New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Atlanta-based Ragtime/Dixieland/Gypsy jazz artist Blair Crimmins and his band The Hookers will release their new album You Gotta Sell Something! on February 17th via New Rag Records. Their fourth studio record following 2013's Sing-a-Longs, it delivers more of their signature sound of supercharged ragtime and swing while also reaching into some new territory with gospel and soul. Today, they released their gospel-tinged track "Passed Around," premiered on Relix.
Listen to "Passed Around" below:
"To me, 'Passed Around' is one the most exciting tracks on the album because of its gospel sound. That genre is new musical territory for me," Crimmins told Relix. "All the lyrics were written first so I had to tailor the music to fit the lyrics and I was initially having a hard time with that. Although it's not a religious song, the words were so introspective and existential that I eventually gravitated toward a gospel feel. Once I did that, everything fell into place."
Blair Crimmins and The Hookers combine a unique blend of 1920's Dixieland jazz, ragtime, swing, gypsy guitar, stride piano, and a New Orleans style horn section that keeps the joint jumping while Crimmins sings in a lyrical style both humorous and sincere. It's a sound that is at once modern and deeply rooted in the past, yet influenced by Crimmins' time as guitarist/frontman for alternative rockers Bishop Don. A multi-instrumentalist and a music academic, Crimmins has claimed in jest to be "possessed by a ghost who makes me play ragtime music."
With the premiere of the lead single "Top of the Class", The Boot raved "Fusing jazz, Dixieland and the blues, Crimmins and the Hookers are known for old-school tunes with a heavy sprinkling of snark." Watch the video for the single HERE, debuted by Glide Magazine. The title track "You Gotta Sell Something" is also available now which first debuted on Southern Living.
A growing force in the Southeast US since their inception in 2009, Crimmins and his 7-piece band have played hundreds of shows all over the country and opened for artists such as The Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Mumford and Sons. They've released three albums as well as written the musical score for the independent film Old Man Cabbage. Crimmins was the critics pick for Best Songwriter of 2013 by Creative Loafing who raved "If he caters to any genre, it's one that's entirely his own, and that's something a lot of guys with pens and guitars either don't know how to do, or don't have the guts to do." His debut 2010 release The Musical Stylings Of became a college radio sensation on WRAS Atlanta making him the most requested band on the air. His last album Sing-a-Longs went to #21 on the EuroAmerican radio chart and earned him a nomination at The Georgia
Music Awards for Best Jazz Artist.
Track List:
01) You Gotta Sell Something
02) Beautiful Thang
03) Top of the Class
04) I'm Gone
05) Hot Damn!
06) Wandering Joe
07) In The Neighborhood
08) You're a Pain
09) Passed Around
10) Gypsy Lullaby
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