Singer/songwriter brings Trinity Lane tour to The Nick

By Brent Thompson

There’s an old adage that dark personal moments can be catalysts for the creation of great art, and Lilly Hiatt has validated that statement with the release of her latest album, Trinity Lane [New West Records]. Dealing with autobiographical subject matter including alcohol abuse, failed relationships and her mother’s suicide, Hiatt  – the daughter of stalwart singer/songwriter John Hiatt – leaves no wound unopened across the album’s 12 tracks. On Saturday, September 23, Hiatt will return to Birmingham to perform at The Nick. Recently, she spoke to Birmingham Stages by phone from her East Nashville home.

Birmingham Stages: Lilly, thanks for your time. Trinity Lane is being called your most personal album yet. Do you agree with that description and, if so, why was now the right time to make this record?

Lilly Hiatt: I probably do agree with that and I think it was the easiest because I was in a period of being capable of being more honest with myself than I’d been previously. It was easy to go there in the songs.

Birmingham Stages: Over what time period were the songs written?

Hiatt: Most of them came last summer. There were a couple that I’d written before that like “So Much You Don’t Know” and “See Ya Later.” The bulk of them came in a three-month period. It was an inspired period – I had a lot of space and a lot of time to myself and I was emotionally distraught. The songwriting was a really nice tool and crutch to have through all of that, basically. It takes what it takes to get where you need to go.

Birmingham Stages: You’ve seen a lot of changes in your hometown of Nashville in recent years.

Hiatt: I grew up in Franklin – about 20 miles south. I went to college in Colorado and moved back home in 2006. Nashville had a lot of cool Rock & Roll and Indie stuff going on and I’ve watched that continue to bud. I think Nashville has always gone a lot deeper than “Country Music U.S.A.”  – you just had to look a lot harder for it and now you don’t.

Birmingham Stages: Are you still writing songs and laying down ideas at this time? How does your writing process typically work?

Hiatt: I don’t really have a specific method to the madness, but I do have a really good memory. Something impacts me and I document it and when I get to a point where I’m about to explode, I write a song. I also do really well with a deadline, so I like a little bit of pressure.

Birmingham Stages: How did you come to work with [Trinity Lane producer and Shovels & Rope member] Michael Trent?

Hiatt: This really great woman at the label I’m on, New West, suggested him and got that idea rolling. I was intrigued by that because I knew Michael and his wife and I thought it was a cool and different direction to take. So, we started talking and had a couple of great conversations before I said, “OK, let’s do it.”

Birmingham Stages: Do your songs continue to evolve or change in mood or feel even after you take them into the recording studio?

Hiatt: Totally. I write these melancholy Folk songs and I want to amp them up so I find a cool band that can rock them out a little harder than I can on my own. Michael really brightened things up and took it to a different level than we as a band could take it, which is really exciting. Everybody puts their level of bedazzlement on it until you’ve got a finished tune. My favorite thing is to find people that just tap in and you become limitless as to where it can go.

Birmingham Stages: Did growing up in a musical household prepare you for your career or was the music business too different when your father came along to be applicable in today’s model?

Hiatt: I feel extremely fortunate to have a father, not only that I’m close with, but has also navigated the tricky music industry. I’ve sought out plenty of advice from him and we talk about music itself and how to write better songs and keep that first and foremost. That’s really what it’s about.

Lilly Hiatt will perform at The Nick on Saturday, September 23. Will Stewart and Ryan Sobb (with Taylor Hunnicutt) will open the 10 p.m. show. Advance tickets are $10 and can be purchased at www.thenickrocks.com.