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Four decades into career, Hiatt enjoying his youth

Katjusa Cisar  —  8/22/2008 10:02 pm

Official recognition has been a long time coming for Indiana-born singer-songwriter John Hiatt, who will be playing the Barrymore Theatre on Thursday, July 17.

He's been releasing albums since 1974, been covered by the likes of Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Iggy Pop, Three Dog Night and Bonnie Raitt, but didn't get his first of 11 Grammy nominations until 1995. Later this year, the Americana Music Association is honoring Hiatt with a Lifetime Achievement in Songwriting Award. He recorded his latest album, "Same Old Man," at his home in Tennessee.

Tickets for Hiatt's show, his first in Madison with a full band in a decade, are $40 in advance. Dana Erlandson opens the show.

Hiatt recently spoke with 77 Square about aging, 9/11, the recording industry and how he keeps up his indefatigable touring schedule year after year.

On "Same Old Man," there's a lyric in the title song that goes, "Truth is, I never was young. Shot like a bullet from a rusty old gun, I could never find the straight and true." What were you like as a teenager?

Oh, I was pretty screwed up. I was too serious when I was a kid, way too serious and uptight. Being a teenager's tough. I saw my kids go through it and I wouldn't want to do it again. In fact, I'm having my youth now. I've been married 22 years and my wife and I are having our youth now that the kids are gone. It works out really well, because now we know what to do with it.

The new album's slower and more contemplative than your older stuff. Why?

Well, it's an album of love songs, actually. It's pretty much a tribute to my wife, to being married 22 years and probably more in love than we ever were. I never imagined being in a place like this. It's brand new, this kind of enduring love. You know, we're not kids. I'll be 56 at the end of the summer. It's a wonderful place to be, and that's what the record's about. It's about love for the well-worn, as I like to say. We move a little slower but we know how to get it done.

A friend of mine saw you shortly after 9/11 and said you sang a song about it. How did that song come about?

Well, we were in the city to tape a television show. It's just so hard to describe what happened that day. I just remember walking outside and nobody was on the street except tourists. It was so spooky. I remember walking up to Central Park to sit and take it all in and there were F-16s circling the park. So, I just wrote about what it felt like to me personally. It was called "New York Had Her Heart Broke," but I never did anything with it. When we came back to town two weeks later, I sang it for the audience in New York. All the people who put songs out about it -- I didn't feel comfortable doing that so I just let it be.

Have you ever wanted to do political songs?

I do political songs. I do songs about people -- that is politics, last time I checked. I don't do the grand brushstrokes. I'm more on the personal-political front. I'm from that school, "you write what you know." You find your area and chisel away at it.

There's all this apocalyptic talk about how the music industry is going down the drain. What do you think of that?

There's apocalyptic talk all the time. It's part of the human condition, forecasting doom. But I think it's all good. It's an unprecedented time for music in a lot of ways. All these small labels are emerging, as larger corporations get disinterested in music because they can't make billions off it like they did a few years ago. It's not the golden calf it was.

It's easier to record music than ever has been -- that comes with pluses as well as minuses. The plus part of that is that it's accessible to a bigger group of musicians, but the minus side is that the actual art of recording has gone out the window. I think the sound quality has suffered a great deal.

It matters what you start with and once it dithers down to an MP3, the poor sound quality really starts to show up. You know, kids are already back buying vinyl and it's for that very reason: they want a more soulful listening experience.

Do you release anything on vinyl?

Yeah, this new record's out on vinyl. It's the first time we've come back to it. A lot of CDs, at least in the popular realm, they're just so one-dimensional. They're pumped up and compressed to death.

You recorded this last album in your house in Tennessee?

Yeah, I've had all this old gear hanging around and I finally just got a buddy of mine who used to take care of Frank Zappa's studio out in Laurel Canyon in California to wire it all up for me. It's in this building out here on the farm -- used to be half riding room and half garage. We just made it into an unofficial studio. I used this recording platform called Direct Stream Digital. It's a way higher sample rate and, in my mind, here's a digital system that finally captures more of the music.

How do you keep up your crazy touring schedule?

I love to play. It's the third leg of the stool that I've been sitting on all these years. I love to write the songs and I love to go in and record, but the big payoff is to go out and play for the folks.

What can people expect at the show in Madison on July 17?

Thrills, spills and chills. It's a great little band, the Ageless Beauties: drummer Kenny Blevins and Patrick O'Hearn on bass, and a great guitar player, Doug Lancio, who's been playing with Patty Griffin the last 10 years or so. He's really a rocker in sheep's clothing, but he'll be taking the sheepskin off. We hit it pretty good.

Katjusa Cisar  —  8/22/2008 10:02 pm