Cracked Rear View behind them as band looks ahead
Following decade-long break, pop-rockers hit the road again
NASHVILLE—Twenty-five years after “Cracked Rear View” launched their careers, Grammywinning rock band Hootie & the Blowfish will release a new album and launch a tour next year after a decade-long break.
The Southern pop-rockers, featuring lead singer Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Jim Sonefeld and Dean Felber, broke out with their major label debut in 1994, which has been certified 21-times platinum and made the Recording Industry Association of America’s list of the top-10 most popular albums of all-time.
With Top 10 hits like “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You,” the South Carolina-based band went from playing college bars to selling out arenas and winning best new artist at the Grammy Awards in 1996. The band put out five studio albums and other live albums, never coming close to the popularity of the first, with the last one in 2006.
Their last official tour was in 2007.
With a big anniversary approaching in 2019, the four musicians decided it was time to go out on the road and bring with them some new music.
“Nothing has changed,” insists Rucker, who is now a major country star in his own right with several country radio hits like “Wagon Wheel.”
“When the four of us get back together, we fall into the same dynamic of the band that’s always there. We’ve been a band for pretty much 30 years now. We’re just older now. There’s a lot less alcohol.”
The Group Therapy Tour starts May 30 in Virginia Beach, Va., and will hit 44 cities.
The tour includes a Toronto date — Aug. 29 at the Budweiser Stage; Toronto’s own Barenaked Ladies are reportedly the opening act for the tour.