Michael Elliott's Blog, page 16

‘Live Bullet’ Turns 45

One of the greatest live albums of all time made a superstar out of a Midwestern rock and soul journeyman.

When great live albums are discussed, At Fillmore East, At Folsom Prison, At Budokan, Live at the Apollo, Live at Leeds, Live at the Village Vanguard, Live at the Star Club, Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out, Frampton Comes Alive, and Waiting for Columbus are usually at the top, but very few pushed the artists involved to greater heights where they remained for decades to come. Live Bullet made a bonafide rock star out of a struggling Midwestern singer-songwriter who loved rock’n’roll, soul, r&b, and folk. This is the album that offered Bob Seger the opportunity to show off not only his hard rock chops but also his “sensitive” side - with ballads that made you stop and listen between the fist pumps and air guitar.

Seger was part of that Motor City/Michigan tradition of big, hard, soulful, funky rock’n’roll. The same power that had fueled the likes of Mitch Ryder, the Stooges, and the MC5. Seger however, had something more than just natural raw rock’n’roll talent and a voice that was as powerful as the engines coming off the Detroit line, he had a keen eye for detail and a poetic hand that seemed to grab right into the heart and soul of the heartland while never failing to move its collective dancing shoes. While he could approach James Brown-level funky with “Heavy Music,” he could also be just as powerful while crafting the perfect marriage of road song and introspective ballad with “Travelin’ Man” and “Beautiful Loser,” each surpassing their studio counterparts on the previous year’s Beautiful Loser.

Live Bullet drew on the best of his pre-superstardom output, including a couple of tracks off the highly underrated Smokin’ OPs, such as his ferocious homage to the great Bo Diddley.

No other track from Live Bullet, however, stands the test of time like “Turn the Page.” Originally on Back in ‘72, the version here, complete with that iconic sax riff by the late, great Alto Reed (the greatest name for a saxophone player, ever), is definitive.

After 45 years, Live Bullet stands as one of the most listenable, entertaining, heart-tugging, chest-pumping rock’n’roll live albums ever recorded. His love of everyone from Chuck Berry to Van Morrison to James Brown is right there on his sleeve, but Seger somehow crafted all his influences into something entirely his own those fateful nights at Cobo Hall in Detroit.

Some fans may scoff at some of his output since, and yes, he could miss the mark at times, but Bob Seger has been able to successfully balance heavy music with sincere folk like few others. And 45 years ago this month, Live Bullet is where it all came together in one perfect double live album.

Long Black Electric Cadillac

John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band release the third single from their new collaborative album, Leftover Feelings.

Photo: Zach Pigg

Updating a long-loved rock’n’roll and blues tradition reaching back to Robert Johnson, Chuck Berry, and the Beach Boys, John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas extol the virtues of the automobile, but with a modern twist, as they take a ride in a “Long Black Electric Cadillac.” The video is of the latest teaser from their new album, Leftover Feelings, out May 21st from New West Records.

The insistent rhythm that drives the song makes you forget about the fact that no drums were used. Its lyrics recall Chuck Berry’s many odes to the automobile while John’s phrasing is reminiscent of Modern Times-era Bob Dylan.

Leftover Feelings is due out May 21st from New West Records. Pre-order it here and read CMT’s write-up on the new video here.

Meanwhile, John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band unveiled new tour dates for the late-summer and early fall. Check ‘em out here.

The End of an Era?

Photo credit: EVula

The Exit/In is under contract to be sold to a hotel developer, according to Tennessee Lookout.

The Exit/In plays a large role in Have A Little Faith: the John Hiatt Story. It’s where artists from John and Marshall Chapman to Jimmy Buffett and Steve Martin cut their teeth and honed their skills. It’s stood for fifty years in the heart of the “rock block,” on Elliston Place near Centennial Park and Vanderbilt University, west of downtown Nashville.

For more on the story click here, and for more on the Exit/In and the role it played early in John Hiatt’s career - as well as many others - pick up a copy of Have A Little Faith: the John Hiatt Story, available for preorder now.

Mississippi Phone Booth

John Hiatt’s second single and video from the upcoming Leftover Feelings project with the Jerry Douglas Band touches on a pivotal moment in the songwriter’s life.

