If you don’t, you’re about to get a lesson.

Because John Hiatt is a guy you should know well. If you want to call yourself one of those cultured-type people, that is. He’s a Yankee from Indiana, but he’s kind of a Memphis-type bluesy-rocky guy.

An example…

And another…

This one you might have heard, because it’s on that Travelers’ Insurance commercial with the dog who’s worried about his bone…

And then there’s a bit of road music…

Here’s a little something else. All us nutria down in Barataria get a little choked up off this one, and one of these days I’ll do a Cover Versions post on it…

This hasn’t quite been a hit song yet, but we’re watching and waiting because we think it’s a matter of time…

Who can deny such songwriting?

Anyway, we have this as well, which you may have heard since it was a pretty decent-sized hit in 1988…

Here’s a little later offering you probably haven’t heard that I’m a fan of…

And a bit more, maybe for Mardi Gras (we REALLY like this one down in Barataria Bay; that’s Sonny Landreth absolutely tearing it up on guitar)…

Wait, I’m sorry. Did I mention Sonny Landreth? You know who he is, right? Well, here’s a little extra with him and Hiatt…

This one always seems to move me. OK, fine, I’m a sentimental rodent. Shut up.

And this is probably the quintessential John Hiatt song. If you listen to this and don’t think it’s America set to guitar music, then you suck.

Then there was the time when he got together with Robert Cray and did that old Sam And Dave song Something Is Wrong With My Baby…

And his version of “Feels Like Rain,” which is a classic…

And something a little newer (this came out in 2005)…

And this comes off the newest album, Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns – which my cousin T-Roy just picked up and can’t stop playing while he plays that World of Warcraft stuff on his computer (I don’t know if that matters to you but we can’t stop him from playing that crap and every time somebody goes in the room we’re sucked into it with him; somebody help us out, huh?)…