AS FORTUNE SMILES, ISAAK DRAWS LINES IN THE SAND.

Byline: Sandra Barrera Staff Writer

CHRIS ISAAK appeared on the ABC news program ``Nightline'' last week to talk about Elvis Presley.

It seems Isaak - who plays the Santa Barbara Bowl tonight, followed by a show at the Greek Theatre on Sunday - forgot to tune in. The 46-year-old crooner and star of his own semi-autobiographical Showtime series is now wondering aloud: ``Did they cut out the part where Ted Koppel and I wrestle?''

Yes.

``Aw!''

OK, so Isaak didn't really manhandle the veteran news anchor on the mat. But he did tell Koppel that ``if it wasn't for Elvis, I'd be pumping gas.''

Presley's southern fried rock 'n' roll clearly surges through Isaak's ``countrified'' sound. The King wasn't his only inspiration, as demonstrated most recently on the new disc ``Always Got Tonight.''

The new album finds Isaak evoking the Roy Orbison-like moodiness (``Life Will Go On,'' ``Worked It Out Wrong'') first heard in his 1990 breakout smash, ``Wicked Game.'' One moment he's rocking a la John Fogerty (``One Day'') and the next he's crooning out pretty, guitar-oriented Everly Brothers-esque tunes (``I See You Everywhere'') that seem to center on heartbreak.

``He's not afraid to be vulnerable, which is the best,'' says John Shanks, who was brought in to produce the album after hitting it off with Isaak at a charity event.

Isaak says that when he set out to write the new album, he was only interested in it sounding pretty.

Much of the album, as it turns out, was fine-tuned in Hawaii. Isaak was flown to the islands to perform a few shows and decided to stay on for a week.

He had just finished six months of shooting the first season of ``The Chris Isaak Show.'' The show stars Isaak playing himself and features a long list of celebrity guests, including actress Bridget Fonda, punk group Green Day and alt-country singer Shelby Lynne, who will be supporting the crooner on stage this weekend.

Much to Isaak's surprise, his show was recently renewed for a third season.

``They called me and said, 'Chris, we're picking you up for a third season.' And I said, 'Oh yeah? So you like what I'm doing, huh?' And they said, 'Nah, not so much. Just keep going till you get it right.' ''

``He's definitely a star,'' Shanks says. ``I think the show is great for him because it shows people his humor, but he's really a musician. He's very crafty in the way he writes lyrics. He's very focused and very disciplined.''

Writing - and surfing - was on Isaak's agenda when he checked himself into a beachside hotel on the island of Molokai that had recently gone out of business. He had the whole place to himself.

Isaak spent days stepping over the palm frond-littered grounds to the beach, where he poured out his thoughts in the sand.

``I know it makes it sound like the cover of a cheap love novel: Me standing on the beach and the wind blowing my hair and I'm writing in the sand, but I did,'' Isaak says. ``It wasn't like this is how I thought up the lyrics because I had already had the songs pretty much written.

``This was literally the sanding and polishing part,'' he says, explaining, ``You know what the first and second verses are. It's the third verse we-already-ran-out-of-moon-and-June rhymes that gets you.''

Right now, Isaak is in the midst of promoting the album before returning to work on his TV show. He begins shooting 13 new episodes in January. The third season premieres next summer.

CHRIS ISAAK WITH SHELBY LYNNE

Where: Santa Barbara Bowl, 1122 N. Milpas St., Santa Barbara.

When: 7 tonight.

Tickets: $26.50 to $48.50.

Where: Greek Theatre, 2700 N. Vermont Ave., Los Angeles.

When: 7:30 p.m. Sunday.

Tickets: $25 to $75. Call [phone] or www.ticketmaster.com

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Singer and surfer Chris Isaak is on a roll with a new album and the renewal of his Showtime program for a third season.