John Hiatt, Adam Chaffins

It wasn't long after John Hiatt's debut album was released in 1974 when Three Dog Night charted with his song “Sure As I’m Sittin' Here.” It’s sometimes been rocky for the Indianapolis native, but with musicians like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, B.B. King, Keith Urban and others covering his work, Hiatt has never been without fans. This includes Bonnie Raitt, whose Hiatt cover, “Thing Called Love,” catapulted her onto the charts and solidified Hiatt’s songwriting legacy.

press release: ACG PRESENTS An Acoustic Evening With JOHN HIATT

GENERAL ADMISSION – ALL SEATED SHOW

The Eclipse Sessions, John Hiatt’s newest album, offers up his strongest set of songs in years. Long celebrated as a skilled storyteller and keen observer of life’s twists and turns, Hiatt can get at the heart of a knotty emotion or a moment in time with just a sharp, incisive lyric or witty turn of phrase. The 11 tracks presented in The Eclipse Sessions, from the breezy opener “Cry To Me,” to the stark “Nothing In My Heart,” the lost-love lamentation “Aces Up Your Sleeve” to the rollicking “Poor Imitation Of God,” demonstrate that the singer-songwriter, now 66, is only getting better with age, his guitar playing more rugged and rootsy, his words wiser and more wry.

Hiatt goes all in with The Eclipse Sessions. There’s a grit to these songs—a craggy, perfectly-imperfect quality that colors every aspect of the performances, right down to Hiatt’s vocals, which are quite possibly his most raw and expressive to date. “They ain’t pretty, that’s for sure,” he says about the creaks and cracks that punctuate his phrases in songs like “Poor Imitation Of God” and “One Stiff Breeze.” “But I don’t mind a bit. All the catches and the glitches and the gruffness, that sounds right to me. That sounds like who I am.” The Eclipse Sessions is the sound of an artist not only living in but also capturing the moment.

PRAISE FOR THE ECLIPSE SESSIONS:

“Hiatt still writes, as evidenced by his latest release, The Eclipse Sessions, a collection of timeless tunes that show his unassuming mastery.” The New York Times

“…an artist on par with American greats such as Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Paul Simon and Bruce Springsteen.” Guitar Player Magazine

“There are fetching melodies and rhythmic wrinkles characteristic of Hiatt’s best work.” The Associated Press

“At its core, The Eclipse Sessions shows that Hiatt remains a songwriter worth listening to: He’s a skillful lyricist with a singular voice.” Paste Magazine

“The Eclipse Sessions is a solid, if not exceptional, addition to Hiatt’s 40-plus-year catalog.” Relix Magazine

“Hiatt says that his latest, The Eclipse Sessions, is connected to that album (Bring The Family) as well as to 2000’s Crossing Muddy Waters, due to the fact that he didn’t know where he was headed when he started them. But his lack of direction is a blessing to the rest of us, culminating in a project that sounds as good as anything he’s done in years.” No Depression

“Listen to Hiatt’s road-weary voice, his sturdy guitar, and the stripped-down accompaniment; it seems he’s got plenty left. This is as expressive as he’s ever sounded.” Glide Magazine

“On these 11 originals, once again Hiatt proves he’s still got plenty of reason to live, and plenty left to share with the rest of us as well.” No Depression

The song caught fire, broadcast around the world. “People wrote to me saying, ‘This is the song I want to play at my funeral,’ it was unsettling at first,” she says, “but it felt good to know that my song connects with people.”

Almost a year later, her song “Ashes Like Snow” appeared on the show with similar effect, wrapping audiences up in the meandering piano and her skyward arcing vocals. It was a song born from serendipity, nearly ten years in the making. “One day when I was at my parents house,” she says “I found this poem that I had written right at the time of the September 11 attacks, when I was just a young kid. I took some of those words and added the perspective from where we are today, in the long aftermath of war and struggle, looking back.”

Kershaw is a compulsive creator, she jots down melodies and lyrics as she’s wandering through her days. She sings melodies into her phone while sitting in traffic or secretly hums a tune into a voice recorder while out at shows, capturing any inspiration that she can channel back into her music. Her debut layers lush instrumentation over the stark skeleton of her sketches, sauntering between swaying somberness and playful uplifting anthems. Like the subtle beauty of a black rose, Kershaw’s music shores melancholy with a sense of hope and catharsis. And like she sings, her stories — her songs — are whispers or echoes, messages in bottles, cast out into the world.