Hootie & The Blowfish

Performer: Hootie & the Blowfish
Artist: Don Was; Susan Cowsill; Vicki Peterson
Engineer: Ed Cherney; Bob St. John
Producer: Don Was; Pete Masitti
Distributor: WEA (Distributor)

Notes: Hootie & The Blowfish: Darius Rucker (vocals, guitar, harmonica); Mark Bryan (acoustic & electric guitars, mandolin, background vocals); Jim "Soni" Sonefeld (acoustic guitar, drums, percussion, loops); Dean Felber (bass, background vocals). Additional personnel includes: Don Was (trumpet, Fender Rhodes piano); Susan Cowsill, Vicki Peterson background vocals). Recorded at Beacon Street, Venice, California and Bogart Studios, Miami, Florida. Personnel: Hootie & the Blowfish (background vocals); Darius Rucker (vocals, harmonica); Mark Bryan (guitar, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, background vocals); Jim Sonefeld (acoustic guitar, drums, percussion, loops, background vocals); Don Was (saxophone, trumpet); John Nau (piano, organ); Dean Felber, Susan Cowsill, Vicki Peterson (background vocals). Audio Mixer: Ed Cherney. Recording information: Beacon Street, Venice, CA; Bogart Recording Studios, Miami, FL. Photographers: Dennis Keeley; Chapman Baehler. Unknown Contributor Role: Don Was. For their first album since 1998's MUSICAL CHAIRS, Hootie and the Blowfish enlisted the aid of production doctor Don Was in an effort to get back on track after a four-year layoff that found Darius Rucker and Mark Bryan releasing their own solo efforts. Sounding refreshed and recharged, this roots-rock quartet hit the ground running, mixing in the twangy country-rock of "Little Darlin'," soaring "When She's Gone" (featuring background vocals by Indigo Girl Emily Saliers), and catchy mid-tempo rocker "Space." Rucker's exploration of R&B roots on his solo outing BACK TO THEN made for a ripple effect that can be heard on songs like the pleading power ballad "I'll Come Runnin'" and soulful "Little Brother," with its hearty harmonies and Was's snappy organ contributions. The boys even manage to sneak in a sweet cover of the Continental Drifters' "The Rain Song" complete with harmonies by Drifters Vicki Peterson and Susan Cowsill, that serves as the bow on this package of solid roots-rock.

Hootie & the Blowfish burst out of the grass-roots southern rock scene in the mid-1990s, but their panoramic, All-American pop-rock sound was more influenced by John Mellencamp than by Lynyrd Skynyrd. The band's distinguishing feature was the robust, booming voice of Darius Rucker (no, he wasn't "Hootie"), and their sunny, straightforward sound connected in a big way with audiences weary of grunge bleakness.

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