John Hiatt hasn’t made a four-star album since 1988’s
\nSlow Turning<\/i>. His studio releases — ’97’s
\nLittle Head<\/i>, 95’s
\nWalk On<\/i>, 93’s
\nPerfectly Good Guitar<\/i> — all had their moments and were
\nfairly solid three-star offerings, but, all in all, the songwriting
\nseams were showing.<\/p>\n
Oh, there were some first-rate tunes like “Perfectly Good
\nGuitar,” “Cry Love,” “Ethylene,” and “Buffalo River Home.” Alas,
\nthere were lyrical stretches like “Sure Pinocchio” and “The Wreck
\nOf The Barbie Ferrari” where Hiatt tried to shore up his crumbling
\nmuse with strained pluck and wit. Also there were songs that
\nunsuccessfully attempted to “rock out” so hard one wouldn’t notice
\nthe lack of songwriting craft (thinking “Shredding The Document,”
\n“Cross My Fingers,” and “Pirate Radio” here). All things
\nconsidered, played and sung, Hiatt was in a funk.<\/p>\n
The happy news is Hiatt’s latest,
\nCrossing Muddy Waters<\/i>, is a solid four on the star meter.
\nThe inspiration? Perhaps his move to the more songwriter-friendly
\nVanguard label. His last two albums were on Capitol, with all
\nbefore that on A&M. This scale-down label move has given Hiatt
\nthe courage to let the musical chips fall where the woodchuck
\nchucked them.<\/p>\n
Vanguard is a basically a 60s folkie label just now getting back
\ninto the “new music” market. This fact has perhaps enabled Hiatt to
\nmostly “go acoustic” this time out. There are no drums to be heard,
\nthough there is some foot-stomping, metal chair-banging percussion
\ncourtesy of long-time Hiatt cohort Davey Faragher. Besides Hiatt on
\nacoustic 6-string guitar, harmonium, and resonator, David
\nImmergluck abets on mandolin, acoustic 12-string, and very
\noccasional electric slide guitar. That’s it.<\/p>\n
Hiatt, of course, provides lead vocals, with both Immergluck and
\nFaragher helping on harmonies. The feel is that of a back porch
\nguitar pull. Most of the songs were recorded live to tape without
\noverdubs. One could call
\nCrossing Muddy Waters<\/i> Hiatt’s first “stringband”
\nrecording.<\/p>\n
The acoustic backdrop leads Hiatt’s new songs into folk\/blues
\nterritory rather than his customary rock\/r&b thang. Take, for
\ninstance, the opening cut, “Lincoln Town.” With Hiatt on resonator
\nguitar, Immergluck on mandolin, and Faragher on footstomps and
\nhandclaps, the song becomes a country blues. Hiatt’s growling,
\nguttural vocal is relaxed and assured and resides naturally within
\nthe song. It appears to be a song about leaving Detroit: “I’m going
\ndown to Lincoln town\/Turn your pretty little head around\/Take the
\nnext train outward bound\/Carry you out of Lincoln town.” It is a
\nfine, bluesy setting for Hiatt’s voice – much better than the
\noverly-rocking context of his last three studio releases.<\/p>\n
The moody title track features acoustic guitar and mandolin and
\nhas nothing to do with McKinley Morganfield (aka Muddy Waters).
\n“Crossing muddy waters (small “m” small “w”)” is actually a deft
\nmetaphor for giving up on a troubled (muddy) relationship: “Left me
\nin my tears to drown\/She left a baby daughter\/Now the river’s wide
\nand deep and brown\/She’s crossing muddy waters.” In fact, the
\nproliferation of leaving and bust up songs on
\nCrossing Muddy Waters<\/i> would leave one to believe Hiatt and
\nhis second wife are on the outs, though he insists, in recent
\ninterviews, that they are happily (if doggedly) married.<\/p>\n
Another “leavin'” song is “Gone,” whose up-tempo, “whistling in
\nthe dark” attitude is the opposite of the title track’s reaction to
\nabandonment: “Gone\/Like a Nixon file\/Gone, gone away\/Gone\/Like my
\nlandlord’s smile\/Gone, gone away.” The hurt is just a real, but the
\ncoping mantra is decidedly “screw it.” Lyrically, it is one of
\nHiatt’s more clever, in-the-pocket compositions, and some country
\nstar should countrify it post haste and release it to world
\nacclaim.<\/p>\n
One of Hiatt’s songwriting strengths, besides clever stompers
\nlike “Gone,” is the anthemic ballad. Consider his 1987 classic
\nBring The Family<\/i> with its twin, killer ballads “Lipstick
\nSunset” and “Have A Little Faith In Me.” Or, take a listen to
\nSlow Turning<\/i>‘s oft-covered “Feels Like Rain.” Besides the
\ntitle track, another moody Hiatt classic this time around is “God’s
\nGolden Eyes.” It appears to be a song about man’s quest for that
\nfinal, serene resting place: “Every facet so perfect\/And every cut
\nthe proper size\/When we find ourselves staring in\/God’s golden
\neyes.” It has soul, presence, and grace. In short, it is another
\nHiatt ballad composition ripe for covering.<\/p>\n
I can’t conclude this review of
\nCrossing Muddy Waters<\/i> without mentioning the new “gospel”
\nsong. “Lift Up Every Stone,” with its Baptist call and response
\nchorus, is a bona fide, toe-tapping, hand-clapping wonder: “You
\ngotta lift up every stone now sister\/Gotta clear this field and
\nbuild that wall.” It could also be a commentary on this fine album.
\nHiatt has crossed his muddied, musical waters, cleared his field of
\ncontractual constraints, and built a new wall that suits him, not
\nthe record mavens.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":25832,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5850],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-37038","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-john-hiatt","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/37038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37038"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=37038"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=37038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}