107 / 116
7:30 PM THURSDAY, AUGUST 30, 2018
PAVILION
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF
SLOW TURNING
JOHN HIATT & THE GONERS
featuring
SONNY LANDRETH
JOHN HIATT & THE GONERS
Indianapolis-born roots rocker John Hiatt’s rep-
utation as a songwriter preceded his success as a
performer. While he was working in Nashville,
his song “Sure as I’m Sittin’ Here” was picked
up by
ree Dog Night and taken to number
in
.
at year Hiatt secured a recording
contract with Epic Records, releasing his debut
album,
Hangin’ Around the Observatory
. e al-
bum was a critical success, but neither it nor the
follow-up generated enough sales to retain
the interest of the label. Hiatt signed with MCA
for two albums in
and
, sporting a new-
wave sound instead of the straight-ahead rock of
his previous e orts, and again didn’t experience
sales in line with his critical acclaim. His three
albums between
and
heavily featured
country and soul in uences: his song “Riding
with the King” from this period later became a
big hit for Eric Clapton and B.B. King, and Rose-
anne Cash also covered several compositions to
great success. Hiatt’s big break came when he
signed to A&M for
Bring the Family
( )—the
album had a stripped-down, rootsy sound that
garnered his best reviews yet, nally translating
into a chart position of number
and begin-
ning an as-yet-unbroken string of albums mak-
ing the
Billboard
chart. His songs “Have a
Little Faith in Me” and “Memphis in the Mean-
time” have been covered extensively, and “ ing
Called Love” was taken to number by Bonnie
Raitt. By the time Hiatt’s
Perfectly Good Guitar
( ) came out, his songs had begun to be cov-
ered by an even wider range of artists, including
Bob Dylan, Ronnie Milsap, Jewel, Iggy Pop, Pau-
la Abdul, and Linda Ronstadt. His
studio
album,
Mystic Pinball
, was his highest-charting
album to date, and
’s
Terms of My Surrender
followed up on that success as his nd studio
album. John Hiatt made his rst appearance at
Ravinia in
and returns tonight for his th
season and to celebrate the th anniversary of
his landmark album
Slow Turning
.
AUGUST 27 – SEPTEMBER 2, 2018 | RAVINIA MAGAZINE
105