  James Blunt (PHOTO: Mark Daniell, JAM! Music)
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TORONTO - Back in Britain, Halloween just isn't a big thing, James Blunt says. "I come from a place where we just don't do that. I never got dressed up for Halloween."
But that doesn't mean he isn't looking forward to seeing fans' costumes when he rolls into Winnipeg's MTS Centre tomorrow night. "A few tutus would be nice," he says laughingly in his Yorkville hotel room. "Some nurses would be good too."
Blunt, 32, is in the midst of an arena tour in support of 2004's unstoppable "Back To Bedlam." Anchored by the album's number one hit - "You're Beautiful" - the British singer-songwriter has been a staple on MTV and MuchMusic for over a year.
Rising from small (Toronto's Mod Club Theatre), to medium (Massey Hall), then large (Air Canada Centre), concert venues, in a little under 12 months, Blunt's tender balladry has netted him an armful of awards and 12-million-plus new best friends.
"I guess it's been pretty busy," he chuckles, as a slight cloud cover lifts long enough to douse his spacious suite in a rich hue of buttercup yellow. "Busy... that's the word. I haven't stopped moving from place to place, city to city. For the past two years, I've been in a different city or a different country almost every day."
Picking his words carefully, Blunt wearing a madarin-style fatigue jacket over jeans, then adds: "But that's been great fun. We go to new places, meet people and get drunk with them. And at the same time, I'm doing the job I've always loved, which is music. To play songs, to a new audience every night, and be able to sample the character of a new city almost everyday is a really special experience and I'm really lucky."
After a short break last month, Blunt came up with a handful of songs for his follow-up release, some of which - "I Can't Hear The Music" and "Breathe" - he's road testing as he criss-crosses North America. "I'm writing songs pretty much the same way I always have, which is, behind a piano or with a guitar. For me, if it can't be played just in that way, then it's not a good song.
"But 'cause I travel with a great team of musicians, at the back of my mind, I can hear what the other instruments are going to sound like."
Still untitled, Blunt says that he will begin recording in January with "Bedlam" producer Tom Rothrock for release late next year. "I will start recording it at the beginning of 2007. As for when it will be out, I don't know. How long does it take to make an album?"
With both a record and a newly released live DVD - "Chasing Time - The Bedlam Sessions" - planted firmly in the Top 20, the charming Blunt is clearly enjoying his whirlwind success, and on any given night he's likely to treat his arena-sized audience to a cover or two that'll have them scratching their heads.
"I guess the Pixies one is a bit out there," he laughs, referring to his cover of the alt-rock giants,' "Where Is My Mind?"
Shrugging, Blunt says he covers the Boston-bred band, as well as Supertramp's "Breakfast In America," because he thinks they're "fantastic bands, with great songs."
His stint in the British army having resulted in tracks like "No Bravery," Blunt says his next album won't be so much about stories as it will be about "capturing experiences."
"It's like a diary for me," he says. "And right now, I'm enjoying the fact that I can present the songs in different ways."
Contemplating his abrupt end to a promising military career to make a name for himself musically, Blunt acknowledges that things could have not gone so smoothly. "But I think you only live once, and to reach old age and say, 'I was just too afraid to follow my dreams,' would be reason enough not to want to live in the first place."
Having played the sensitive romantic lead all the way to his MTV VMA wins at Radio City Music Hall last August, Blunt pooh-poohs any notions that he bleeds when he sings.
"In many ways, I'm not an overtly emotional person," he says. "If you were to ask me to be open with you right now, I'd say, 'No thanks. I've no need to.'
"But as humans, whatever race or religion, maybe even across the world, we're all just trying to get by. We share the same emotions 'cause we share the same hopes and fears.
"It's part of the human condition."
With his publicists waiting to usher in another journalist, Blunt's gleaming eyes turn starry when he's reminded that his bittersweet smash, "You're Beautiful," is becoming a popular wedding song. "It's nice that people can take the songs and relate them to their own lives."
But then, he pauses, and for a brief moment he reveals just how much that song has meant to him.
"For me, it was a real celebratory moment where I saw this girl, an ex-girlfriend of mine, and in that moment we lived a lifetime. It was really special and it is something I'll always remember.
"I didn't do anything about it; it didn't go anywhere from there. And if I had done something about it, it probably wouldn't have been a special moment 'cause I would have ruined it.
"So the outcome is probably as it should have been."
Here are the remaining dates on James Blunt's current North American tour:
October 31: MTS Centre - Winnipeg, MB
November 2: Rexall Centre - Edmonton, AB
November 3: Pengrowth Saddledome - Calgary, AB
November 5: GM Place - Vancouver, BC
November 6: Everett - Seattle, WA
November 7: Theater in the Clouds - Portland, OR
November 9: Memorial Hall - Sacremento, CA
November 10: Event Center at SJSU - San Jose, CA
November 11: Paramount Theatre - Oakland, CA
November 12: Paramount Theatre - Oakland, CA
November 14: Sports Arena - San Diego, CA
November 15: Gibson Amphitheater - Universal City, CA
November 16: House of Blues - West Hollywood, CA
November 17: Dodge Theatre - Phoenix, AZ
November 18: The Joint - Las Vegas, NV
