John Hiatt

For the American inventor, see John Wesley Hyatt.

For the English Wesleyan minister, see John Hyatt
(clergyman).
John Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American rock
guitarist, pianist, singer, and songwriter.[1] He has played
a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new
wave, blues and country. Hiatt has been nominated for
several Grammy Awards and has been awarded a variety of other distinctions in the music industry. He remains one of the most respected and inuential American
singer-songwriters.[2]
Hiatt was working as a songwriter for Tree International,
a record label in Nashville, when his song "Sure As I'm
Sittin' Here" was covered by Three Dog Night.[1] The
song became a Top 40 hit, earning Hiatt a recording
contract with Epic Records. Since then he has released 21 studio albums, two compilation albums and
one live album. His songs have been covered by a variety of artists in multiple genres, including Bob Dylan, The Searchers, Delbert McClinton, Willy DeVille,
Ry Cooder, Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton,
B.B. King, Joe Bonamassa, Willie Nelson, Three Dog
Night, Joan Baez, Paula Abdul, Buddy Guy, the Desert
Rose Band, Jimmy Buett, Mandy Moore, Iggy Pop,
Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, Dave Edmunds, Nick
Lowe, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Rosanne Cash, Suzy
John Hiatt at the Zelt-Musik-Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany
Bogguss, Jewel, Aaron Neville, Je Healey, Keith Urban, Joe Cocker, Chaka Khan, Paulini and many others.
The Dutch singer/songwriter Ilse DeLange recorded the
album Dear John with nine of his songs.

1
1.1

Musical career
played in a variety of local clubs, most notably the Hummingbird. Hiatt played with a variety of bands, including
The Four-Fifths and John Lynch & the Hangmen.

Early life and career

Hiatt was born in 1952 to Ruth and Robert Hiatt, the sixth
of seven children in a Roman Catholic family from Indianapolis. When he was nine years old, Hiatts 21-year-old
brother Michael committed suicide. Only two years later,
his father died after a long sickness.[3] To escape from the
stress of his early life, Hiatt watched IndyCar racing and
listened to Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and the blues. In his
youth, Hiatt reports that he and several others stole a Ford
Thunderbird, a crime for which he was caught by the owners but got away with, posing as a hitchhiker. He learned
to play the guitar when he was eleven, and began his musical career in Indianapolis, Indiana as a teenager.[4] He

He moved to Nashville, Tennessee when he was 18 years

old and got a job as a songwriter for the Tree-Music Publishing Company for $25 a week.[4] Hiatt, who was unable to read or write scores, had to record all 250 songs
he wrote for the company. He also began playing with
the band White Duck, as one of three singer-songwriters
within the group. White Duck had already recorded one
album before Hiatt joined. He wrote and performed two
songs on their second album, In Season, one of which was
the hit Train to Birmingham (1972). Hiatt performed
live in many clubs around Nashville with White Duck,
and as a solo act.
1

1.2

Early solo career (197478)

Hiatt met Don Ellis of Epic Records in 1973, and received

a record deal, releasing his rst single, We Make Spirit,
later that year. That same year Hiatt wrote the song, Sure
As I'm Sitting Here, which was recorded by Three Dog
Night,[1] and went to number 16 on the Billboard chart in
1974.
In 1974 he released Hangin' Around the Observatory,
which was a critical success but a commercial failure. A
year later, Overcoats was released, and when it also failed
to sell, Epic released Hiatt from his contract.[1] For the
next four years he was without a recording contract. During this time his style evolved from country-rock to new
wave-inuenced rock in the style of Elvis Costello, Nick
Lowe and Graham Parker.

1.3

The MCA/Geen Years (19791986)

