Hootie & the Blowfish to reunite for new tour, album in 2019
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Jim Sonefeld, from left, Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, and Mark Bryan, of Hootie & the Blowfish, pose for a portrait at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, S.C., on Nov. 16. The band is returning with a tour and album 25 years after “Cracked Rear View” launched the South Carolina-based rock band.
Music lovers craving a dose of 1990s nostalgia, get ready: Hootie & the Blowfish are back in business.
The rockers announced today they’re hitting the road on tour next year with the Barenaked Ladies, and also have a new album in the works.
“We’re writing songs in the studio, we’re making a new album,” frontman Darius Rucker said on the “Today” show.
“We’re not doing it for us. We’re doing it for those people who used to plan their vacations around the Hootie & the Blowfish tour,” he said. “When we play ‘Hold My Hand’ or we play ‘Let Her Cry’ or we play ‘Only Wanna Be With You’.. When you hear that crowd, psh. I’ll play it every night.”
Hootie, who formed in the mid-’80s in South Carolina, burst onto the scene in 1994 with “Cracked Rear View,” which spawned massive hit singles like “Only Wanna Be With You” and “Let Her Cry.”
The album was the best-selling album of 1995, and currently stands as the 19th-best-selling album of all time the U.S., with more than 21 million copies sold.
The band released five records together before Rucker embarked on a successful solo country music career in 2008.
The upcoming tour will kick off May 30 in Virginia Beach, Va., and will stretch through August.
“To still be doing that after 30 years, it’s all gravy,” Rucker said. “I want to go up there and just do it because we can.”
