Darren Watson - Darren Watson sings John Hiatt (2025)

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Darren Watson - Darren Watson sings John Hiatt (2025)

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Accomplished blues man Darren Watson returns with a new release this month, a complete album of John Hiatt songs reinterpreted – Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt. Watson has been pushing out quality material for the best part of 40 years, beginning in the 80s as frontman of Chicago Smoke Shop (which supported the Robert Cray Band, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds), and continuing since the early 2000s as a solo artist with six albums released to great acclaim, including a bunch of NZ Music Award nominations.

(As an aside, not least of Watson’s acclaims was the absolute rave review Sir John Key himself gave Watson’s 2014 satirical single Planet Key, which Key inspiringly said was “quite professionally done. It was anti-us but as a parody it was okay.” Despite the positive prime-ministerial vibes, the song landed Watson in Court against the Electoral Commission, who wanted the song banned on the grounds it was electioneering material. Watson eventually succeeded, with the High Court finding the Electoral Commission’s case amounted to censorship and was against protected free speech.)

Anyway, Watson’s return is apolitical as it gets, and all the more refreshing for it. This is 40 or so minutes of immaculately produced and recorded classic blues. There are slide guitars, reso-phonic guitars, stand-up bass, barber-shop style backing singers – all sounding like was recorded in some beautiful wooden room with all its warm reverb and timbre (it was actually recorded at Watson’s home studio, a converted lounge and bedroom). There’s an absolute classic collection of blues topics covered here too – the deepest lows of broken working-class folks, those same folks trying to get rich, their drunk and insane father figures, other folks getting killed in poker games, shitty old towns (and that’s only by the end of the second song, Damn This Town). It’s all familiar stuff, which I often find is the source of the charm in classic genres like this. There are freight trains, folks puffing on cigars, heartbreak, tears, retribution, the lot.

The record is expertly played and sung too. Watson’s voice sounds like this record is the one he has been working towards all these years, with just the right amount of grit to make it sound authentically American blues. But his voice has sophistication too. He sounds like Joe Henry. Only here and there do we get the sense he might be having just a little bit too much fun and is showing it (the opening foot-stomper All The Way Under ends with an outrageous “Whooo!” from Watson, as well as a closing boom on the drums). The quality of the musicianship is evident across the board, with some excellent rhythm section and guitar work.

The source material, of course, is excellent too. Hiatt is a ridiculously accomplished American songwriter and performer – but famous mostly for songs other than those picked by Watson for this collection. Watson deliberately left off his most famous stuff (Have A Little Faith in Me, Slow Turning and Icy Blue Heart aren’t here; Thing Called Love is, which was a significant hit for Bonnie Raitt in the late 80s, but in Watson’s version the song is entirely recast and unrecognisable).

This is stuff that is worth looking into and indulging in. It has hooks that will get into your head, and a clean, authentic sound of real musicianship and instruments played live, and Darren Watson’s fantastic voice strikes a winning balance. The album is out on 31 October and a North Island Tour follows in November and December.