Thursday, 13 September 2012
Twenty albums into a career that dates back to, are you ready for this one? 1973 (that’s when he released his first single on Epic Records) you’d reckon John Hiatt would have his act together, and on Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns he’s delivered another collection of no frills, quirky, character-filled material.
His seventh studio release since 2000, cut with his regular touring band (Kenny Blevins, drums, Doug Lancio, guitar, and Patrick O’Hearn, bass), contains one significant departure from his practice to date in the form of producer Kevin Shirley (Aerosmith, the Black Crowes, Dream Theater, Journey), a close to twenty year acquaintance he hasn’t worked with before, and the result is an album that’s sonically a bit denser and definitely more polished than recent efforts with Hiatt occupying the producer’s chair.
Apart from that, Dirty Jeans delivers another batch of tightly-written narratives written from recognizably-Hiatt points of view (character sketches of sketchy characters, as one reviewer put it in a line that’s too good not to plagiarise), from the opening Damn This Town ‘s narrator, cursing the damage his dead-end town and family of ne'er-do-wells have done him through Detroit Made’s celebration of a gas-guzzling Buick Electra 225, a luxury sedan he owned when he lived in Southern California, a car from the days when style and comfort rather than mileage mattered, to Adios To California the twangy break-up song that supplies the album’s title.
In between, ‘Til I Get My Lovin’ Back does the breakup heart ache desperation bit over understated pedal steel from Russ Pahl, the bouncy I Love That Girl throws a few lyrical twists into a jaunty love song to Hiatt's wife, All The Way Under heads into regrets I may have had a few territory, and Don’t Wanna Leave You Now has a dude who may or may not be the protagonist from the preceding song declaring his and begging forgiveness.
There’s a splendid desperation in the album’s highlight, Hold On For Your Love as a town is bought up and ruined by outsiders, and as the Train To Birmingham steams along it evokes the clickety-clack rhythm of the ride. Down Around My Place does the stark desolation and devastation bit Hiatt in a moody tour de force over a minimalist backdrop[ and, for mine the only letdown on the album is the 9/11 ballad When New York Had Her Heart Broke which Hiatt has been doing live for a decade but hadn’t,for whatever reason, managed to fit onto a recording in the meantime. It fits the mood here, but the message has, I think, faded over time.
Anyone familiar with Hiatt’s work will know what to expect here, and for newcomers looking for well-crafted Americana Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns could prove an interesting starting point for a lengthy investigation of one of the most consistent and individualistic singer-songwriters going around.
Links:
Wall Street Journal: Video review Singer-Songwriter John Hiatt on His New Album