When John Hiatt sits down with his guitar to compose, he never knows what he is about to create.
First, he strums a bit until a melody or chord structure strikes his fancy.
Then he starts singing what he terms "nonsense.
" Before long, word pictures begin circling his mind and a story emerges.
Fans are about to discover the stories within "The Open Road," his latest album.
Hiatt is anything but Johnny one-note.
He plays, sings and writes in a variety of styles that have earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting by the Americana Music Association in 2008, the Songwriter/Artist of the Year at the 2000 Nashville Music Awards and more Grammy nominations than can be counted on the fingers of both hands.
His songs are snatched up and covered by an eye-popping assortment of top artists, among them Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Three Dog Night and Nick Lowe.
Whether the style is country, blues, rock or folk, his philosophical lyrics linger in the mind.
In "The Open Road," Hiatt travels a two-lane highway in an imaginary truck while peering through the rear-view mirror.
The musical journey is propelled throughout by the distinctive and unfailing beats of drummer Kenney Blevins.
The initial wild and energizing sprints of "Haulin" and the title song take a breather as "Like a Freight Train" slows down long enough for a glance back at life.
Then the speed picks up with the danceable "My Baby" and "Movin' On," culminating in the happy-ever-after "Carry You Back Home.
" Hiatt recorded a lot of songs then narrowed the ones he liked best to about 15 or 16 songs until the narrative emerged.
One of the most haunting songs in "The Open Road" is based on a true story that took place on the Tennessee farm where he lives.
The western flavor of "Homeland" harks back to the spirits that seemed to materialize whenever he and his family neared a certain section of their farm.
He and his sons began to believe that spirits who weren't able to rest were hanging out there.
They sensed that something had happened on that spot, but couldn't find any historical accounts of an unusual local event, so he contacted friends who belong to the Iroquois tribe in Canada.
The wife is a medicine woman and the husband is a medicine man.
They volunteered to come down to investigate.
It did not take Hiatt's friends long to discover that some kind of slaughter happened on his property about 300 years ago involving an indigenous tribe, French trappers and English soldiers.
They performed a ceremony, invited the spirits in for a meal and sent them on their way happy.
First, he strums a bit until a melody or chord structure strikes his fancy.
Then he starts singing what he terms "nonsense.
" Before long, word pictures begin circling his mind and a story emerges.
Fans are about to discover the stories within "The Open Road," his latest album.
Hiatt is anything but Johnny one-note.
He plays, sings and writes in a variety of styles that have earned him the Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting by the Americana Music Association in 2008, the Songwriter/Artist of the Year at the 2000 Nashville Music Awards and more Grammy nominations than can be counted on the fingers of both hands.
His songs are snatched up and covered by an eye-popping assortment of top artists, among them Bob Dylan, the Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Three Dog Night and Nick Lowe.
Whether the style is country, blues, rock or folk, his philosophical lyrics linger in the mind.
In "The Open Road," Hiatt travels a two-lane highway in an imaginary truck while peering through the rear-view mirror.
The musical journey is propelled throughout by the distinctive and unfailing beats of drummer Kenney Blevins.
The initial wild and energizing sprints of "Haulin" and the title song take a breather as "Like a Freight Train" slows down long enough for a glance back at life.
Then the speed picks up with the danceable "My Baby" and "Movin' On," culminating in the happy-ever-after "Carry You Back Home.
" Hiatt recorded a lot of songs then narrowed the ones he liked best to about 15 or 16 songs until the narrative emerged.
One of the most haunting songs in "The Open Road" is based on a true story that took place on the Tennessee farm where he lives.
The western flavor of "Homeland" harks back to the spirits that seemed to materialize whenever he and his family neared a certain section of their farm.
He and his sons began to believe that spirits who weren't able to rest were hanging out there.
They sensed that something had happened on that spot, but couldn't find any historical accounts of an unusual local event, so he contacted friends who belong to the Iroquois tribe in Canada.
The wife is a medicine woman and the husband is a medicine man.
They volunteered to come down to investigate.
It did not take Hiatt's friends long to discover that some kind of slaughter happened on his property about 300 years ago involving an indigenous tribe, French trappers and English soldiers.
They performed a ceremony, invited the spirits in for a meal and sent them on their way happy.
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