Veteran singer/songwriter John Hiatt has been a distinctive catalyst for roots-driven, uniquely American music in a career spanning more than 35 years. With sharply pointed, poetic lyricism and a penchant for a sound that spans guitar-blazing southern swamp rock, country-shaded acoustic ballads and mournful, tear-in-your-beer roadhouse waltzes, Hiatt's eighteen solo albums have also been blessed with exceptional players including Ry Cooder, Nick Lowe and longtime backing guitarist Sonny Landreth. His songs "Have A Little Faith In Me" and "Riding With the King" are just two songs that have become modern standards while his seminal 1987 breakthrough album Bring The Family (featuring Cooder and Lowe) we consider one of the finest albums of the era.

Hiatt shifts gears a bit on his new March 2 album The Open Road, a collection of songs that celebrate life on the road and, true to the title, finds him rolling the windows down and cruising with a surprisingly potent kick and a don't-look-back attitude. Self-produced and recorded in his home studio with his touring band (Kenny Blevins on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Doug Lancio on guitars), The Open Road's eleven new songs have a basic, no-nonsense appeal and, like all of Hiatt's classic albums, a minimum of pretense and a maximum of sly, lyrical edge. The band hums along like a finely tuned engine on the titled track with an oversized backbeat wallop and ragged guitar riffs setting the stage for Hiatt's gruff, seasoned drawl. Recommended.

John Hiatt - "The Open Road" (from the album The Open Road)