Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Various Artists: It

170

Various Artists: It

Various Artists: It
Warren Zevon, Delbert McClinton; Townes Van Zant, Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Lowell George, John Hiatt—these are song writers that made many, many "lesser" talents rich with their craft. John Hiatt has been plying his trade at a consistently high level for the past 30 years over 17 record albums. In that time, Hiatt’s songs have been covered more than fifty times. That is a pretty good return for his efforts. Mr. Hiatt is long overdue for the current attention he is receiving.

After 1997’s Capitol release Little Head, Hiatt made his way to the Vanguard label. In many ways, this is a perfect match. Vanguard has long been the keeper of the music of Americana. John Hiatt has been its most recent proponent. Since fully finding his voice with 1987’s exquisite Bring the Family, Hiatt crystallized his vision with the help of über slide guitarist Ry Cooder. On that point, Hiatt’s music is suffused with slide guitar. After Cooder stamped Bring the Family, Sonny Landreth joined Hiatt for the subsequent tour. We can credit John Hiatt with for first presenting the finest slide guitarist alive. Americana.

On this tribute of sorts, Hiatt chose covers of his music and added a few new ones just for sport. He provides few surprises. Bonnie Raitt is on hand with "Thing Called Love," providing that necessary Lowell George-inflected slide guitar on Buddy Guy’s version of "Feels Like Rain" and Emmylou Harris’ interpretation of "Icy Blue Heart." Eric Clapton and B.B. King titled their recent duet recording with Hiatt’s "Riding with the King." Perhaps the best offering here, though over-produced, is Willie Nelson’s rendition of "The Most Unoriginal Sin," perhaps the most perfect song Hiatt has ever penned.

But these are only the released songs. Vanguard enlisted Buddy and Julie Miller for a corrosive version of "Paper Thin." Patty Griffin expresses a super-sensual "Take It Down." And Robert Bradley and his band the Blackwater Surprise cruise with the title cut, "It’ll Come to You." All in all, this is a superb tribute disc—if that is, in fact, what it is. It certainly highlights the treasure, which is John Hiatt.

For more information, see Vanguard Records and John Hiatt .

Personnel

Album information

Title: It | Year Released: 2003 | Record Label: Vanguard Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT



Various Artists Concerts


Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Eternal Moments
Yoko Yates
From "The Hellhole"
Marshall Crenshaw
Tramonto
John Taylor

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.