Nine months after delighting fans with the news of their first album in nearly fifteen years, Hootie & the Blowfish share the first taste of what’s to come with Imperfect Circle’s November 1 release via “Rollin’,” now available at all digital retailers and streaming platforms.
Written by Hootie & the Blowfish together with Adam Doleac, Zach Kale and John King, the track premiered exclusively with Billboard yesterday, September 5th.
“When we started getting that one going I was like, ‘Man, we’re a Southern rock band when we play this,’” frontman Darius Rucker shared. “I loved it. It’s like us trying to play a Black Crowes or Allman Brothers cover. I love the feel of that ’cause we don’t do that a lot.”
Billboard also broke the news of Imperfect Circle’s track listing, with highlights including a Lucie Silvas feature on “Wildfire Love,” which features Ed Sheeran as a co-writer, as well as Chris Stapleton’s penmanship on the only outside cut, “Hold On,” and Sheryl Crow on backing vocals throughout the album.
“I think it’s cool that Imperfect Circle kind of has the same ring to it as Cracked Rear View where you’re looking back and you realize nobody’s journey is perfect, but here we are,” says guitarist Mark Bryan of the album’s name. “We’ve been playing together for thirty-something years and for us to be here and to be doing this tour, to be making a record, it just seems like Imperfect Circle was perfect,” adds Rucker.
Set for release November 1st on Universal Music Group’s Capitol Nashville imprint, the album is now available for pre-order HERE.
Imperfect Circle Track Listing:
1. New Year’s Day (Hootie & the Blowfish, Tofer Brown, Eric Paslay and Jeff Trott)
2. Miss California* (Hootie & the Blowfish, Andrew DeRoberts and David Ryan Harris)
3. Wildfire Love (Featuring Lucie Silvas) (Hootie & the Blowfish, Joel Crouse, Kyle Rife and Ed Sheeran)
4. Hold On* (Jim Beavers and Chris Stapleton)
5. Turn It Up (Hootie & the Blowfish and Jeff Trott)
6. Not Tonight (Hootie & the Blowfish, Andrew DeRoberts and David Ryan Harris)
7. We Are One (Hootie & the Blowfish)
8. Everybody But You* (Hootie & the Blowfish and Frank Rogers)
9. Lonely On A Saturday Night (Hootie & the Blowfish, Eric Paslay and Jeff Trott)
10. Why (Hootie & the Blowfish, Chris August and James Slater)
11. Rollin’ (Hootie & the Blowfish, Adam Doleac, Zach Kale and John King)
12. Half A Day Ahead (Hootie & the Blowfish)
13. Change (Hootie & the Blowfish)
Album Produced by Jeff Trott
*Produced by Frank Rogers
Remaining Group Therapy Tour Dates:
September 6 Pelham, Ala. | Oak Mountain Amphitheatre
September 7 Nashville, Tenn. | Bridgestone Arena
September 11 Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
September 12 Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
September 13 Columbia, S.C. | Colonial Life Arena
October 4 Dublin, Ireland | 3 Arena
October 6 Bristol, England | O2 Academy
October 7 Leeds, England | O2 Academy
October 9 Glasgow, Scotland | Barrowland
October 10 Glasgow, Scotland | Barrowland
October 12 London, England | Eventim Apollo
October 15 Manchester, England | O2 Apollo
October 16 Birmingham, England | O2 Academy
For more information, visit www.Hootie.com, and follow on Facebook @hootieandtheblowfish, Twitter @HootieTweets and Instagram @hootieofficial.
About Hootie & the Blowfish
With the rich, bluesy vocals of Darius Rucker and gleeful harmonies of guitarist Mark Bryan, bassist Dean Felber and drummer Jim “Soni” Sonefeld, Hootie & the Blowfish have sold over 25 million records worldwide to date after their infectious melodies hit the airwaves in 1994 with hits such as “Hold My Hand,” “Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You.”
The quartet met at the University of South Carolina where endless gigs at frat houses and local bars built a major local buzz. Their blend of pop, folk, blues, soul and rock made them hard to pigeonhole, but easily accessible to anyone who loved good music.
Atlantic Records, impressed by their regional draw, signed them and released Cracked Rear View in 1994. The album had been out for six months before the band played on the Late Show with David Letterman which sent sales skyrocketing, eventually landing at No. 1 on the Billboard chart the following spring. Cracked Rear View and the band went on to win two GRAMMY Awards, an MTV Video Music Award, a Billboard Music Award, and multiple People’s Choice Awards. Cracked Rear View went on to earn the band Billboard‘s Band of the Year Award in 1996 and the RIAA’s Diamond Award for sales in excess of 10 million units. Cracked Rear View remains among the Top 10 most-certified studios album in music business history.
The band remained a top draw nationwide and released five more albums for Atlantic: Fairweather Johnson, Musical Chairs, Scattered, Smothered & Covered, Hootie & The Blowfish and The Best of Hootie & The Blowfish, as well as Looking For Lucky on their own Sneaky Long Records and LIVE in Charleston, The Homegrown Concert Event DVD and CD. The band took a break from full-time touring in 2007, reuniting annually for a variety of philanthropic events while also pursuing solo projects. 2019 marked the band’s first full-time touring year in over a decade as they embarked on the Group Therapy Tour ahead of Imperfect Circle, their first album in nearly 15 years due out November 1 under a new record deal with Universal Music Group Nashville.
Audio / Mark Bryan of Hootie & the Blowfish talks about one of the differences from the band's previous albums and their new Imperfect Circle.
DownloadHootie & the Blowfish (different from previous albums) OC: …the songwriting. :23
“I think one thing you might notice different is there’s 15 years since our last record, or 14 years or whatever it’s been. And as humans we’ve grown to a place where our songwriting is going to come from a little bit different place, a little more experience, hopefully a little more wisdom, and I don’t know, a place that we couldn’t have written from 15, 20 years ago. So, that might be a difference that you’ll hear is just some maturity int he songwriting.”