Hiatt was picked up by the MCA label in 1979. He released two albums for the label Slug Line (1979) and
Two Bit Monsters (1980) neither of which met with
commercial success. He received a few good reviews
for these albums by critics in the Netherlands. He performed at the Paradiso in Amsterdam for the rst time
in 1979 (opening for Southside Johnny & The Asbury
Jukes) and came back often and built a solid fan base. In
1982, Across the Borderline, written by Hiatt with Ry
Cooder and Jim Dickinson, appeared on the soundtrack
to the motion picture The Border sung by country star
Freddy Fender. The song would later be covered on albums by Willie Nelson, Paul Young, Rubn Blades and
Willy DeVille, among others, as well as by Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan in concert. Hiatt was signed to
Geen (which would later absorb MCA) in 1982, where
he recorded three diverse albums from 1982-85. The
rst, All of a Sudden was produced by Tony Visconti,[1]
and featured use of keyboards and synthesizers; his future
albums combined country and soul inuences. Riding
With the King appeared in 1983, produced by Scott Mathews, Ron Nagle and Nick Lowe.[1] Hiatt began making
'critics choice' lists and building a large European following. The title track of Riding With the King (taken from
an odd dream Scott Mathews had) was re-recorded two
decades later by Eric Clapton and B.B. King and went
double platinum.
During this period, Rosanne Cash covered several Hiatt
compositions, taking It Hasn't Happened Yet to the Top
20 on the country charts. In 1983, Cash would duet with
Hiatt on his "The Way We Make a Broken Heart" produced by Mathews and Nagle. When Geen failed to release the single, Cash re-recorded it in 1987 and it went to
No. 1 on the US country charts. Ricky Nelson also covered It Hasn't Happened Yet on his 1981 album Playing
to Win.

MUSICAL CAREER

of the Spinners' song, Living A Little, Laughing A Little, which appeared on Warming Up to the Ice Age.[1]
Shortly after its release, Bob Dylan covered Hiatts song
The Usual, which had appeared on the soundtrack to
the lm, Hearts of Fire. However, Geen dropped Hiatt
from the label after Ice Age failed to chart.[1]

1.4 Success (19871989)

Hiatt nally came into success in 1987, when he released
his rst big hit, Bring the Family. For the album, Hiatt had
a backing band consisting of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and
Jim Keltner.[1] Most of the songs on the album have since
been extensively covered, especially "Have a Little Faith
in Me, which has been covered by a number of artists,
including Joe Cocker, Delbert McClinton, Jewel, Bill
Frisell, Mandy Moore and Bon Jovi; and Memphis in
the Meantime, which has been covered by Carl Perkins,
and Gregg Allman. Thank You Girl was a moderate
radio hit, but nothing that would garner Hiatt national attention, although the B-side of the single featured a nonalbum duet with Loudon Wainwright III on a cover of the
Temptations hit My Girl (Hiatt returned the favor on
the B-side of Wainwrights single Your Mother and I).
Most notably, Bonnie Raitt would bring Thing Called
Love to No. 11 on the US charts with her 1989 release,
Nick of Time.
Following Bring the Family, Hiatt had a string of nine
straight studio albums hit the Billboard 200.
In 1988, he returned to the studio to record Slow Turning, which would be his rst album to hit the upper half
of the Billboard 200.[1] It also featured his only top ten
chart single, the title track, which hit No. 8 on the
Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. As well, Tennessee
Plates, would later appear in the Ridley Scott directed
and Academy Award winning lm, Thelma and Louise in
1991. In 1989, The Je Healey Band covered the Hiattpenned song "Angel Eyes", and took it to the Top 5 of the
Billboard Hot 100.

1.5 The 1990s and beyond

In 1992, Cooder, Keltner, and Lowe again backed up
Hiatt, but this time they gave themselves a band name,
Little Village,[1] a reference to a Sonny Boy Williamson
II project. Expectations for the Little Village album were
high, but the album failed to even chart as high as Hiatts
last solo album, and the group disbanded after an only
moderately successful tour.[1]

In 1993, Hiatt recorded Perfectly Good Guitar with members of alternative rock groups School of Fish and Wire
Train.[1] Hiatt recorded the album with producer Matt
Wallace, who had worked most prominently with Faith
No More, a band that Hiatts 15-year-old son Rob had
Hiatt recorded a duet with Elvis Costello, a cover version recommended for him.[5] It was Hiatts highest peaking

3
Hiatts album, Master of Disaster, was released on June
21, 2005. The album was produced by Jim Dickinson,
and Hiatt was backed up by the bassist David Hood and
several members of the North Mississippi Allstars. The
album achieved modest sales, becoming a top ten independent album, but eluded signicant commercial success in the same manner that his previous albums did.
On February 12, 2008, during a concert with Lyle Lovett
at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Canada, Hiatt said
that his new album would be titled Same Old Man. It was
released on May 27, 2008.
On July 18, 2008 Hiatt performed at Ravinia Park in
Highland Park, Illinois with his daughter, Lilly.
In August 2009 he appeared in Levon Helms Ramble At
The Ryman singing The Weight at the historic Ryman
Auditorium in Nashville.
In March 2010, Hiatt released The Open Road.

