On Friday, 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."
| This band is the best in the land…superior songwriting infused with wit, humor, and streetwise insights, traditional and adventurous grooves, impeccable musicianship, creative arrangements, harmonica tutorials and savvy production…funky and original…always fresh and vital.” —Blues Music Magazine “Rick Estrin & The Nightcats are a formidable force. They sound better than ever [playing] stellar rockabilly, jazz, blues and rock, often in the same song, creating a unique, time-tested sound rooted in the past, bolstered by harpist/vocalist Estrin’s time-warping original compositions.” —No Depression “Estrin defines his own brand of hip. Original blues and vintage rock-style tunes also harbor his superb harmonica work. Estrin emotes with just the right mix of kitsch and sincerity. The current litter of ‘Cats, including guitarist Kid Andersen, reigns as the best band anywhere.” —DownBeat “Rick Estrin & The Nightcats are America’s greatest musical showmen…foot-stomping, wise-cracking contemporary songs, a combination of rockabilly, jazz, blues, rock, and big band swing. Estrin is a world class musician…the most colorful and entertaining showman around.” —Forbes |
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.”
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