Columbia, SC · roots rock

Hootie & the Blowfish

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'Cracked Rear View' forever — Darius Rucker and the gang's easygoing roots-rock reunion, good-natured hits played exactly as remembered.

Hootie & the Blowfish came together in Columbia, South Carolina, in 1989, formed by students at the University of South Carolina: Darius Rucker on lead vocals, Mark Bryan on guitar, Dean Felber on bass and Jim Sonefeld on drums. Rucker and Bryan met as dormitory neighbours, and Bryan first heard Rucker singing in the showers before the two started out playing cover songs together. The band's name came from the nicknames of two college friends, one for his owl-like glasses, the other for his puffy, blowfish-like cheeks.

The sound is straightforward roots rock and pop-rock, with jangling guitars, harmony vocals and Rucker's deep, unhurried delivery at the centre. The band spent years playing bars and fraternity houses around the university, self-releasing two demo cassettes and an EP, Kootchypop, before signing with Atlantic Records in 1993.

The group's 1994 album Cracked Rear View sold in enormous numbers, was eventually certified platinum twenty-two times over, and produced the singles 'Hold My Hand,' 'Let Her Cry' and 'Only Wanna Be with You.' The band went on to win two Grammy Awards and placed sixteen singles on Billboard charts across six studio albums, including three number-one hits in Canada.

Later records followed before the band went on hiatus in 2008 and Rucker turned to country music. The original lineup has since reunited for touring and new recordings, including 2019's Imperfect Circle, their first new studio album in fourteen years, playing the older material largely as it was recorded.

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roots rock