Michael Elliott's Blog, page 14

‘Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story’ Official Playlist

Designed so you can listen along while absorbing the first biography of songwriting legend, John Hiatt.

Photo: David McClister

This playlist spans close to five hours and contains over 70 songs that chronicle the life, career, and influences of John Hiatt. Working chronologically through Hiatt’s experiences, influences, and career milestones, this acts as a companion piece to Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story.

If you haven’t picked up the book yet, you can find out where you can here!

Lilly Hiatt’s New Album Available Today…On Cassette

New West unleashes the cassette version of Lately a week ahead of its proper album release date.

Photo: Dylan Reyes

To celebrate “cassette week,” Lilly Hiatt has made available the cassette version of Lately. You can order and find out more here.

All other formats are set for an October 15th release date. Check out the first two singles below, as well as the full tracklisting.

This is Lilly’s first album since 2020’s universally acclaimed Walking Proof. Find out all about Lilly Hiatt’s goings-on right here.

Lately Track Listing:
1. Simple
2. Been
3. Lately
4. Stop
5. Peach
6. Ride
7. Face
8. Better
9. Gem
10. The Last Tear

AmericanaFest 2021

Taking in Music City at our first trip to AmericanaFest.

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The last time I was in Nashville, it was 1983. I was just a kid touring RCA Studio B. On that trip I ended up backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, hung out with Roy Acuff in his dressing room, and I shook hands with a fully bedazzled, Nudie-suited Porter Wagoner.

Me at 13 at RCA Studio B: I figured an Ocean Pacific shirt, short-shorts, and athletic socks are ideal for rocking out with a Tele in Nashville.

While in Nashville for AmericanaFest, we stopped a few landmarks that are mentioned in the biography. First stop: the Music City Walk of Fame.

Next, we checked out the former offices of Tree Publishing, now Sony Music Publishing. (Buddy Killen sold Tree to Sony in 1989 for a reported $40 million.)

Of course, the highlight was participating in the Americana Book Boom panel hosted by Holly George-Warren and featuring Scott B. Bomar, Marshall Chapman, and Stephen Deusner, whose Where the Devil Don’t Stay, the first full-length book about the Drive-By Truckers, is out now from University of Texas Press.

l-r: Holly George-Warren, Scott B. Bomar, Marshall Chapman, me, and Stephen Deusner

That night, we checked out a set by the fantastic Waylon Payne at the legendary Exit/In - the club Hiatt first played when he moved to Nashville 50 years ago.

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Part of the famous wall at the Exit/In, showing just some of the acts that have graced its stage for the last half-century.

Finally, we ended up at the world-famous Grimey’s, where I was pleasantly surprised to see my book prominently displayed among many of my literary and musical heroes.

Thanks, Nashville. We’ll see you again soon!

Dylan Plugz In, Big Hair Falls Flat

An exclusive outtake from “Something Wild,” Chapter 14 of Have A LIttle Faith: The John Hiatt Story, where Bob Dylan gets punk’d and hard rock surrenders to grunge, making way for a Perfectly Good Guitar.

In writing the manuscript to Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story , I took a few side roads along the way. Naturally, quite a few pages had to be cut to make the story more cohesive. In honor of the book’s release this week, however, as well as the (coincidental) release of the sixteenth volume of Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series: Springtime In New York 1980-1985 , which covers some of the time period at the beginning of this excerpt, I thought it was fitting to give you a glimpse into the good old creative process at work. Here’s how the first draft of Chapter 14, “Something Wild” began…

On March 22, 1984, Bob Dylan - back in critical acclaim with the previous year's Infidels after three less-than-beloved albums that focused on his journey into Christianity - appeared on the hip, new late-night talk show Late Night with David Letterman with a band no one had seen him with before. They were three men in their early twenties, two of whom - drummer Charlie Quintana and bassist Tony Marsico - formed the rhythm section of LA Latin/punk favorites The Plugz, along with guitarist J.J. Holiday. Dylan led them through a blistering cover of Sonny Boy Williamson II's "Don't Start Me To Talkin'" and, after what seemed like a little coaxing from a giddy Letterman, then offered up two fierce garage-band run-throughs of Infidels tracks "License To Kill" and "Jokerman."

