Jump to content

John Hiatt

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Hiatt
Hiatt at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas (2010)
Hiatt at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas (2010)
Background information
Born
John Robert Hiatt

(1952-08-20) August 20, 1952 (age 73)
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
GenresHeartland rock, blues rock, folk rock, country, Americana
OccupationsSinger-songwriter, musician
InstrumentsVocals, guitar, piano, keyboards
Years active1972–present
LabelsMCA, A&M, Geffen, Vanguard, New West Records
Websitewww.johnhiatt.com

John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter whose recordings have drawn on rock, country, blues, folk and new wave styles.[1][2]

After moving to Nashville at age 18, Hiatt worked as a songwriter for Tree Publishing. Three Dog Night's recording of his song "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" reached number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1974. His 1987 album Bring the Family marked his chart breakthrough, and songs he wrote later became hits for Bonnie Raitt and Desert Rose Band.[2] Hiatt's compositions have also been recorded by artists including Eric Clapton, Emmylou Harris, B.B. King, Kenny Rogers, Linda Ronstadt and Willie Nelson.[3][4]

Hiatt has received ten Grammy Award nominations, including a 2022 nomination for Best Americana Album for Leftover Feelings, recorded with the Jerry Douglas Band.[5]

Early life

[edit]
Hiatt at the Zelt-Musik-Festival 2015 in Freiburg, Germany

Hiatt was born in 1952 to Robert and Ruth Hiatt, the sixth of seven children in a Roman Catholic family from Indianapolis, Indiana. When he was 9 years old, Hiatt's 21-year-old brother Michael died by suicide. Two years later, his father died after a long illness.[6] To escape 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 11 and began his musical career in Indianapolis as a teenager.[7] He played in various local clubs such as the Hummingbird and also with bands, including The Four-Fifths and John Lynch & the Hangmen.

Career

[edit]

Hiatt 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 (equivalent to about $203 in 2024).[7][8][9] Hiatt, who was unable to read or write scores, had to record all 250 songs he wrote for the company. In 1972 he also began playing with the band White Duck[10] 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. Hiatt performed live in many clubs around Nashville with White Duck and also as a solo act.

Early solo career (1974–78)

[edit]

Hiatt met Don Ellis of Epic Records in 1973, and received a record deal, releasing his first single "We Make Spirit" later that year. That same year Hiatt wrote the song "Sure as I'm Sitting Here" recorded by Three Dog Night,[1] which went to number 16 on the Billboard chart in 1974.

In 1974, Hiatt 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 Records 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 of Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe and Graham Parker, among others.

MCA/Geffen years (1979–1986)

[edit]

Hiatt was picked up by the MCA label in 1979.[10] 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 Paradiso in Amsterdam for the first 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 was later covered on albums by Willie Nelson, Paul Young, Rubén Blades and Willy DeVille, among others, as well as by Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan in concert.

Hiatt was signed in 1982 to Geffen (which later absorbed MCA),[10] where he recorded three diverse albums from 1982 to 1985. The first, All of a Sudden, was produced by Tony Visconti,[1] and featured use of keyboards and synthesizers; his future albums combined country and soul influences. 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. Her 1983 recording of "It Hasn't Happened Yet" reached No. 14 on the country chart, and she recorded an unreleased duet version of "The Way We Make a Broken Heart" with Hiatt. Cash re-recorded the latter song for King's Record Shop in 1987, and it became a No. 1 country hit.[11][12] Asleep at the Wheel also recorded "The Way We Make a Broken Heart", while Ricky Nelson included "It Hasn't Happened Yet" on his 1981 album Playing to Win.[13]

Hiatt recorded a duet with Elvis Costello, a cover version 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 Hiatt's song "The Usual", which had appeared on the soundtrack to Hearts of Fire. However, Geffen dropped Hiatt from the label after Ice Age failed to chart.[1]

Success (1987–1989)

[edit]

Hiatt finally came into success in 1987, when he released Bring the Family. For the album, Hiatt had a backing band consisting of Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe, and Jim Keltner.[1][14] Two of the songs on the album have been extensively covered: "Have a Little Faith in Me," which has been interpreted 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, Chris Smither, Spafford, and Gregg Allman. "Thank You Girl" was a moderate radio hit, and the B-side of the single featured a non-album duet with Loudon Wainwright III on a cover of the Temptations’ hit "My Girl" (Hiatt returned the favor on the B-side of Wainwright's single "Your Mother and I"). Most notably, Bonnie Raitt brought "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 which hit the Billboard 200.[15]

In 1988, he returned to the studio with Glyn Johns producing[16] to record Slow Turning, which was his first album to hit the upper half of the Billboard 200.[1] It featured his only top 10 chart single, the title track, which hit No. 8 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and "Tennessee Plates", which was used in the soundtrack of the Ridley Scott directed and Academy Award-winning film Thelma and Louise in 1991. The Jeff Healey Band covered the Hiatt-penned song "Angel Eyes" and took it to the top five of the Billboard Hot 100.

