John Hiatt & the Goners Coming to the Masonic

By John Roos, Patch Poster

John Hiatt has been sharing his musical muse with us for over 45 years now. But unlike some veteran acts now running on empty--such as the Rolling Stones and Carlos Santana--the Indiana-born singer-songwriter’s creative fire still burns. His recent releases, from 2010’s “The Open Road” to his latest “Terms of My Surrender,” are among his finest and showcase a man still grappling with all the emotional complexities of his life’s journey marked by pain, hope and love.

So why then has Hiatt - who plays Wednesday at the Masonic - turned back the clock on his current tour with the Goners featuring Sonny Landreth by performing all of his 1988 “Slow Turning” album (plus a number of his greatest hits and one Landreth-Derek Trucks song titled "Congo Square") as part of its 30th anniversary celebration?

“Gosh, this is something that I’ve never done (playing an entire album live) and I love playing with these guys so I thought it would be a lot of fun,” Hiatt explained by phone recently from a tour stop in San Juan Capistrano. “We’re playing some songs that I’ve never performed live, like `It’ll Come To You’ and ‘Sometime Other Than Now,’ and that gives us a chance to rediscover and breathe some new life into them. It’s very cool.”

This trip back in time does not mean that Hiatt is retreating artistically. In fact, he’s just finished a new album that he plans to release in September.

“The new songs are a bit of a transition because I’ve taken a different look at things over the past couple of years,” he offered, “but I’m still mining the same stuff with the subject matter . . . . Love and loss, degradation and redemption.”

Hiatt’s talent as a songwriter in fact launched his career in the early-1970s. He was working as a songwriter for Tree Music, one of the biggest publishers in Nashville, when his song "Sure as I'm Sittin' Here" was covered by Three Dog Night (remember them?) It became a Top 40 hit and propelled Hiatt to his first recording contract with Epic Records. Since then he has released over 20 studio albums, several compilation and live albums for various big-name and indie labels.

The list of musicians who have recorded their versions of Hiatt’s songs is amazing both in its quantity and stylistic diversity. Among the royalty are B.B. King, Bob Dylan, Buddy Guy, Chaka Khan, the Desert Rose Band, Emmylou Harris, Eric Clapton, Iggy Pop, Joan Baez, Joe Cocker, Keith Urban, Linda Ronstadt, Nick Lowe, Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash, Ry Cooder, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Willie Nelson, Asleep at the Wheel and Willy DeVille, among others. The most famous cover is Bonnie Raitt’s smoother version of “Thing Called Love,” which she included on her Grammy-winning “Nick of Time” album that climbed to number 11 on the U.S. charts in 1989.

The Nashville-based Hiatt saw his profile rise noticeably in 1987 with "Bring the Family," an intimate collection of songs exploring relationships between friends and lovers, husbands and wives, parents and children. Praised by critics, the release helped broaden his audience and included bassist Nick Lowe, drummer Jim Keltner and guitarist Ry Cooder, a collaboration which led to the four men deciding to form the short-lived super-group Little Village in 1992.

None of Hiatt’s own albums have ever found breakthrough commercial success, although 1993’s “Perfectly Good Guitar” did crack the top 50. But that’s never been a goal or problem for the 65-year-old Hiatt because he’s in the game for the long haul. While pop music trends come and go, he’s crafted a rich, enduring body of work that spans numerous genres of music, including rock, folk, blues, alt-country, soul and Americana.

Willing to share his most intimate and personal experiences, along with purely fictional character studies, Hiatt’s style and persona connect with his dedicated fan base, especially in concert. Whether he’s playing solo acoustic or fronting his raucous electric band, he engages his audience emotionally with his razor-sharp words and music, and his between-song banter is humorous, warm and folksy.

Back in August 2011 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, I saw Hiatt perform with his then-backing band the Combo in support of his just-released “Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns,” which has become one of my favorite recordings of his. It was an astounding show as Hiatt drew deeply from his trove of treasures, including stellar versions of “The Open Road,” “Cry Love,” “Perfectly Good Guitar,” “Tennessee Plates” and a far more soulful “Thing Called Love” than the lovely Ms. Raitt has ever managed to muster.

But what really struck me—and honestly scared the bejesus out of me—was experiencing the chilling “Damn this Town,” which Hiatt calls a “creepy song really and I have no idea where it came from.” In the great story-song tradition of Bob Dylan, John Prine and Bruce Springsteen, this tale of family dysfunction cut straight to the bone right as the tempo slowed, and Hiatt’s gravelly voice bellowed:

“I gotta sister who’s a thief and she’s filled with hate.

Now she’s gotta a job working for the state.

Another brother just got out of the Florida Pen’.

Wears a bracelet on his ankle so they know where he’s been.”

Not exactly the kind of snappy song you’re gonna sing along to. But it’s one that I still can’t forget.

*John Hiatt and the Goners 30th Anniversary tour featuring guitarist Sonny Landreth plays Wednesday at the Masonic Auditorium, 1111 California St, San Francisco, (415) 776-7457. 8 p.m. $39.50-$83; www.sfmasonic.com.