Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – The Hits Keep Coming
Rick Estrin & The Nightcats – The Hits Keep Coming
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital
Label: Alligator Records
Release: 2024
Release date: May 10, 2024
May 10, 2024, Alligator Records will release ‘The Hits Keep Coming,’ the long-awaited new album from award-winning, modern blues legends Rick Estrin & The Nightcats
The Hits Keep Coming, the band’s sixth release, packs a powerful punch, with phenomenal musicianship and streetwise lyrics—both serious and humorous. Vocalist, harmonica master and songwriter Estrin, along with multi-instrumentalist/musical mastermind/producer Christoffer “Kid” Andersen, keyboardist/organ wizard/bassman Lorenzo Farrell and endlessly creative drummer Derrick “D’Mar” Martin, have created what Estrin calls, “the best music we’ve ever made together.
This band is killer. I’m enjoying this all more than ever,” says the man who’s been performing and recording professionally since the early 1970s. “It’s a blessing—there’s so much energy, so much collaboration. The band is just so good right now. And the live show is off the charts.”
The first song released from The Hits Keep Coming is an album highlight, The Circus Is Still In Town. The musically rambunctious, lyrically harrowing song premieres today on all major streaming services and also via a new video. According to Estrin, “This one’s special to me. It’s got a catchy hook, an infectious groove, and ironically, some grim subject matter.”
Produced by Andersen at his legendary Greaseland USA studio in San Jose, California, the album captures the band’s chemistry and magic in what is certainly among their strongest and most urgent releases so far.
‘The Hits Keep Coming’ is modern blues at its most potent, intense and fun in all the right places, as Rick Estrin & The Nightcats deliver twelve groove-heavy, hard-hitting songs, including ten written or co-written by Estrin and two surprising covers (one obscurity from Muddy Waters, one from Leonard Cohen that Estrin would have liked to have written). From the foot-stomping opener Somewhere Else, to the stark reality of the title track (with backing vocals by The Sons Of The Soul Revivers), ‘The Hits Keep Coming’ is a lyrical and musical tour-de-force.
In addition to Estrin’s celebrated songwriting and peerless blues harmonica playing, he and the band are among the most entertaining and colorful showmen around. Estrin’s signature streetwise vocals and hipster-cool look, Andersen’s eye-popping, off-the-cuff guitar pyrotechnics, Farrell’s mighty organ, piano and bass work and D’Mar’s dynamic, acrobatic drumming make every one of their live performances a must-see event.
Over the years, Estrin has won a total of seven Blues Music Awards, including awards for Song Of The Year, Traditional Male Blues Artist, Instrumentalist—Harmonica, and twice, the prestigious Band Of The Year (for Rick Estrin & The Nightcats). The band has performed at festivals and concert stages from San Francisco to Chicago to New York, and everywhere in between. They’ve toured extensively in almost every country in Europe, as well as in Australia, Turkey, Russia and South America.
“People don’t go out to see people who look like themselves,” says Estrin. “They want to see something special. I was schooled in this business to be a showman, and that’s what you get when you come to see us perform. We know how to put on a show. I feel sorry for anyone who has to follow us.”
The Chicago Sun-Times declares, “These are serious musicians having a hotter than hot good time. It’s tough to stay in your seat when Estrin and his musical cohorts get cooking.” As No Depression says, “This is a band that always delivers the goods.”
Website: https://rickestrin.com/
Tracks:
01. Somewhere Else
02. The Hits Keep Coming
03. The Circus Is Still In Town (The Monkey Song)
04. Everybody Knows
05. I Finally Hit The Bottom
06. Diamonds At Your Feet
07. 911
08. I Ain’t Worried About Nothin’
09. Learn To Lose
10. Sack O’ Kools
11. Time For Me To Go
12. Whatever Happened To Dobie Strange?
Rick Estrin: Vocals, Harmonica
Kid Andersen: Guitar, Bass on 3, 4, 7, 8 and 10, Tubular Bell on 2, ARP Soloist on 12
Lorenzo Farrell: Organ, Bass on 6, Wurlitzer on 7
Derrick “D’mar” Martin: Drums, Percussion
Jerry Jemmott: Bass on 1, 2, 5, 9, 11 and 12
Sons Of The Soul Revivers (James, Walter, and Dwayne Morgan): Background Vocals on 1, 2, 4 and 12
Quique Gomez: Maracas and Animal Noises on 3
Lisa Leuschner Andersen: Background Vocals on 12
Charlie Musselwhite, Marty Dodson, Bob Welsh, Boopsy Callinz: Voices on 12