John Hiatt: Covered
For his 73rd birthday, a mixtape of artists - from Iggy Pop and Linda Ronstadt to the Neville Brothers and Bruce Springsteen - celebrate the songwriting brilliance of John Hiatt.
Since we’ve picked up a few new subscribers over the last year (welcome!), I thought I’d put together the ultimate covers-of-John Hiatt-songs mixtape—73 songs—to celebrate his 73rd birthday.
Until he hit his stride with Bring the Family, Hiatt hopped from label to label while shopping his songs to anyone who’d listen. Thankfully, some of music’s greatest voices were listening, and they agreed that Hiatt’s pen was one of the sharpest in the industry, thereby keeping him fed through the lean years.
It’s a testament to Hiatt’s songwriting that artists from so many different backgrounds—from Conway Twitty to Iggy Pop, Paul Abdul to Emmylou Harris, Jimmy Buffett to John Doe—find common ground in his songs without having to alter their style one iota. Some of these covers will be familiar to most. They were big hits on the pop, rock, and country charts, while some may be unfamiliar. I’ve also included a few tracks that were never recorded (or at least not officially released) by Hiatt himself. Hopefully, there’s a little something for everyone here.
The songs included also cover all stages of Hiatt’s career, back to the very first cover of one of his songs (Tracy Nelson’s take on “Thinking of You”) and his very first charting hit (Three Dog Night’s version of “Sure As I’m Sittin’ Here”), to the recent Dolly Parton collaboration with Galantis on a …. reimagining, if you will, of “Have a Little Faith.”
Speaking of “Have a Little Faith,” John Hiatt’s birthday would be the perfect time to pick up a copy of Have A Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story. If you already have a copy, thanks! Why not gift one to a friend? Buy a copy here or from your favorite local bookseller (like this one). It’s available in paperback, as an e-book, and an audiobook (with yours truly reading the introduction). There are still some hardcovers available, such as here and here.
Happy birthday, John - and here’s to many more!
The John Hiatt: Covered Mixtape
A couple of additions: added a link to TIDAL (below), which swaps four songs out for different ones, and added a newly released take on “Memphis in the Meantime” by the late, great, legendary Carl Perkins from the upcoming album, ‘Some Things Never Change,’ produced by Bill Lloyd, to be released on October 24, 2025.
Apple Music users, click here.
I have seen this great artist 4 times in concert. He is a treasure. thanks for this great post and mixtape. Jon
Willy DeVille did a heartfelt Way We Make A Broken Heart - and a good shot at Across The Borderline (which Hiatt shares with Cooder and Dickinson). There's a clip of Willy in his Chelsea Hotel room singing Broken Heart to Jack Nitzsche who says "that's a great song - you wrote it?" "No. John Hiatt." I asked John about Willy and he said he toured with Mink DeVille in the late 70s but they weren't friendly as Willy was such a bad junkie at the time.