Columbia, SC · roots rock · pop-rock

Hootie and the Blowfish

1 upcoming festival

Darius Rucker's warm baritone over songs that sold fifteen million copies and never once tried to be cool — which is precisely why they aged well.

Hootie and the Blowfish formed at the University of South Carolina in Columbia in the late 1980s, built around singer Darius Rucker, guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim Sonefeld. Their music sits between bar-band rock, folk-rock and Southern radio pop, with acoustic and electric guitars behind Rucker's baritone.

Their 1994 debut Cracked Rear View became one of the best-selling albums of the decade in the United States, carried by singles including "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be with You." The band continued through several further albums before slowing down in the 2000s, when Rucker began a separate career as a country singer. The original four-piece later returned to recording and touring together.

roots rockpop-rock