John Hiatt is one of my favorite, if not my VERY favorite living performers. He's criminally underrated/underexposed/underappreciated, imo.
If you don't know him, do yourself a favor and check him out.
He played an unaccompanied set at Paramount Theatre in Austin. It was just him, a chair, a little end table covered in black cloth, and his acoustic guitar/amp. He was very upbeat and conversational. Told a lot of stories about his wife and daughters. Told a pretty long story about the fall he had last September where he took a bad fall off a hiking trail that resulted in a brain bleed and a LifeFlight trip. All his stories were touching and/or humorous.
His music was great! Such a great player and singer (accepting that his voice is somewhat quirky, and may be your taste or not…) And such a songwriter! IMO, he's a national treasure! So glad we made the trip!
Set list:
Drive South
Your Dad Did
Dust Down a Country Road
Crossing Muddy Waters
Tennessee Plates
Icy Blue Heart
Slow Turning
Real Fine Love
The Tiki Bar is Open
Perfectly Good Guitar
Thing Called Love
Walk On (not sure if this was in set?)
The Music is Hot
New unreleased song Weightless in My Arms
Memphis in the Meantime
(Encore)
Riding with the King
Have a Little Faith in Me
It was so special to me that he finished the show with Have a Little Faith in Me. I left the show with a smile on my face but also tears in my eyes.
[Self-indulgent side story warning!] That night in 2017 when I was woken by a 2am phone call telling me my Dad was on his way to the ER in an ambulance, and then another call telling me he was gone, we got on the road to College Station as fast as we could. I was in a surreal state of mind (grief/panic/second guessing/negotiating/"gotta get to Mom"/etc) and as we drove in silence, Have a Little Faith in Me came on. It cut through the cloud of emotions somehow. It felt like Dad was talking to me thru the song. Even though the song is really from the perspective of a man talking to his wife, there were lines that just hit me as if Dad was saying them right into my ear, father to son. It was about a year, maybe more, before I could hear that song without crying, but even so, it fills me with a feeling of closeness with Dad.
If you don't know him, do yourself a favor and check him out.
He played an unaccompanied set at Paramount Theatre in Austin. It was just him, a chair, a little end table covered in black cloth, and his acoustic guitar/amp. He was very upbeat and conversational. Told a lot of stories about his wife and daughters. Told a pretty long story about the fall he had last September where he took a bad fall off a hiking trail that resulted in a brain bleed and a LifeFlight trip. All his stories were touching and/or humorous.
His music was great! Such a great player and singer (accepting that his voice is somewhat quirky, and may be your taste or not…) And such a songwriter! IMO, he's a national treasure! So glad we made the trip!
Set list:
Drive South
Your Dad Did
Dust Down a Country Road
Crossing Muddy Waters
Tennessee Plates
Icy Blue Heart
Slow Turning
Real Fine Love
The Tiki Bar is Open
Perfectly Good Guitar
Thing Called Love
Walk On (not sure if this was in set?)
The Music is Hot
New unreleased song Weightless in My Arms
Memphis in the Meantime
(Encore)
Riding with the King
Have a Little Faith in Me
It was so special to me that he finished the show with Have a Little Faith in Me. I left the show with a smile on my face but also tears in my eyes.
[Self-indulgent side story warning!] That night in 2017 when I was woken by a 2am phone call telling me my Dad was on his way to the ER in an ambulance, and then another call telling me he was gone, we got on the road to College Station as fast as we could. I was in a surreal state of mind (grief/panic/second guessing/negotiating/"gotta get to Mom"/etc) and as we drove in silence, Have a Little Faith in Me came on. It cut through the cloud of emotions somehow. It felt like Dad was talking to me thru the song. Even though the song is really from the perspective of a man talking to his wife, there were lines that just hit me as if Dad was saying them right into my ear, father to son. It was about a year, maybe more, before I could hear that song without crying, but even so, it fills me with a feeling of closeness with Dad.
Quote:
When the road gets dark
And you can no longer see
Just let my love throw a spark
And have a little faith in me
When the tears you cry
Are all you can believe
Just give these loving arms a try, baby
And have a little faith in me
When your back's against the wall
Just turn around and you will see
I'll be there, I'll be there to catch your fall
So have a little faith in me
'Cause I've been loving you for such a long time, baby
Expecting nothing in return
Just for you to have a little faith in me
You see time, time is our friend
'Cause for us there is no end
All you gotta do is have a little faith in me