The Road Top Ten: Dust Down a Country Road (#5)

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Don’t say I didn’t warn you. Lots of familiar names (longtime favorites of mine) on this list of favorites with “road” in the title. That stands to reason, given that my first place to research a topic is my iPod song list. What can I say? Love this guy, love this song, and here it is for your dining and dancing pleasure. #5: Dust Down a Country Road - John Hiatt John Hiatt. See you tomorrow. The Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member (I guess he’s enshrined there because he lives in Nashville, because he’s had as many of his songs become rock covers as country or Americana covers) is a longtime (32 years) favorite. 1995’s Walk On is one of his many, many good albums (which is what made the follow-up, 1997’s Little Head, even more disappointing). Between watching people like Roseanne Cash and Bonnie Raitt get awards for doing his songs, appearing on the Grammy-winning Will the Circle Be Unbroken Vol. 2, and having a one-off “supergroup” called Little Village (with Nick Lowe and Ry Cooder), Hiatt released a string of albums that combined autobiographical pain (detailing his alcoholism and wife’s suicide), humor (“these days the only bar I ever see has got lettuce and tomatoes”), and details in lyrics that paint a vivid picture more beautiful and real than any video can do. The lovely scene of “an old dog staring at the dust down a country road” is mesmerizing. Dust Down a Country Road Written by John Hiatt Recorded by John Hiatt From Walk On, 1995 It was on my wedding night: