The Eclipse Sessions

The Eclipse Sessions, John Hiatt's newest album, offers up his strongest set of songs in years. Long celebrated as a skilled storyteller and keen observer of life's twists and turns, Hiatt can get at the heart of a knotty emotion or a moment in time with just a sharp, incisive lyric or witty turn of phrase. The 11 tracks presented in The Eclipse Sessions, from the breezy opener ''Cry to Me,'' to the stark ''Nothing in My Heart,'' the lost-love lamentation ''Aces Up Your Sleeve'' to the rollicking ''Poor Imitation of God,'' demonstrate that the singer-songwriter, now 66, is only getting better with age, his guitar playing more rugged and rootsy, his words wiser and more wry. Hiatt goes all in with The Eclipse Sessions. There's a grit to these songs' a craggy, perfectly-imperfect quality that colors every aspect of the performances, right down to Hiatt's vocals, which are quite possibly his most raw and expressive to date. ''They ain't pretty, that's for sure,'' he says about the creaks and cracks that punctuate his phrases in songs like ''Poor Imitation of God'' and ''One Stiff Breeze.'' ''But I don't mind a bit. All the catches and the glitches and the gruffness, that sounds right to me. That sounds like who I am.'' The Eclipse Sessions is the sound of an artist not only living in but also capturing the moment.