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John Hiatt at The Ark, 5 things to know

It’s comeback time for John Hiatt — and not just musically.

During September the 71-year-old singer-songwriter suffered a serious fall while hiking in South Cumberland State Park in Tennessee that resulted in a concussion and a skull fracture, along with lacerations and bruises. He’s spent most of the time since recovering and doing “all kinds of rehab and neural stuff,” but understandably concerned about how far he’d be able to rebound.

The good news Hiatt’s back in shape and back on the road, doing small-venue solo shows as he gets his bearings back. He has future projects in his viewfinder, and music is still that thing the veteran troubadour is happy to call love…

* Hiatt says by phone from his home near Nashville that he’s “doing pretty good” health-wise, these days. “It’s been a long road back, but I feel good — outside the usual stuff of a practically 72-year-old guy. I’ve been just focusing on getting my health back together and going out to play.”

* This year also marks the 50th anniversary of Hiatt’s first solo album, “Hangin’ Around the Observatory,” which he says “I didn’t even think about, to be honest. I was scared to death; I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. The songwriting was not really formed; I just knew I wanted to do it. I didn’t know who I was vocally, and I was only 10 years out of picking up a guitar. So for me I was still chipping away. I wasn’t one of those guys that came fully formed out of the gate. I had to kind of do it in public.”

* In hindsight, however, Hiatt is happy that he became “what I wanted to be, a songwriting folk singer, if you will, who gets the rock ‘n’ roll thing as well. I had a lot of models — the blues troubadours, Phil Ochs, John Hammond Jr., John Hartman and so on, even Lead Belly. I had that model — you can write songs and you can perform ’em for an audience and they can interact with that. It’s kind of thrilling. And to still be doing that after all these years…I’m grateful.”

* Over the years many of Hiatt’s songs have become better-known in versions recorded by others, including Bonnie Raitt, Joe Cocker, Iggy Pop and more. “that’s been great,” he says. “That was sort of a side gig to me, a songwriter who wrote songs for other people. I just wrote and didn’t think about it. It never really defined who I was…or who I am, for that matter.”

* Hiatt has a couple of recording projects in mind, including an album with his daughter Lily and a reunion with his band the Goners and producer Glyn Johns, the team that made his “Slow Turning” album in 1899. “And then I want to make a record (of) just me and my guitar. I’ve really spent the last year getting back to where I can sing and play and make sense — that’s been the focal point.”

John Hiatt performs at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 9 at The Ark 316 S. Main St., Ann Arbor. 313-761-1818 or theark.org.