1990s and beyond

[edit]
At Halfway Amsterdam festival 1994.

In 1992, Cooder, Keltner, and Lowe again backed up Hiatt, but this time they gave themselves the band name Little Village,[1] a reference to a Sonny Boy Williamson II song. Expectations for the Little Village album were high, but the album failed to even chart as high as Hiatt's last solo album. The group disbanded after a moderately successful tour.[1] Conversely, country artist Suzy Bogguss scored a No. 2 hit that year with a cover of Hiatt's song "Drive South."

Hiatt recorded Perfectly Good Guitar with members of alternative rock groups School of Fish and Wire Train in 1993.[1] Hiatt recorded the album with producer Matt Wallace, who had worked most prominently with Faith No More, a band that Hiatt's 15-year-old stepson had recommended for him.[17] It was Hiatt's highest-peaking album at No. 47, but was not the commercial breakthrough A&M expected.

Also in 1993, Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt, a compilation album of covers of Hiatt's songs, was released. This was followed by Rollin' into Memphis: Songs of John Hiatt in 2000 and It'll Come to You: The Songs of John Hiatt in 2003.[3]

In 1994, Hiatt released Hiatt Comes Alive at Budokan?, his first official 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 previously released two live promotional "official 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 first Grammy nomination in 1995 for his album Walk On.

In 2000, Hiatt released his first independent album on Vanguard Records, Crossing Muddy Waters, a predominantly acoustic recording with Davey Faragher and David Immerglück as his only accompanists.[18] Later that year, he was named songwriter/artist of the year at the Nashville Music Awards.[19] In 2001, Crossing Muddy Waters was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.[5] In 2002, Hiatt performed several songs for the soundtrack of Disney's The Country Bears, again with Johns producing,[16] and provided the singing voice of the lead character. The soundtrack also featured Hiatt songs performed by Bonnie Raitt and Don Henley.[20]

Hiatt's next album, Master of Disaster, was released on June 21, 2005. Produced by Jim Dickinson, it featured bassist David Hood and members of the North Mississippi Allstars and reached No. 126 on the Billboard 200 and No. 10 on the Independent Albums chart.[21][15]

Hiatt solo in 2010

Same Old Man followed on May 27, 2008.[22]

On September 17, 2008, he appeared in Levon Helm's Ramble at the Ryman singing "The Weight" at the historic Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.[23]

Hiatt appeared 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.[24]

In November 2011, Hiatt guested at Joe Bonamassa's two-night run at New York's Beacon Theatre. Performances from the concerts appeared on Bonamassa's 2012 live album and video Beacon Theatre: Live from New York.[25][26]

Hiatt presented an Americana Lifetime Achievement Award to Bonnie Raitt on September 12, 2012. The two performed "Thing Called Love" together at the ceremony.[27]

On July 15, 2014, Hiatt released Terms of My Surrender, his 22nd studio album.[28] It earned him two Grammy nominations.[5]

On October 12, 2018, Hiatt released The Eclipse Sessions through New West Records. The album, his first in four years, was recorded in the summer of 2017, including on the day of the August 21 solar eclipse. Hiatt recorded it as a trio with bassist Patrick O'Hearn and drummer Kenneth Blevins.[29]

In 2021, Hiatt released Leftover Feelings, a collaboration with the Jerry Douglas Band recorded at Nashville's RCA Studio B.[30] The album was nominated for Best Americana Album at the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.[5]

Songwriting

[edit]

Hiatt's songs have been recorded across rock, country, blues and pop; by 1995, he said that more than 100 artists had covered his compositions.[8] Contemporary profiles cited performers including Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris and Iggy Pop among those who recorded his work.[31] Three tribute albums devoted to his compositions had been released by 2003.[3] Selected commercially released recordings include:

Song Co-writer(s) Recording artist(s)
"Across the Borderline" Ry Cooder and Jim Dickinson Freddy Fender[3]
"Angel Eyes" Fred Koller The Jeff Healey Band[32]
"Confidence Man" — The Jeff Healey Band[32]
"Drive South" — Kelly Willis;[32] Suzy Bogguss[33]
"Feels Like Rain" — Buddy Guy[3]
"Have a Little Faith in Me" — Joe Cocker;[34] Kenny Rogers[4]
"Icy Blue Heart" — Emmylou Harris[3]
"Paper Thin" — Buddy and Julie Miller[3]
"Pink Bedroom" — Rosanne Cash[32]
"Riding with the King" — Eric Clapton and B.B. King[3]
"She Don't Love Nobody" — Nick Lowe and His Cowboy Outfit;[3] Desert Rose Band[35]
"She Loves the Jerk" — Rodney Crowell[3]
"Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" — Three Dog Night[36]
"Take It Down" — Patty Griffin[3]
"Thing Called Love" — Bonnie Raitt[3]
"The Most Unoriginal Sin" — Willie Nelson[3]
"The Way We Make a Broken Heart" — Rosanne Cash[3]
"Washable Ink" — The Neville Brothers[32]
"When We Ran" — Linda Ronstadt[3]

