Welcome to My Music Mondays. I haven’t done one of these in a while but the basic premise is that each week I will be delving into my music collection and looking at a new artist going somewhat randomly currently but eventually from A to Z. I’ll examine why I first started listening to them, my favorite album and my top 10 songs for the artist. As my music collection is pretty extensive and I have a lot of one offs, I have set a qualification to be featured here. That is that I have to have at least two albums of the artist’s music before they can be considered. This week I look at Hootie & The Blowfish.

It may come as a big surprise to those of you who have come to know my music tastes as 70s / 80s / 90s hard rock but one of my favorite bands is the Charleston based Hootie & The Blowfish. Like many people in 1994 I was swept up by Hootie & The Blowfish’s smash hit debut “Cracked Rear View”. By the time their sophomore album “Fairweather Johnson” was released many fans had moved onto other bands and by 1998s “Music Chairs” was released Hootie fans were few and far between. However Hootie continued to tour and release new music over the last ten years for those that stuck with them.

In mid 2008 the band took a break while lead singer / songwriter Darius Rucker embarked on a country career but everyone has promised that Hootie is not dead and will get back together in a few years to produce some new music and bring their music out on the road. Having seen them twice live, I can’t wait until they get back on the road.

Favorite Album: Cracked Rear View

Cracked Rear View is still one of the best debut albums ever produced. It is one of the few albums that I will listen to from top to bottom on a regular basis and holds three of my all time favorite songs, including one song whose video featured my favorite NFL player ever, Dan Marino.

10 Favorite Songs

10. Old Man & Me
9. I Will Wait
8. Innocence
7. Time
6. Space
5. Get Out of My Mind
4. One Love
3. Hold My Hand
2. Let Her Cry
1. Only Wanna Be With You