John Hiatt

Long before broader listeners embraced him as a performer, John Hiatt stood as one of the most admired and accomplished composers of his era, revered by reviewers and fellow players. His lyrics shift abruptly from caustic humor to harsh self-scrutiny, while his songs consistently feature robust, captivating tunes that rework rock and blues conventions into novel forms, delivered through the incisive yet reflective timbre of his vocals. Artists ranging from Bonnie Raitt, Ronnie Milsap, and Dr. Feelgood to Iggy Pop, Three Dog Night, and the Neville Brothers have interpreted his material, and that same breadth appears in Hiatt’s own discography, where he pursues folk, rock, pop, R&B, country, and blues elements with matching intensity. Among his strongest efforts stands the earthy and candid Bring the Family from 1987; additional highlights encompass the buoyant rock leanings of 1983’s Riding with the King, the rugged blues-rock textures of 2008’s Same Old Man, and 2021’s Leftover Feelings, a project shared with dobro master Jerry Douglas.

During his upbringing in Indianapolis, Indiana, Hiatt participated in various garage ensembles. The Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan initially shaped his direction, and echoes of those influences recur throughout his output. Of the numerous bar bands he joined in the late ’60s, the White Ducks drew the greatest notice. After finishing high school, he relocated to Nashville at age 18 and secured employment as a staff songwriter for Tree Publishing. Over the ensuing years he composed and performed at area venues. Before long, several performers began recording his songs, among them Conway Twitty, Tracy Nelson, and Three Dog Night, whose version of Hiatt’s “Sure as I’m Sittin’ Here” reached number 16 in summer 1974. His manager later arranged an audition with Epic Records, which signed him in 1974 and issued the debut Hangin’ Around the Observatory that same year. Despite favorable notices, neither that album nor its 1975 successor, Overcoats, achieved strong sales, prompting the label to release him. By year’s end Tree Publishing had also ended their arrangement.

After his Nashville setbacks, Hiatt headed west. By summer 1978 he had established himself in Los Angeles, where he performed in clubs and opened for folk artists such as Leo Kottke. With Kottke’s help, Hiatt retained manager Denny Bruce, who obtained a contract with MCA Records. Slug Line, his inaugural MCA release, appeared in summer 1979. In contrast to the direct rock and folk-rock of his earlier work, Slug Line adopted the new-wave stance of British singer-songwriters like Elvis Costello, Graham Parker, and Joe Jackson, positioning Hiatt as an American counterpart. The shift drew positive notices yet produced no commercial traction. His follow-up, Two Bit Monsters, met identical results in 1980: strong critical response but no chart impact, leading MCA to drop him as well.

Beyond completing Two Bit Monsters, Hiatt spent much of 1980 in Ry Cooder’s backing ensemble, supplying rhythm guitar on Borderline and joining the subsequent tour. He remained with Cooder through 1981 and signed with Geffen Records by year’s end. Produced by Tony Visconti, his Geffen debut All of a Sudden arrived in 1982, followed by the 1983 effort Riding with the King, handled by Nick Lowe, Scott Matthews, and Ron Nagel. Like his prior Epic and MCA releases, these first two Geffen albums sold modestly. Hiatt’s personal circumstances meanwhile deteriorated under deepening alcoholism. Around the completion of 1985’s Warming Up to the Ice Age, his second wife died by suicide. After issuing that record, Geffen parted ways with him. Late in 1985 Hiatt entered rehabilitation. In 1986 he remarried and contracted with A&M Records.

For his A&M bow, Hiatt gathered a compact group of prior collaborators: Ry Cooder on guitar, Nick Lowe on bass, and Jim Keltner on drums. Cut in a few days, Bring the Family displayed a spare, roots-oriented sound markedly different from earlier projects. Released in summer 1987, it earned the strongest reviews of Hiatt’s career and became a cult favorite, reaching number 107 on the U.S. charts—his first appearance there. Attempts to reunite the same quartet for a follow-up collapsed over financial disagreements. Hiatt next tried sessions with John Doe, David Lindley, and Dave Mattacks, only to abandon the finished tapes as overly contrived. Veteran producer Glyn Johns then guided recordings with Hiatt’s touring band the Goners. Despite these complications, Slow Turning appeared swiftly in summer 1988.

Like its predecessor, Slow Turning garnered near-universal praise and performed solidly, logging 31 weeks on the U.S. charts and peaking at number 98. Hiatt spent the next year touring America and Europe, expanding his audience. Capitalizing on the momentum of the two A&M albums, Geffen issued the 1989 compilation Y’ All Caught? The Ones That Got Away 1979-85. That year other artists revisited Hiatt’s catalog, notably Bonnie Raitt, who included “Thing Called Love” on her multi-platinum Nick of Time.

Hiatt’s 1990 release Stolen Moments achieved comparable critical and commercial success to Slow Turning. The album track “Bring Back Your Love to Me,” also recorded by Earl Thomas Conley, received BMI’s 1991 Country Music Award. By then, covers had become routine: Bob Dylan, Ronnie Milsap, Suzy Bogguss, and Iggy Pop all interpreted Hiatt songs in the early ’90s. In 1993 Rhino Records assembled Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, gathering many such versions from the prior two decades.

The quartet behind Bring the Family—Hiatt, Cooder, Lowe, and Keltner—reconvened in 1991 as Little Village and issued their self-titled debut in early 1992. Expectations ran high given prior successes, yet the album and tour proved disappointing; the members later cited clashing egos as the primary cause.

Hiatt deliberately scaled back the star-studded approach for 1993’s Perfectly Good Guitar. Recorded in two weeks with players from School of Fish and Wire Train, the set felt looser than anything since Bring the Family yet charted more modestly, lasting 11 weeks and reaching number 47. The following year he released the live album Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan? After leaving A&M he signed with Capitol.

Walk On, his first Capitol release, was tracked amid the Perfectly Good Guitar tour and included appearances by the Jayhawks and Bonnie Raitt. It debuted at number 48 but departed after nine weeks, confirming a loyal niche following. Little Head arrived in 1997 and vanished quickly, prompting Hiatt’s departure from Capitol; 2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters appeared instead on Vanguard Records. A second Vanguard album, The Tiki Bar Is Open, preceded his move to New West for 2003’s Beneath This Gruff Exterior. Master of Disaster and the Live from Austin, TX CD/DVD set followed in 2005, while Same Old Man arrived in 2008.

The Open Road surfaced early in 2010, inaugurating a productive stretch that featured guitarist Doug Lancio, a frequent Patty Griffin collaborator. Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns appeared later that year, recorded and produced in Nashville by Kevin Shirley. Mystic Pinball arrived in fall 2012, again produced by Shirley, and debuted at number 39 on the Billboard 200. Lancio supervised the largely acoustic Terms of My Surrender, issued by New West on July 15, 2014. After a four-year hiatus, Hiatt returned with the introspective 2018 album The Eclipse Sessions.

Late in 2019 New West issued the box set Only the Song Survives, surveying Hiatt’s work since 2000. It contained 180-gram vinyl reissues of the eleven albums released between 2000 and 2018, an autographed 48-page book with contributions from Ry Cooder, Steve Earle, Patterson Hood, Rodney Crowell, James McMurtry, and others, all housed in a suitcase-style case. Hiatt subsequently invited dobro virtuoso Jerry Douglas and his band into the studio, yielding the Grammy-nominated Leftover Feelings in 2021.