    Throughout the performances, Dylan went down to his knees, hopped, slid off camera, turned on his heels, and was basically more animated than anyone was prepared for. As it turned out, he had been rehearsing with Holiday, Marsico, and Quintana for months prior at his home/rehearsal space in Malibu. They had no clear understanding what they were rehearsing for, but jamming on oldies such as the Spencer Davis Group's "Gimme Some Lovin'" and the Temptations' "My Girl" with a band of young punks seemed to loosen up and even inspire ol' Zimmy. He had reportedly been seen taking in area shows by the Clash and X - groups his teenage sons admired. Nothing can jolt a middle-aged man out of complacency like the power of loud rock'n'roll. Around a decade later, it was a similar scenario that provoked a by-now middle-aged John Hiatt into plugging in and turning up.

In late September of 1991, David Geffen's DGC Records released an album that they hoped would sell well in alternative rock circles. The band was Nirvana, and their previous album, Bleach, had sold respectably, but no one anticipated what would come. Nevermind not only sold respectably, it started a revolution. Like all revolutions, there were casualties and some collateral damage as the old made way for the new. The pop-metal that had dominated the airwaves and especially MTV in the late '80s and the dawn of the '90s was suddenly treated like someone you drunkenly flirted with in the hotel bar but now could see clearly in the more realistic light of the lobby: someone to shake hands with, go your separate ways, and hope no one you knew saw you during your momentary lapse of reason.

    To be sure, there was great music being made in the hard rock world during that time. Revisionists love to lump all those groups under the umbrella of "hair metal" (a label that was not used at the time but was affixed retroactively in the years since). Guns n' Roses, for instance, was miles away from a group like, say, Poison. That doesn't make Poison any worse, just different. Where G n' R recaptured the dangerous swagger of Exile-era Stones and Aerosmith up through Rocks coupled with a nod toward the LA punk scene (in fact, Charlie Quintana of The Plugz was the drummer for Guns n' Roses' original rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin's JuJu Hounds on their 1992 debut album), Poison - in the beginning at least - was more in the power-pop tradition of the Raspberries or even Cheap Trick (listen to "Talk Dirty To Me" and imagine it slowed down to a half-time shuffle, and you can even hear an alternative universe where Marc Bolan could've had a hit with it, possibly on The Slider - where, incidentally, Guns n' Roses snatched "Buick McCane" for their all-covers album, The Spaghetti Incident?). The issue was, as always, that it became a formula for record labels to exploit and profit from, and any band with an original thought was moussed-up, spandexed-in, and trotted out in front of a giant fan amidst clouds of dry ice and told to preen and pose while singing about partying all night and sleeping all day.

Stay tuned for more outtakes coming soon, and you can find where you can purchase Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story here . It’s available anywhere and everywhere you buy books.

Spotlight Conversations with Donna Reed

I had a great time talking radio, writing, and, of course, John Hiatt, with radio personality and voiceover artist Donna Reed.

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John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas, Front and Center

The dynamic duo perform tracks off Leftover Feelings for viewers of the PBS series with special guest, guitar virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel.

John Hiatt and Jerry Douglas have been on tour this late summer/early fall behind their first collaborative album, Leftover Feelings, and they made a stop at the PBS series, Front and Center. Click below to view the performance with special guest, Tommy Emmanuel.

To find out where you can catch John Hiatt with the Jerry Douglas Band on the road, click here.

Lilly Hiatt Unveils First Single From New Album

Lately is set to be released October 15th from New West Records

Photo: Dylan Reyes

Lilly Hiatt has released “Been,” the first single from her upcoming album, Lately, which is set to be released October 15th from New West Records.

Before the official release date, to celebrate “cassette week,” Lately will be released on cassette a week before, on October 18th. You can pre-order and find out more here.

This is Lilly’s first album since 2020’s universally acclaimed Walking Proof.

Lately Track Listing:
1. Simple
2. Been
3. Lately
4. Stop
5. Peach
6. Ride
7. Face
8. Better
9. Gem
10. The Last Tear

Stumbling Into the 21st Century

Our latest playlist chronicling John Hiatt’s long and legendary career focuses on what he’s been up to since the turn of the century.

Photo: Jack Spencer

The Songs of Hiatt, Part One

As we head into a long weekend, here’s just a sample of the many fantastic versions of John Hiatt songs some of the biggest names in music have recorded over the years.

WIZS Shows A Little Faith

Returned to my old radio stomping grounds to be graciously interviewed by Bill Harris for Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story.

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