John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters

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Free Music Notes for Crossing Muddy Waters

Free Music Review: Hiatt's best since "Slow Turning"
Hit: 5 Stars

Apparently John had reunited with The Goners (his "Slow Turning" band) to record his next album. They were about 75% done when some label execs got shuffled at Capitol, and the new guys didn't "get" the album. So he was without a record contract. Again. The Goners album got put on hold, and he decided to do an acoustic album first. Like "Family", he recorded "Crossing Muddy Waters" in 4 days. There's only himself and two other guitarists on the album. And the closest one gets to drums would be the "instruments" 'foot-stomping' and/or 'metal folding chair' listed in the credits. Basically, it's a steel guitar/acoustic guitar/mandolin-fest. And it sounds great.

But the lyrics are simpler, darker, and more powerful than anything he's done in awhile, too. From the title track, which deals with his former wife's suicide:

baby's gone and I don't know why / she headed out this morning / like a rusty shot in a hollow sky / she left me without warning

to songs of troubled relationships ("do we call the kids or call the cops, can you hold me till this howling stops"), to songs with typical Hiatt humor, this one's a gem. It's kind of like mixing "Bring the Family" with Springsteen's "Nebraska", and winding up with something that sounds like it could have come out 70 years ago (ala Dylan's "Time Out of Mind").

I've always felt that if you go back far enough in time, the lines between music's genres blur. This album is a perfect example of that. It's not country, not blues, not folk, and not rock 'n' roll, but rather a mixture of all of them, from a time when they didn't sound all that different (and yes, "Lift Up Every Stone" is damn near old-time gospel/revival music!).

If you only buy one new Hiatt release this decade, this is the one to get!

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