CD REVIEW

Nothing incomplete about Hyatt's posthumous 'Unfinished'

CD comes 12 years after Austin singer's death.

Walter Hyatt

"Some Unfinished Business, Volume One" (King Tears Music)

Twelve years after his death, Walter Hyatt has a new record out — a lovely album that enhances his legacy as one of the most sensitive singer-songwriters to pass through the Austin music scene. "Unfinished Business" is not the same kind of album as his previous solo releases from the early 1990s. It's more of a crooner's record than the jazzy "King Tears" and the up-tempo, countrified "Music Town." But in its own way, it's every bit as inviting — smart, kind-hearted, a sweet reflection of the man.

Produced by Heidi Hyatt (Walter's widow), "Some Unfinished Business" is built primarily from demo tapes Hyatt was working with before his death in the ValuJet plane crash of 1996 in Florida. Yet there's nothing about the production or the quality of Hyatt's vocals that suggests "first take" or "incomplete." Walter Hyatt was a perfectionist, and it is as if he intended his voice and his guitar on these tapes to be album-worthy.

Hyatt fans will be surprised at the strong production presence on the album; the backing instrumentation is prettier, fuller, than on any Hyatt recording you've ever heard. Heidi Hyatt clearly wanted to accentuate her husband's sense of style in each arrangement — whether that meant backing "Motor City Man" with strings, or fleshing out the bluesy beauty of "Rollin' My Blues" with backing vocals by the Jordanaires, or leaving him alone in a soft spotlight on a heartbreaking rendition "I'll Come Knocking."

Lyle Lovett thought enough of three songs featured on this collection — "I'll Come Knocking," "Lonely in Love" and "Babes in the Woods" — to include them on his "Step Inside This House" album. In fact, most of the tunes on this record have been recorded by other artists. But for most listeners, this is the first chance to hear these tunes, on CD, in the composer's voice. There's more coming: Hyatt's widow hopes to put out two more volumes in the years to come.

Walter Hyatt was not a man of trends. He liked classic things, had an affinity for older forms. The music he made always felt a little out of sync with the rhythms and the trends of current times. You get the same feeling listening to "Some Unfinished Business." It feels as if it was cut from a lost, romantic age. Yet it stands, proudly. As does the legacy of Walter Hyatt.

— Brad Buchholz