John Hiatt – HuffPost 8.3.11

Mike Ragogna: What advice would you have for new artists?

John Hiatt: (laughs) Man, it’s so tough these days. The only advice I’ve ever given out is just to be true to yourself. It’s about the music. Don’t pay attention to all this other bulls**t–just make your music. It’s just about the music–it’s about the music. It’s the only thing. “Music is the only thing”…I think Frank Zappa said that.

MR: Is that how you live your life. Do you get up and just write, just make music?

JH: I get up and play pretty much every day. If a day or two goes by and I don’t pick up a guitar, it’s weird.

MR: There’s a book called The Artist’s Way that suggests you wake up in the morning and immediately write something. Is it like that for you?

JH: No. It’s just something I’ve done since I was eleven, so it’s more like what Flannery O’Connor called The Habit of Being. It’s just me. It’s just part of me. It’s just who I am, to pick up a guitar. I’ve always picked up a guitar because I like to play. Where as other guys, when they picked up the guitar when they were eleven and twelve, they were copying Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton licks. I started writing songs immediately, as soon as I had two chords. So, it’s just what I’ve always done.