Hear John Hiatt Explore Aging in Funky New Song ‘Over the Hill’

With “Over the Hill,” the latest track to be released from John Hiatt’s upcoming LP, The Eclipse Sessions, the 66-year-old songwriting legend offers craggy bits of wisdom and wit on aging, singing, “I’m long in the tooth, what can I say / I take huge bites of life and I eat the bone.” Yet in the chorus of the gently rolling blues tune, which is punctuated with stellar electric guitar licks, he sings, “If you want me, baby, I’m over the hill,” which, rather than state of mind, could refer to geographical location.

Hiatt’s 23rd album since his 1974 debut, The Eclipse Sessions (out October 12th) is his first since 2014’s Terms of My Surrender, after which he found himself at something of a loss as to what he would do next. Produced by Kevin McKendree (Delbert McClinton), the album features Hiatt’s longtime drummer Kenneth Blevins and bassist Patrick O’Hearn, along with then-16-year-old Yates McKendree, Kevin’s prodigiously talented son, who also engineered the record.

A tour in support of The Eclipse Sessions launches October 20th at the House of Blues in New Orleans and is currently scheduled to run through November 15th with a pair of shows at Nashville’s City Winery.