Beneath This Gruff Exterior

Beneath This Gruff Exterior is singer-songwriter John Hiatt's seventeenth album, released on May 6, 2003. It was his first album with New West Records, and it was also the only album on which backing band The Goners received front cover credit along with Hiatt (although The Goners had previously backed Hiatt on 1988's Slow Turning and 2001's The Tiki Bar Is Open).

Beneath This Gruff Exterior
Studio album by John Hiatt & The Goners
Released	May 6, 2003
Recorded	2002–03
Genre	Rock
Length	50:00
Label	New West
Producer	Don Smith, John Hiatt, The Goners
John Hiatt & The Goners chronology
The Tiki Bar is Open (2001) Beneath This Gruff Exterior (2003) Master of Disaster (2005)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The Guardian
Uncut

Track listing

All tracks written by John Hiatt

1. "Uncommon Connection" – 4:11
2. "How Bad's The Coffee" – 3:56
3. "The Nagging Dark" – 3:15
4. "My Baby Blue" – 4:35
5. "My Dog And Me" – 3:15
6. "Almost Fed Up With The Blues" – 4:36
7. "Circle Back" – 4:30
8. "Window On The World" – 3:36
9. "Missing Pieces" – 4:06
10. "Fly Back Home" – 4:44
11. "The Last Time" – 4:53
12. "The Most Unoriginal Sin" – 4:15

Personnel

• John Hiatt – guitar, vocals

and The Goners:

• Sonny Landreth – electric guitar, slide guitar, Dobro, backing vocals
• David Ranson – bass guitar
• Kenneth Blevins – drums, backing vocals

with:

• Bobby Keys – saxophone

Technical

• Don Smith – production, nixing, engineering
• Doug Sax – mastering
• Kimberly Levitan – art direction, design
• Michael "Mick" Wilson – photography