Nick of Time

Produced by Don Was and recorded and mixed by Ed Cherney, it was mostly made in about five days with no overdubs. Raitt described it as a return to her roots, with less production and less slickness. Decades later she told the Library of Congress that Was knew how to get the best out of her, and that nearly everything was a first or second take with little rehearsal. Herbie Hancock plays piano on I Ain't Gonna Let You Break My Heart Again, and David Crosby and Graham Nash sing on Cry on My Shoulder.

It entered the Billboard 200 at No. 105, reached No. 22 in June 1989 and fell away, until the 1990 Grammys sent it to No. 1 for three weeks. It won Album of the Year, has been certified five times platinum in the US, appears in all three editions of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums, and entered the National Recording Registry in 2022. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine heard grit in her singing and playing. Have a Heart reached No. 49 on the Hot 100.