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 Turningand 2001's The Tiki Bar Is Open).
