John Hiatt-Bring the Family

Written by Murphy
Published June 17, 2003

Hiatt is what's called "alternative country," a category that pretty much means he sounds like country music but not quite. In my opinion, that means he doesn't go by the pre-fab hooks and cliched patterns that country music is known and hated for. He actually creates his own sound.

And it's a good sound. The first song on the album is "Memphis in the meantime," a great catchy dancey tune that makes me wish I knew how to line dance. I'll tell you, I'd never really felt that before.

The rest of the songs are intelligent and fun. One other song in particular I really love you may have heard from the love scene n Benny and Joon: "Have a little Faith in Me."

It's a great song, and it makes you think you've heard it before, as if it were written by one of the greats-BB King or somebody. It's so heartbreaking. Of course, I'm a sucker for piano songs, I'll admit.

My boyfriend loves "Lipstick Sunset." Maybe it's a guy thing, I'm not so fond of it because it's about a girl getting left. But the song itself is a good kind of mournful.

Hiatt really loves what he does, and it shows.

Murphy Horner is a long-time BlogCritic. Murphy’s first book The Parable of Miriam the Camel Driver draws from her experience in corporate America to examine the bigger questions about balancing career and creativity. Murphy Horner has been working as a conferencing technology professional for a decade. Her university alumni association has recognized her as a noted female executive. Currently she is working on a travel memoir and can be found facilitating a writing group in her town of Claremont, Ca.
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John Hiatt-Bring the Family
Published: June 17, 2003
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#1 — June 17, 2003 @ 08:11AM — Aaron

I bought Bring the Family because it had the original version of Thing Called Love which had been remade by Bonnie Raitt. I was blown away by the entire album after the first listen.

I love the first song Memphis in the Meantime. It pretty sums up my feeling on Country Music: "One more heath-felt steal guitar chord, girl, is gonna do me in" and "Right now I need a Telecaster through a Vibralux turned up to ten."

Slide Guitar god Ry Cooder plays over the entire album and is fantastic throughout.

#2 — June 17, 2003 @ 10:47AM — Hazy Dave [URL]

"Your Dad Did" is the song that makes this album for me. I guess my daughter was about a year old when this came out.

Besides Hiatt and Cooder, Nick Lowe and Jim Keltner make this the precursor to "Little Village". A pity that album's material was not as strong as this one. (Perhaps Rockpile had the same problem with their record, heightened expectations?)

#3 — December 2, 2006 @ 15:57PM — patrick plante

I first heard the music of John Hiatt on the Bring the Family alblum. I have been a die hard fan ever sense

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