Following “All the Lilacs In Ohio,” John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band’s next single from their forthcoming album Leftover Feelings (due May 21st on New West) touches on one of the most pivotal moments in the legendary singer-songwriter’s life.

By the mid-1980s, John Hiatt had found himself hitting rock bottom. His most recent album, Warming Up to the Ice Age didn’t seem to live up to the potential that its predecessor, Riding With the King, had promised. Its production was too slick, its performances a little too stilted. Beneath all the studio sheen however, was, as usual, a great set of songs. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough to convince the suits at Geffen to keep him on. It was to be his last for the label. Soon, he was cut loose from his third major label in ten years.

That’s when he found himself traveling through the Deep South with a quart of vodka, an eight ball of cocaine, and a feeling of hopelessness and guilt weighing down on him. He finally found redemption in the form of a phone booth in the middle of the night outside an empty gas station in Mississippi.

On “Mississippi Phone Booth,” John and Jerry, with the rest of the Jerry Douglas Band, dig deep into the Mississippi mud and sprinkle some serious mojo onto the bluesy track as Hiatt’s memory and soul is poetically laid bare. It’s part of an incredible album that deals with love, loss, pain, resilience, hope, and faith, and stands as one of Hiatt’s strongest collection of songs in his long career.

John recounts the full story of the journey that led to that moment inside a Mississippi phone booth in stunning detail in Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story, coming this September from Chicago Review Press. You can pre-order it now from Amazon or your favorite bookseller.

Be sure to check out Leftover Feelings as well when it’s released on May 21st. You can pre-order it here.

Welcome

Welcome to the launch of Michael-Elliott.com.

First of all, thank you for visiting my new site. Here you’ll find links to all my writing over the past few years, whether it’s on my personal blog over at WordPress, or my work for No Depression, PopMatters, Albumism, AmericanaUK, and the Bitter Southerner.

Also, you’ll get to the latest news on the progress of my first book, Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story - the first-ever biography of songwriting legend John Hiatt - as we inch ever-so-closer to its publication date (September 14, 2021, from Chicago Review Press). Pre-order is available now at all your favorite booksellers.

If you haven’t already, be sure to sign up for the newsletter, which will be starting up soon.

Thanks again for taking this journey with me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do,.

John Hiatt Offers First Taste Of His New Album

John Hiatt has released the first single from his forthcoming album with the Jerry Douglas Band, Leftover Feelings. It’s a cover of one of his own tunes, “All the Lilacs In Ohio” first appeared on the 2001 album, The Tiki Bar Is Open. Where that version was cut at a breakneck pace with the ever-dependable Goners, the new version’s acoustic foundation reveals the brilliance of the lyric, putting them front and center.

John Hiatt has released the first single from his forthcoming album with the Jerry Douglas Band, Leftover Feelings. It’s a cover of one of his own tunes, “All the Lilacs In Ohio” first appeared on the 2001 album, The Tiki Bar Is Open. Where that version was cut at a breakneck pace with the ever-dependable Goners, the new version’s acoustic foundation reveals the brilliance of the lyric, putting them front and center.

Jerry Douglas’s virtuosic dobro leads propel the song forward, while simultaneously embracing the melody like a wraparound porch in early spring. It’s the perfect time to hear the first taste of one of Hiatt’s most anticipated albums in his long career.

You can find out more about the album on John’s website here.

You can preorder from any number of outlets by clicking this link.

Both John and Jerry discussed the recording of the new album, and their history together, in my upcoming book, Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story, the first-ever biography of John Hiatt, coming September, 2021 from Chicago Review Press.

Stay tuned!

Jack Cornell Takes His Turn At Bat

The Fabulous Knobs were legendary in the Triangle area of North Carolina (Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill) at the dawn of the 1980s. Their music was an intoxicating mix of power-pop, sixties southern-soul, and good old-fashioned rock’n’roll. Void of any pretension, live the Knobs were, as a Facebook group devoted to them proudly exclaims, “The Triangle’s Best Party Band.” Their shows sometimes involved (or devolved into) full-on comedic routines. Like two of their most obvious influences, the Faces and NRBQ, fun was the main goal.

