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My Old Friend – John Hiatt and Holly Williams- Arvada Center, Arvada, CO 7/25/13

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Concert Review: John Hiatt and the Combo, with Holly Williams, Arvada Center, CO 7/25/13

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The Combo at Arvada Center: Doug Lancio on mandolin, Kenneth Blevin on drums, Hiatt at the mike, Pat O’Hearn on bass

” I thought we were gonna make that bridge…what do I know? Me and my expectations was always high…” — John Hiatt, ” My Old Friend”

Surely Holly Williams’ granddaddy, country legend Hank Williams, knew something about high times, meeting expectations, and not quite “making that bridge” in life. Passing from this earth  in the back of a Cadillac on the way to a gig at age 29, Hank burned his candle down at the height of his creative powers. As his skinny blonde granddaughter poured her heart out in songs about her legacy and the tortured marriage of her mother to Hank Williams, Jr., you couldn’t help but wonder how precious our time is with the gifted among us, and with those we love. With Hiatt, they’re one and the same.

Last year’s show at Arvada was the first time the ” Same Old Man ” seemed to show his age. A natty hat covered his thinning pate, and his voice seemed diminished. This summer’s addition of Costello glasses and a Gebippe ‘stache made him appear almost professorial, the cool English Composition teacher urging us to write from the heart. But his skipping moves and guileless grins quickly allayed any fears that Hiatt was ready for a rocking chair, and once the sound guys heard the crowd’s calls to boost his mike, it could have been 1993 and that great Austin City Limits DVD show with Michael Ward and the Guilty Dogs. The Combo has recorded and toured intact for a couple years, and is so attuned to John that they easily adjust to changes onstage and offer seamless support. With longtime drummer Kenneth Blevin in ” the engine room “, and the smooth noodling Pat O’Hearn on bass, the Combo never seemed to interfere with the delivery of the song narratives. Hiatt has drawn some hotshot guitarists over the years, from Ward to Sonny Landreth to Luther Dickinson, and there’s no slacking when Doug Lancio is featured on guitar, or on mandolin behind Hiatt’s vocals on  ” Crossing Muddy Water”. Hiatt noted that song was played on tour ” back at the turn of the century”, and needled the Y2K                   ( remember that?) agonistes’ parade of horribles: “clocks stop working, time comes to an end, things on TV start to actually happen… oh wait, that did come true”!

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No that’s not Johnny Winter, just an overexposed Holly Williams!

When the tall, lanky Ms. Williams strode onstage in her Western hat and skinny jeans next to her hubby Chris Coleman, many in the crowd were still settling into their seats. She quickly launched into personal, emotive songs from her new CD, ” The Highway “, openly sharing vignettes about her parents and family that gave depth and perspective to the lyrics. The talented Mr. Coleman picked ably and added harmonies, but his wife is a force on her own, and her singing, songwriting, and clean guitar playing won over the audience. The Opening Act is a tough slot, and you rarely see genuine applause like that for anybody short of the headliner. Highlights included a poignant tribute to her maternal grandparents,   ” Waitin’ On June “, and ” The Highway”,  her ” love song to the road “.

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Chris Coleman and Holly Williams

Hiatt chose a set that began with ” Drive South”, ” My Old Friend”, ” Tennessee Plates”, and ” Cry Love”, and later moved to his recent CDs with ” We’re Alright Now” , ” Blues Can’t Even Find Me”, and a roaring guitar from Doug Lancio on ” Down Around My Place”. He slipped in one shouted request, ” Buffalo River Home”, after facetiously asking Lancio if he knew the longtime favorite with the universal lyrics: ” Just when you think you can let it rip, you’re pounding the pavement in your Daddy’s wingtips”. We can all relate! Hiatt stayed with that CD for the title track, ” Perfectly Good Guitar”, before a rousing version of  ” Slow Turning” . And no Hiatt show is complete without ” Thing Called Love “, and a thank-you from John to Ms. Raitt for winning a Grammy with his song. Hiatt told of seeing Bonnie recently, and with a just-between-us-guys aside reminded us that ” she’s still hot”, adding: ” I always tell her, if you weren’t married, and I weren’t married…. we’d both be single” !

The encores were Hiatt classics: a rolling take on his typical closer, ” Have a Little Faith In Me”, and a funky ” Riding With the King”, the story of a chance encounter with Elvis that is often mistaken as a tribute to Riley B. King, who covered the song with Eric Clapton. To see Hiatt reveling in the same moments that bring his fans so much joy reminds us how fragile, dear, and precious are the times with those we love. May they always make us sing and dance !

” You’ve got kids, I’ve got kids, and they all want to know: Just what it was like when we were young? I tell ’em I’m no different now, I’m just late for the show. So grab your Aqualung; the loading has begun…”  – John Hiatt, ” My Old Friend”

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Hiatt and the Combo wave good-night to the Arvada crowd!