Hiatt solo in 2010

Hiatt appears as a performer in The House of Blues in the

sixth episode of the second season of Treme, with the
episode title taken from his song Feels Like Rain. The
episode aired May 29, 2011.[6]

Hiatt presented an Americana Lifetime Achievement

Award to Bonnie Raitt on Sept. 12, 2012. The two peralbum at No. 47, but again was still not the true commer- formed Thing Called Love together at the ceremony.
cial breakthrough A&M expected.
On September 25, 2012, Hiatt released Mystic Pinball,
In 1993, Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, his 21st studio album.
a compilation album of covers of Hiatts songs was released. This was followed by an album of original covers
Rollin' into Memphis: Songs of John Hiatt in 2000, and a
second compilation album with a few originals, It'll Come
To You...The Songs of John Hiatt, in 2003.

Also on September 25, 2012, Joe Bonamassa Released in

the US Beacon Theatre: Live From New York, which included Hiatt playing, Down Around My Place and I Know
A Place.

On July 15, 2014, Hiatt released Terms of My Surrender,

In 1994, Hiatt released Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?, his 22nd studio album.
his rst ocial live album and his last album with A&M
Records.[1] A CD and DVD of his performance on Austin
City Limits was released in 2005. Hiatt had previ- 2 Discography
ously released two promotional live promotional ocial
bootlegs, Riot with Hiatt in 1985, and Live at the Hiatt in
1993, as well as the EP Live at the Palace in 1991.
Hiatt received his rst Grammy nomination in 1995 for
his album Walk On. Hiatts next few albums never gained
any momentum on the charts, and he saw little change
in his fanbase in the late 1990s, indicating a dedicated
following. In 2000, Hiatt released his rst independent
album on Vanguard Records, Crossing Muddy Waters,
which saw a heavy inuence of bluegrass in his music.
Later that year, he was named songwriter/artist of the
year at the Nashville Music Awards. In 2001, Crossing
Muddy Waters was nominated for a Grammy Award for
Best Contemporary Folk Album, with Davey Faragher
and David Immerglck as his only accompanists.
In 2002, Hiatt performed several songs for the soundtrack Hiatt and his backing band The Combo in 2012
to Disney's The Country Bears movie, representing the
voice of the lead singer. The movie also featured covers Main article: John Hiatt discography
of Hiatt songs by Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley.

4 References

Studio albums
Hangin' Around the Observatory, Epic Records
(1974)

[1] Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography

(5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 446447. ISBN
1-84195-017-3.

Overcoats, Epic Records (1975)

[2] John Hiatt. Amazon.com. 2007-04-22. Retrieved

2012-04-10.

Slug Line, MCA Records (1979)

[3] Rocker John Hiatt: As Good As His Words - New York

Times. Nytimes.com. 1989-03-12. Retrieved 2014-0710.

Two Bit Monsters, MCA Records (1980)

All of a Sudden, Geen Records (1982)

[4] Rolling Stone Online: John Hiatt Interview.

com.com. 1997-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-10.

Riding with the King, Geen Records (1983)

Warming Up to the Ice Age, Geen Records (1985)

Slow Turning, A&M Records (1988)

[5] Hopkins, Renee (March 3, 1994). Joys of Bust-'em-up

Rock. The Dallas Morning News.

5 External links

Stolen Moments, A&M Records (1990)

Perfectly Good Guitar, A&M Records (1993)
Walk On, Capitol Records (1995)

John Hiatts ocial website

John Hiatt archives
John Hiatt fan site

Little Head, Capitol Records (1997)

Crossing Muddy Waters, Vanguard Records (2000)
The Tiki Bar is Open, Vanguard Records (2001)
Beneath This Gru Exterior, New West Records
(2003)
Master of Disaster, New West Records (2005)
Same Old Man, New West Records (2008)
The Open Road, New West Records (2010)
Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns, New West
Records (2011)
Mystic Pinball, New West Records (2012)
Terms of My Surrender, New West Records (2014)

Awards
2000 Nashville Music Awards: Songwriter/Artist of
the Year
2008 Americana Music Association:
Achievement Award for Songwriting

Uni-

[6] Walker, Dave (May 29, 2011). "'Treme' explained: 'Feels

Like Rain'". The Times-Picayune.

Bring the Family, A&M Records (1987)

EXTERNAL LINKS

Lifetime

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