I don't find Hiatt tunes to be simple. It's one of his special talents to make songs that appear simple but have cool twists in melody, rhythm and harmony.
Even a simple song like Cry Love, which if memory serves just repeats 4 chords for verse and chorus, has great rhythmic twists and turns.
My favourite albums are Bring the Family (with Cooder, Lowe and Keltner) and Slow Turning (with Sonny Landreth).
I used to play at least half a dozen Hiatt tunes in open E (Memphis in the Meantime, Have a Little Faith, Learning How to Love You, Thing Called Love, Tennessee Plates...) I know J.H. doesn't play in that tuning but I'm pretty sure Landreth used to use it quite a bit. Had the pleasure of meeting Sonny at a show at the Rock 'n' Bowl in New Orleans a while ago and he was the most gracious, down-to-earth and genuinely sweet guy. Not to mention an absolute monster on stage.
Mike
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