This is the third Random Weekend selection from John Hiatt’s 2000 album Crossing Muddy Waters. It pops up about once every two years.
And each time I have the same reaction, which is to be really impressed by the songwriting and sound and pledge to do a deeper dive into Hiatt’s catalog.
Well, here I am in early 2021 having the same reaction. This time, I’m going to write down “John Hiatt deep dive” in my blog planning notes and hope to actually follow through.
John Hiatt’s 2000 album Crossing Muddy Waters is an entirely acoustic affair, recorded with two backing musicians and no drums. It was the first fully acoustic recording in the legendary singer-songwriter’s storied career.
Today’s random selection is the title track, one that (like many of Hiatt’s songs) has been performed by many others. I can’t imagine you’ll find a more effective version than this one, though.
John Hiatt is a singer-songwriter worthy of more attention than I’ve ever given him. I own a couple of his albums and know some of his most famous songs (Bonnie Raitt’s ‘Thing Called Love,’ ‘Have a Little Faith’). But I haven’t listened to him, not really.
2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters is one of the Hiatt albums I own. It’s a stripped-down acoustic record of mostly heartbreak songs and though I can’t remember the last time I listened to it (probably the year it came out), sampling its tracks just now I didn’t come across a weak one.
On very rare occasions, the Random iTunes Fairy serves up a song from my collection that I have never heard.
Those songs tend to come from my wife’s albums, or records I’ve collected over the years for free or in bargain sales and never got around to hearing.
Today’s track, from John Hiatt’s <em<Anthology collection, is an example of the former. My wife likes a John Hiatt song or two and bought this compilation at some point through the years. I doubt she’s heard it any more often than I have.
Once again, the Random iTunes Fairy has proved to have a bias toward popular hits. Of the 52 John Hiatt songs I own, the algorithm somehow landed on his most famous, ‘Have a Little Faith in Me.’
That also happens to be the only one of those 52 songs that I know. My John Hiatt albums come courtesy of my wife, who has always had a soft spot for heartland rockers.
Meet Me In Montauk 