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By Phil Taylor of Eastern Times
One of New Zealand’s masters of blues-roots music is paying a fervent on-the-porch-style tribute to one of his heroes in a new collection of recordings.
Darren Watson, the highly accomplished long-time musician and Lamington Records producer out of Pōneke Wellington, recently released album Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt, one of the United States’ legendary kings of Americana and rhythm n’ blues.
“I’ve tried to do my own thing with these songs ’cause I really don’t see any point in just doing ’em the same way John did,” says Watson.
“I really hope if he gets to hear this album that he can appreciate how everything is done with love and deep respect for his immense talent.
“This album is my tribute to one of my musical heroes, and as such I’m bound inevitably to fall short of his greatness.
“And I hope you, be you a fan of my previous work, or a John Hiatt fan hearing me for the first time, enjoy my original interpretations of John’s music.”
It’s Watson’s third superb solo album in seven years, following on from the magnificent Getting Sober For The End Of The World in 2020, and Too Many Millionaires in 2018.
Watson also produced one of this writer’s favourite albums of 2024, the incredibly good Dog and Pony Show by Matt Hay, his good mate, who plays harmonica on Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt.
And most of Watson’s other long-time collaborators are on the new work too – Steve Moodie on double bass, Chris Armour on electric guitar, and Delia Shanly in the drums and percussion department.
Watson himself delivers on vocals, acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, bass guitar, percussion, pump organ, melodica, and Hammond organ.
He’s trekking north to Auckland to play the album’s tracks and other favourites at Kumeū Live at Kumeū Arts Centre next Saturday, November 15.
“I first became aware of John Hiatt in the middle of nowhere and the middle of 1988,” he says.
“I was a fresh-faced 21-year-old, living the dream, on the road with my blues band Chicago Smoke Shop.
“Our tour bus had stopped after a tyre blowout 20 minutes outside of Palmerston North.
“Resigned to an hour or two of stationary momentum while the tour manager located the jack and figured out how exactly one replaces a tyre on a big, old Bedford bus, I watched my buddy Dave Murphy insert a cassette into the player that fed Rob Morrison’s black behemoth of a PA-hauling crawl-wagon’s awesome stereo system.
“Hearing the opening bars of Memphis in the Meantime my ears did more than prick up!
“Bring The Family well and truly had its hooks into me before John Hiatt even sang a note,” says Watson.
“By the time Learning How To Love You was over and the bus was moving again I already considered myself John Hiatt’s biggest fan.
“As a songwriter there are few who can cut straight to the point with pathos and humour in equal measure, never mind the ability to make old chord sequences sound like they’re brand new, and the soaring, biting vocals just burn.”
The tracks on Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt are: All The Way Under, Damn This Town, Like A Freight Train, Lincoln Town, Mr. Stanley, Nothin’ I Love, Ride Along, Thing Called Love, Thirty Years Of Tears.
- Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt can be heard and purchased at https://darrenwatson.bandcamp.com/album/darren-watson-sings-john-hiatt
