Hootie & The Blowfish Announce New Album And Tour On The ‘Today Show’

After a long hiatus, despite never formally breaking up, Hootie & The Blowfish are coming back with a brand new album and accompanying tour in 2019, something many fans of the popular ’90s rock band have been looking forward to for a decade.

Hootie & The Blowfish played their first show after forming at Columbia’s University of South Carolina in 1986. After playing the local bar circuit, a quiet release of their first self-released album, and several rejection letters from major music powerhouses — the band had a breakout album in 1994 with Cracked Rear View. The album was a success, and four singles from the album, “Hold My Hand,” “Only Want to Be With You,” “Time,” and “Let Her Cry” topped the charts and skyrocketed the group of college friends into platinum record success.

With a couple American Music Awards and Grammys under their belt, the band released their last album, Looking For Lucky, in 2005. They announced their hiatus as a band in 2008, and frontman Darius Rucker went on to enjoy success as a solo country artist. With six albums of his own, Rucker has topped the country charts and collected a slew of awards in his solo career.

In 2016 the band collaborated with Tampa’s Rock Brother’s Brewing and Cigar City Brewing to launch their own beer, one in a line of a handful of band-based brews put out by the local brewery. To celebrate the ale, “Hootie’s Homegrown Ale,” the guys reunited for a private show, hitting the stage for one night only in Florida, at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg. Tickets were will-call only, and available exclusively to fans of the band who purchased the beer, and won a contest for sharing their love of the band and the brew on social media.

The gang joined the Today Show this morning, jamming out to their smash hit “Let Her Cry.” They sat down for an interview with the morning show, gathered around a table at one of their old Columbia haunts. They told Today’s Craig Melvin that the band is, indeed, getting back together. Over jokes of how the band isn’t quite as young as they once were, they mused of how thrilled they are to be playing once again for the fans who have loved and supported them for so long.

“It’s gonna be a party. It’s gonna be a great time,” Rucker told Melvin of their new album and corresponding tour that will take place in 2019, as the State reported.

The Group Therapy Tour will kick off in May 2019 in Virginia Beach and run through August, ending in Hartford, Connecticut. Hootie & the Blowfish will be joined on the tour by another throwback band, the Barenaked Ladies. Pre-sale tickets are available now.