(GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass.) – Critically lauded folk-rock singer-songwriter John Hiatt brings his rich, diverse catalog of songs and his quirky delivery to the Mahaiwe on Friday, May 6, at 8pm. While mass success has remained elusive over the course of his 40-plus-year career, Hiatt has hit the top of the charts via a veritable who’s who of singers who have recorded versions of his songs, including Bonnie Raitt, Rosanne Cash, the Jeff Healey Band, Mandy Moore, and Bob Dylan. He has also acquired a rightful reputation as an entertainer par excellence, delivering songs with brutal honesty and turning on a dime and making an audience laugh with a quip or a satirical number, an approach he shares with the likes of Randy Newman, Loudon Wainwright III, John Prine, and the late Warren Zevon. Singer-songwriter Rick Brantley will warm up the crowd for Hiatt.

A master lyricist and satirical storyteller, John Hiatt weaves hidden plot twists into fictional tales on themes of redemption, relationships, growing older, and surrendering on one’s own terms. An indication of his gifts as a songwriter as well as his diverse appeal is readily apparent in the list of artists who have recorded his songs, including Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt (“Thing Called Love”), Emmylou Harris, Iggy Pop, Rosanne Cash (#1 country hit “The Way We Make a Broken Heart”), the Jeff Healey Band (“Angel Eyes”), Mandy Moore (“Have a Little Faith in Me”), and even the cartoon bear band of Disney’s film, The Country Bears.

Truly a songwriters’ songwriter, Hiatt earned a Grammy Award nomination for “Crossing Muddy Waters,” while B.B. King and Eric Clapton shared a Grammy for their album “Riding With the King,” the title track from which was a Hiatt composition.

Hiatt has received his own star on Nashville’s Walk of Fame, the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriting, has been inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and was saluted at the Indiana Governor’s Arts Awards.

Tickets are $30 to $70. Additionally, a limited number of $15 tickets are available for audience members ages 30 and younger through the Mahaiwe ArtSmart Tix program.