The Fabulous Knobs. l-r: Terry Anderson, David Enloe, Jack Cornell, Debra DeMilo, Keith Taylor

By the mid-eighties, Knobs members Terry Anderson (drums), Jack Cornell (bass), and David Enloe (guitar) became the Woodpeckers, adding Dan Baird as lead singer (who would soon leave to form the Georgia Satellites, taking Anderson’s song “Battleship Chains” with him). The trio re-christened themselves the Woods after Baird’s departure. Though success never shined upon them as brightly as some of their colleagues, they were a much-loved and respected regional act.

The Woods: Anderson, Enloe, and Cornell

As the years went by, the rhythm section of Anderson and Cornell stayed together, through three of Anderson’s solo albums and the formation in the early-aughts as the Olympic Ass-Kickin’ Team, rounded out by guitarist Dave Batholomew and keyboardist Greg Rice. Now, all these different groups and lineups converge on Jack Cornell’s first solo album, One In Wins.

Born from Fabulous Knobs rehearsals for their first shows since the eighties, the songs on One In Wins are musically what you’d expect from these veteran rockers, but with the added gravitas of experience and wisdom. But this is no December-sounding treatise on mortality. The songs here sway, strut, swagger, and stagger like the best latter-day Stones.

Released a month before the election, first single “The Man” details the urgency of making your voice heard at a time when literally every vote counts. Although the election is over, the meaning behind the message remains.

“Sho’ Nuff” is a rocker that reunites the surviving Knobs (Cornell and Anderson along with Keith Taylor on guitar and Debra DeMilo on backing vocals; Enloe passed away in 2007). To hear them banging it out in the studio again is a welcome sound indeed.

Most of the songs on One In Wins were written by Anderson, one of North Carolina’s greatest songwriters, who’s penned tunes for the Georgia Satellites, solo Dan Baird (“I Love You Period”), along with Etta James, JoDee Messina, Volbeat, and many others. His chops have not dwindled a bit, as evidenced by the immediately infectious “Gravity” (written with Cornell and Taylor), which would have brightened up any of the Stones’ eighties efforts, while “Last Thing (On Your Mind)” is the best Keith Richards song he never wrote.

Throughout, Cornell’s voice is front and center; the perfect mix of Rod Stewart rasp and Keith Richards’s world-weary phrasing. Also joining in the fun are Olympic Ass-Kickers Dave Bartholomew and Greg Rice, along with (another legendary NC band) Arrogance alumnus Rod Abernethy, as well as Pete Petty, David Harper, and Eddie Berman. It took over forty years, but One In Wins finally places Jack Cornell center-stage, and it was well worth the wait.

Have A Little Faith

I never thought at fifty years old I would be clean and sober for over eight years and tobacco-free for over five. I also never would have thought that I would be overjoyed about it. Not only has cleaning up made me happier, it’s made me more productive than ever.

On my birthday in November of 2019, I signed a deal with Chicago Review Press. For the past year and a half, I’ve been writing my first book, and I feel I can finally share the news.

This past week I submitted to my publisher the final manuscript for Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story. It’s scheduled for release in October of 2021. It’s been quite a journey, and quite a learning experience.

Remarkably, there has never been a book written about John Hiatt, who is widely considered one of America’s greatest songwriters. To me, that was unacceptable. Instead of waiting for someone else to get around to writing it, I decided to do it myself. Of course, Hiatt’s music has done so much to inspire me, and others, over the years. But even more so, his life story is truly a lesson of resilience and determination.

I’ve been completely humbled at how candid John has been with me over these last few months, sharing difficult memories in a candid, matter-of-fact tone. He is truly a man that has learned to be comfortable in his own skin.

In addition to John, I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with many of his friends and colleagues, all of whom I consider some of the greatest artists of our generation and beyond: Ray Benson, Paul Carrack, Rosanne Cash, Ry Cooder, Robert Cray, Jim Keltner, Sonny Landreth, Lyle Lovett, Nick Lowe, Tracy Nelson, Bonnie Raitt, Don Was, and many others.

Above all else, I hope his story inspires you as much as it has me, regardless if you’re a super fan, a casual listener, or if you only know his songs as hits by others.

I’m proud to share this project with you in the fall of 2021. I’m hoping you’ll check back in this space throughout the coming year as I plan to reveal more about the book, post some playlists, and possibly share some exclusive content that didn’t make the cut. Stay tuned, as they say. Until then, keep the faith.