Hiatt was working as a songwriter for Tree International, a record label in Nashville, Tennessee, when his song "Sure As I'm Sittin' Here" was covered by Three Dog Night.

[4] To escape the stress of his early life, Hiatt watched IndyCar racing and listened to Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, and the blues.

Hiatt moved to Nashville, Tennessee, when he was 18 years old and got a job as a songwriter for the Tree-Music Publishing Company for $25 a week (equivalent to about $203 in 2024).

He performed at Paradiso in Amsterdam for the first time in 1979 (opening for Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes) and came back often and built a solid fan base.

In 1982, "Across the Borderline", written by Hiatt with Ry Cooder and Jim Dickinson, appeared on the soundtrack to the motion picture The Border, sung by country star Freddy Fender.

The first, All of a Sudden, was produced by Tony Visconti,[1] and featured use of keyboards and synthesizers; his future albums combined country and soul influences.

During this period, Rosanne Cash covered several Hiatt compositions, taking "It Hasn't Happened Yet" to the Top 20 on the country charts.

Hiatt recorded a duet with Elvis Costello, a cover version of the Spinners' song "Living a Little, Laughing a Little", which appeared on Warming Up to the Ice Age.

[1] Shortly after its release, Bob Dylan covered Hiatt's song "The Usual", which had appeared on the soundtrack to Hearts of Fire.

In 1988, he returned to the studio with Glyn Johns producing[7] to record Slow Turning, which was his first album to hit the upper half of the Billboard 200.

8 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and "Tennessee Plates", which was used in the soundtrack of the Ridley Scott directed and Academy Award-winning film Thelma and Louise in 1991.

In 1992, Cooder, Keltner, and Lowe again backed up Hiatt, but this time they gave themselves the band name Little Village,[1] a reference to a Sonny Boy Williamson II song.

Hiatt recorded Perfectly Good Guitar with members of alternative rock groups School of Fish and Wire Train in 1993.

In 2000, Hiatt released his first independent album on Vanguard Records, Crossing Muddy Waters, which saw a heavy influence of bluegrass in his music.

In 2001, Crossing Muddy Waters was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album, with Davey Faragher and David Immerglück as his only accompanists.

In 2002, Hiatt performed several songs for the soundtrack of the Disney's The Country Bears movie, again with Johns producing,[7] representing the voice of the lead singer.

The album was produced by Jim Dickinson, and Hiatt was backed up by the bassist David Hood and several members of the North Mississippi Allstars.

On February 12, 2008, during a concert with Lyle Lovett at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Ontario, Hiatt said that his new album would be titled Same Old Man.

Hiatt recorded the album as part of a trio of guitar, bass (Patrick O’Hearn), and drums (Kenneth Blevins).