John Hiatt

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I saw John Hiatt doing a solo act a couple weeks ago. Touring to promo his new release. The guitar he played most of the night was a huge blonde Gibson dreadnought. I don't know what model it was, but the sound was HUGE! It wasn't mic'ed, just direct through the house P.A. They did have a rack of some sort, but no wierd effects, just a real natural sound as big as a church.

Twist
 
I like John Hiatt. Did you ever hear his record Bring the Family? Great songs, and an unbelievably magical performance. It has some of Ry Cooder's best playing on it. Cooder playing over Jim Keltner's absolutely wonderful perfect drumming... it's magical. Apparently it was done very quickly (like a couple of days) with very little rehearsal and some of the four players (the remaining one being Nick Lowe on bass) were meeting for the first time.
 
Al

For me that's part of the magic of Hiatts' music. It's just the guys in a room playin' their hearts out. Not overproduced Grammy material.

If you know any of his history, much of the music is autobiographical, and painfully honest. That heartache is perfectly expressed in the down to earth style of the music,and his well grounded wit.

I think "Bring the Family" was some of his best. Listen to how he talks about his father.

Twist
 
The songwriting is some of the best.
Bring the family is easily one of my favorite records of all time.
Hiatt is the cover story on acoustic guitar this month.
 
An underrated album to be sure. The only time I have sat down with a CD and my guitar and worked out a solo note-for-note was when we worked up Lipstick Sunset. I play Ry's licks and everybody thinks I'm a hell of slide player (well, I am...).
 
I'm partial to the Little Village CD myself - "Don't Think About Her While You're Trying To Drive" was a song the world NEEDED....
 
Little Village was cool - too bad most of the world has never heard it. Oh well, at least it won't get played to death on the radio.

Twist
 
"perfectly good guitar" is an awesome display of talent, not to mention the pictures. This guy just puts the hammer down and doesn't let up.
 
Integrity

John Hiatt is, I agree, perhaps our greatest living American folk /rock songwriter. One of the reasons is his attitude toward songwriting as being something you just do. His honesty and integrity are unparalleled in this business; witness his embrace of internet music technology in the release of "Crossing Muddy Waters." He's perfectly willing to let all of his material stand on it's own. I saw his solo gig last month at The Bottom Line and it was amazing. The purity of his writing is a lesson for us all. What a gifted, grounded, humble man.

So I've decided that when I grow up, I want to be John Hiatt.
 
Here, here! John is a great singer/song writer. Saw him on Austin City limits several years ago. So I went out and bought the Perfectly Good Guitar Cd. I have bought all most all of hims albums since. Little Head is another one of my favorites. That song "Pirate Radio" just gets me.
 
dcole,

Yeah, he hauled it out for one song, and he did comment on the weight. He said he didn't even know what the thing was called; I thought it was a National.

Twist
 
"Walk On", "Stolen Moments",
and slow turning all brilliant also.
 
The song, "Perfectly Good Guitar" almost made me blubber when I first heard it - shows his love (and mine) for the guitar! Great songwriter.
 
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