But then, Landreth had great material to work with. Hiatt, the poster child for songwriters whose work has garnered attention only when interpreted by others, is just a great writer. You could plug his songs into just about any idiom effectively, but his 90-minute set at the Uptown emphasized the chilled rock-blues best captured on his albums Slow Turning and Bring the Family. In bringing back the Goners, Hiatt smartly disposed of his mid-'90s bent toward rocking out, which led to a couple of area concerts that seemed to attempt grunge.
But Hiatt, even well-amplified and raw-throated, is more emotionally connected than that. Call it grudge rock; his song factory turns out models that fly on disappointment and disillusionment, fingering his narrators for most of the blame. He's also probably the only recovering alcoholic songwriter who hasn't allowed his product to turn to mush upon clearing the haze. The late-'80s epiphanies from which he mainly drew Thursday date from his sobriety forward, proving it's possible to become a sharper observer even as one's temperament mellows.
Best were tough, bleeding versions of "Feels Like Rain" and "Drive South," both from Turning, on which the Goners demonstrated just how well they remember the chops they contributed to the disc. Hiatt also amiably introduced a new song, a worthy number held hostage by lack of label interest right now. The ever-trenchant Hiatt could probably write a great song about being on tour with someone a third his age and with a fifth of his talent who has a label deal. Thursday, he and the tight Goners hammered out a show fit to inspire breath-holding while we wait for such a song to emerge on new Hiatt album.
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