——– Your old friend and Mountain correspondent, Nanker Phledge

John Hiatt

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CONCERT REVIEW- John Hiatt at Arvada Center, August 29, 2012

” I thought we were gonna make that bridge; what do I know? Me and my expectations was always high” — John Hiatt, ” My Old Friend”

     When I caught up with my old school chum Harry Gebippe at the reunion in ’03, I reminded him of his music guru status and asked who he’d been listening to. Although I knew of John Hiatt, and loved his ” Perfectly Good Guitar” CD, Harry’s ringing endorsement of Hiatt as “The Man” inspired me to check out his catalog, and begin trying to see him live. Aided by Gebippe’s assemblage of a Hiatt mix CD loaded with gems- as the surfers used to say, “all killer, no filler” – I began to not only wildly enjoy, but humbly admire Hiatt as an artist of great integrity and dedication to his craft.

Soon after, I was able to catch Hiatt at the Florida Theater in Jacksonville, backed by the Goners ( great name!), including arguably the best slide guitar player of our day, Sonny Landreth. Hiatt’s energy, animated expressions, and compelling songs lifted the show beyond a mere concert, and I was hooked. In a typically humble moment, Hiatt thanked a “little redheaded girl (Bonnie Raitt)” who ” recorded this song and put my daughters through college”, before tearing into a jumpin’ version of ” Thing Called Love”.  Later, Gebippe and I caught The Man in a memorable show at the Ogden in Denver, backed by his old friend and producer Jim Dickinson’s boys Luther and Cody’s North Mississippi Allstars. Hiatt’s daughter, a recent graduate from Denver U., was in the house, and her Pop proudly told of how she had prodded him, a Grammy-winning songwriter, to finally get his G.E.D. that year so they could “graduate together”. By this time, Hiatt had become an old friend that I hadn’t quite met, but somehow knew, and could be called upon for advice, inspiration, or insight as needed. So much so, that at this point, I must withdraw from writing this review because I cannot possibly be objective about an artist that I admire so much.

Right!  As if you came here for objectivity!

I later caught the great “Songwriters” tour with John, Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, and Guy Clark, where the four masters sat on stools and traded songs on the fly, with no set list and improvised pairings, and shows at the Zoo in Minneapolis with Shawn Colvin and in Jacksonville again with his new band, The Combo. So it was with the great expectation noted above that I gleefully scored great seats at the lovely Arvada Center to catch The Man on his latest tour.

The new band, the Combo, is dimmed only by comparison with his former backing. Hiatt has had the gravitas to attract a stream of excellent musicians, most notably a series of sixstring slingers that include the esteemed aforementioned Mr. Landreth, the Hill Country wizard Luther Dickinson, and the little-known Michael Ward, who tore up the landscape on the ” Perfectly Good” CD and the fabulous Austin City Limits DVD during the same era. These guys provided a sonic alternative to Hiatt’s rhythmic strumming and singing, and set off the lyrics with soaring fills and runs. The new band played all of the old stuff very well, but several of the arrangements either seemed to lack fire, or were played at a tempo that was, shall we say, more restrained than the original versions. The breathtaking pace of the live CD version of ” Tennesse Plates”, with its getaway-car careening down Pikes Peak with no brakes feel, was replaced by a loping version that had little edge, and felt more like a Sunday drive than a desperate flight to avoid prison.  The arrangement of the joyful          ” Memphis in the Meantime” was similarly tepid, leaving me to fear that John was tired, or worse yet, feeling old, and that maybe those days of inspired shows had come to an end. Surely, his voice was not as strong as I recalled, and the ventures into his high register less frequent. I’d never seen him wear a hat throughout a show; was this the Old Man Hiatt finally showing up?

But the Man came through, rousting us with fine versions of ” Drive South”, ” Cry Love”, “Slow Turnin'”, and ” Riding With the King” , as well as  a great uptempo re-working of his usual show closer, ” Have A Little Faith In Me”. And during his intro to ” Thing Called Love”, Hiatt revealed that he was honored to have been chosen to present that ” little redheaded girl” with a Lifetime Achievement award at the upcoming Americana Festival in Nashville on September 14. ( This event to be covered by Mr. Gebippe himself! – Editors).  I hope he’ll mention putting the girls through college! And what a neat closing of the circle between the two great artists, with Bonnie “getting (Hiatt) started” by recording John’s song, and John presenting Bonnie with a career honor. Sweet!

So my dear friend John, I’ll promise to not expect you to act like you’re a young man anymore, and as you’ve implored in song, I’ll have a little faith in you. Thanks for a great show, brother!

– your humble correspondent Phledge