Fatherhood puts G. Love in right frame of mind.

Byline: Carolyn Lamberson The Register-Guard

In the three years between 2001's "The Electric Mile" and last summer's "The Hustle," the life of G. Love has been all about change.

He became a father, but ended his relationship with the boy's mother. He also had another significant relationship end - this one with his record label, Sony.

But he digs being a dad - "The Hustle" is dedicated to his 3-year-old son, Aiden - and has found a new musical home, on Jack Johnson's Brushfire Records.

And now G. Love (aka Garrett Dutton) has gathered up his good buddies of Special Sauce - Jimi "Jazz" Prescott on upright bass and Jeff "Houseman" Clemens on drums - for yet another road trip. The West Coast tour will swing into Eugene's McDonald Theatre today.

`The Hustle" finds G. Love and the Sauce feeling more focused than they'd been on previous records. But the band still is mashing up those hip-hop and blues rhythms.

`This is the first record that I've put out in a while that people are genuinely responding to in a positive way,' said G. Love in a phone interview last week from a tour stop in Columbus, Ohio. "It hasn't been really out-of-the-box sales like `Speed Racer,' but people are really liking it.'

G. Love and Special Sauce's brand of hip-hop blues burst on the scene in 1994 on the strength of the singles "Cold Beverage" and "Baby's Got Sauce." The band's self-titled debut was certified gold, with 500,000 copies sold.

On more recent albums, some critics have felt G. Love has been too unfocused, a criticism G. understands.

`There's some truth to that,' he said. "My music is so spontaneous. For me, it's not the song; it's about catching the energy and catching the best performance of any song."

And having a child, he said, has helped him focus.

`When you have a kid, it's like all the sudden you stop worrying about yourself. You just stop dealing with that because you don't have time to deal with it anymore.

`Now that I'm on the road, I'm away from my kid, and I want to make every show count.'

The attitude behind "The Hustle," he said, is kicked-back, lounging on the front porch on warm, sunny summer after- noon.

`I think it's a back-to-basics record for us,' he said "My goal for this record was to keep it just loose and funky and feel-good hip-hop blues and summertime grooving. Lyrically, I just wanted to make it a personal record.'

Once is tour is over, he and the band will head back to Philadelphia, kick back for a bit and think about the next record. But G. Love isn't thinking only about music.

He most recently did some commentary for ESPN2's coverage of the X Games. And he's just finished filming a pilot for a new food show that mixes two of his passions: cooking and music.

"My mom was like a gourmet chef, and my sister works in the wine industry in Spain. So you can say I definitely come from a family of foodies."

CONCERT PREVIEW

G. Love and Special Sauce

With: Matt Nathanson 

When: 8 p.m. today

Where: McDonald Theatre, 1010 Willamette St.

Tickets: $15 through TicketsWest

CAPTION(S):

Music isn't the only thing that G. Love has going these days. He just finished filming a pilot for a new food show.