I was backing 'Electric Rodeo.' Then I was writing those songs while I was on the road backing [his debut effort] 'Put the 'O' Back in Country.' It's a constant cycle."

Jennings, who portrayed his father in the movie "Walk the Line," will make an exception this fall/early winter. He'll tour behind "The Wolf" through the end of October, after which he'll take an extended break to prepare for the birth of his first child with girlfriend/"The Sopranos" star Drea de Matteo. He will resume his jaunt in February.

"We've been on tour all year. November, we're off through January, and we're going to start our big thing off in February," said Jennings, who hosts a two-hour weekly music show on Sirius Satellite Radio's Outlaw Country channel.