Personal life

[edit]

Hiatt has two daughters, singer-songwriter Lilly Hiatt and Georgia Rae Hiatt, and a stepson, Robert.[37][38] Along with singing, Hiatt is also a whistler, whistling in many of his songs.[39][40]

Discography

[edit]
Hiatt and his backing band, The Combo, 2012

Awards

[edit]
  • 2000 Nashville Music Awards: Songwriter/Artist of the Year
  • 2008 Americana Music Association: Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting
  • 2019 BMI Troubador Award[41]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 446–447. ISBN 1-84195-017-3.
  2. 1 2 "A Night With John Hiatt". Grammy.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 Deming, Mark. "It'll Come to You: The Songs of John Hiatt". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  4. 1 2 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Across My Heart". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "John Hiatt". Grammy.com. Recording Academy. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  6. ↑ "Rocker John Hiatt: As Good as His Words – New York Times". The New York Times. 1989-03-12. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  7. 1 2 "Rolling Stone Online: John Hiatt Interview". Unicom.com. 1997-06-29. Retrieved 2014-07-10.
  8. 1 2 Wheeler, Steven P. (October 30, 1995). "John Hiatt" (PDF). Music Connection. pp. 20–23. Retrieved July 23, 2026 – via World Radio History.
  9. ↑ Woodard, Josef (September 1990). "Warming Up to the Info Age" (PDF). DownBeat. pp. 26–27. Retrieved July 23, 2026 – via World Radio History.
  10. 1 2 3 Terry Roland (2012-09-01). "The Slow Turning of John Hiatt: From Genre Pioneer to Americana's Elder Statesmanby". San Diego Troubadour. Retrieved 2023-12-29.
  11. ↑ Rowland, Mark (August 1990). "John Hiatt" (PDF). Musician. No. 141. pp. 30–38. Retrieved July 23, 2026 – via World Radio History.
  12. ↑ "Rosanne Cash". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  13. ↑ Ruhlmann, William. "Playing to Win". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  14. ↑ Amicone, Michael (August 20, 1990). "John Hiatt" (PDF). Music Connection. pp. 26–27. Retrieved July 23, 2026 – via World Radio History.
  15. 1 2 "Discography". John Hiatt Official Website. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  16. 1 2 Johns, Glyn (2015). Sound Man (First (Plume) ed.). New York, New York: Plume/Penguin Random House, LLC. pp. 268–273. ISBN 978-0-14-751657-2.
  17. ↑ Hopkins, Renee (1994-03-03). "Joys of Bust-'em-up Rock". The Dallas Morning News.
  18. ↑ Horowitz, Hal. "Crossing Muddy Waters". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  19. ↑ "2008 Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame Inductees Announced". Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  20. ↑ "The Country Bears Original Soundtrack". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  21. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Master of Disaster". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  22. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Same Old Man". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  23. ↑ "Ramble at the Ryman / Levon Helm". National Library Board Singapore. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  24. ↑ Walker, Dave (2011-05-29). "'Treme' explained: 'Feels Like Rain'". The Times-Picayune.
  25. ↑ "John Hiatt". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  26. ↑ "Beacon Theatre: Live from New York". Joe Bonamassa Official Store. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  27. ↑ "Strong Roots: The 2012 Americana Music Festival & Conference". Grammy.com. September 26, 2012. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  28. ↑ "Terms of My Surrender". Apple Music. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  29. ↑ "John Hiatt Returns with The Eclipse Sessions" (PDF). New West Records. August 16, 2018. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  30. ↑ Deming, Mark. "Leftover Feelings". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  31. ↑ Gelfand, Michael (November 1998). "The Flight and Weight of Words" (PDF). Musician. No. 240. pp. 18–19. Retrieved July 23, 2026 – via World Radio History.
  32. 1 2 3 4 5 "Love Gets Strange: The Songs of John Hiatt". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  33. ↑ Mansfield, Brian. "Voices in the Wind". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  34. ↑ "Have a Little Faith". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  35. ↑ Pendragon, Jana. "Running". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  36. ↑ McCombs, Joseph. "Hard Labor". AllMusic. Retrieved July 23, 2026.
  37. ↑ Steinberg, Jacques (2008-10-19). "The Lyrics? Pretty Familiar. The Performer? Less So". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-07-19.
  38. ↑ Margasak, Peter (2017-10-03). "Lilly Hiatt brings her keen observational powers to a breakup on the new Trinity Lane". Chicago Reader.
  39. ↑ Lindquist, David. "4 ways John Hiatt brought songwriting genius home to Indiana". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved May 28, 2026.
  40. ↑ Hynes, Jim. "John Hiatt Hits The Note During Career Spanning Show At Sellersville Theatre (SHOW REVIEW)". Gilde Magazine. Retrieved May 28, 2026.
  41. ↑ Hudak, Joseph (2019-09-10). "John Hiatt Honored by Elvis Costello, Lyle Lovett at BMI Troubadour Ceremony". Rollingstone.com. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Hiatt&oldid=1365596856"