Beneath John Hiatt's Gruff Exterior: The Klipsch Interview
By Joshua Ryan Hall
A tenacious Midwestern work ethic and a bottomless compulsion to perform have kept John Hiatt writing, recording and touring for more than three decades. With 18 solo albums, countless production credits and a Grammy award behind him, Hiatt is just as excited about music now as when he first came to Nashville in 1969. Maybe more so.
"I really want to play - perform," Hiatt says. "I have a stronger desire to do it now probably than ever, really. There is no seduction of the road … that is completely gone, so the 22 hours that I am not on the stage - that's just work. I mean that is just work."
He's likeable and familiar. He seems relaxed in a simple black suit and white dress shirt. No tie. The photo shoot is over, make-up has been removed and the guitar is back in its case next to Hiatt.
"Well, you have to have the inspiration," he says. That's really what it boils down to. I mean, if that ain't there, you're pretty well screwed."
And that's how John Hiatt comes up with song. That's how Bonnie Raitt got Thing Called Love. That's what brought B.B. King and Clapton their Grammy-winning Riding with the King.
"It just kind of comes or it doesn't. I mean the muse has to show up - at least for me. Something has to set it off. Sometimes just the melody will be enough to get you going, you know? You come up with a melody and something will appear or somebody will say something and that will set you off. I think the truth is the truth, you know, and if you write about what you know it's going to ring true. I think people can recognize that."
Hiatt likes talking about music, his vocation of 34 years. He worked at a McDonalds, briefly, followed by a stock room job at an insurance company. But that was before the age of 18. After performing in a succession of bands during high school, Hiatt moved from his hometown of Indianapolis to Nashville. His third and final job would be a songwriter. He spent the early 70s penning hits for Conway Twitty, Three Dog Night and others. On a salary of $25 a week "the first four or five years were lean and mean."
He's heard every question more than twice, but he somehow listens without groaning and seems to genuinely care about his answers. He's asked every question more than twice, too. Sessions at West 54th, the PBS concert series that Hiatt hosted, has made him as good at giving interviews as he was at conducting them.
"I just wrote this song called Cold River. I wrote it in Austin. Every time I go to Austin on a tour stop, I write a song. And we stay in the same hotel by the Colorado River and that river always inspires a song. It's the river. I mean, I think it's because it comes from way out west and it carries so much of the country with it that there is so much in that river. I sat down and started playing the guitar and, you know, it's just the feeling. It just comes from the feeling. It just sort of bubbles up and next thing you know I was telling this story about a couple from another time. He was a pool hall hustler and she was a hooker. She got pregnant and they left the baby by the river and a widow found the baby and they went on to Chicago. I didn't even know the story was there. But that is the kind of stuff that happens if you are open to it."
"Are you thinking of a particular project you will use Cold River on?" I ask. "I'm going to make a solo acoustic record. In fact, I am going to try to get it out by late spring - May 2004. Just me and a guitar. I've always been messing with it and it just seemed like the time was right. And I got a few crucial pieces of recording gear together that are sort of old and the sound I'm getting out of them got me all excited to do this."
Hiatt works fast when it comes to recording. Beneath This Gruff Exterior with his band, The Goners, was recorded in just eight days. The older he gets, the less he cares about trying to share ideas. He is more interested in capturing the moment.
"I typically work pretty fast," Hiatt says. "I might spend a couple of weeks on a project but pretty much ever since, I'd say Riding with the King, the approach has been going and trying to capture a performance rather than create a studio creation … ideas are a dime a dozen. I'd rather capture a magic performance - a moment, a musical moment."
When it comes to the business of music, Hiatt describes himself as being "on the outside looking in." He has nothing to do with the corporate world, but I don't sense any animosity toward the record companies either. Hiatt and the other people who love music got out of the "business" a long time ago. He believes the music business is for the bottom-liners. They have been running it for a long while now. It's their domain so let them have it. The music folks are creating a whole new kind of industry.
"I think it's a great time just because there is so much [music] available," Hiatt says. You know, you can find any kind of music you want to find. It's unprecedented really, in that regard. You can find any type of ethnic music, any kind of world music, any kind of … there are kids making music that's never been made before."
Hiatt has great respect for his audiences. He looks up to them. He says "I've just always felt like they deserve my best." He is not sure if it was growing up around Midwestern sensibilities or his father's influence that taught him to appreciate the people who attend his concerts. Probably both.
"I have always tried to give people the best I can do, you know. So, I think that comes from my father and I think that comes from that era. That was just the way you did things, you know. And also, there is a certain tenacity, just the never give up kind of thing. Even if they tell you are never going to be able to do it, just kind of go ahead anyway. So I sort of have that. I call it Midwestern tenacity. It takes me a long time to do things, but I am tenacious. I won't give up. I'm slow, but I am tenacious."
Visit the official John Hiatt web site.