A lot happened to
Hootie & the Blowfish
between 2005's
Looking for Lucky
and 2019, but most of it can be boiled down to this:
Darius Rucker
became a country star in 2008. He had his first Country Airplay that year with "Don't Think I Don't Think About It," then five years later, he had a crossover smash with a cover of
Old Crow Medicine Show
's "Wagon Wheel," thereby cementing his commercial viability outside of the confines of
. The separation wasn't acrimonious. The group got together occasionally to play charity shows or to bid adieu to
David Letterman
, but they didn't officially reunite until their debut album,
Cracked Rear View
, reached its 25th anniversary in 2019. To celebrate, they launched a tour and recorded a brand-new album called
Imperfect Circle
. Working with producers
Jeff Trott
and
Frank Rogers
(the latter penned and helmed some early solo hits for
Rucker
),
Hootie
manage to strike a nice blend between the group's signature college rock singalongs and
's slick, cheerful solo work. The surface of
is every bit as slick as a big-budget project coming out of the Music City -- not for nothing is this released on
Capitol Nashville
-- but the band doesn't take any left turns into honky tonks, not even when they record "Hold On," a song co-written by
Chris Stapleton
. Instead, they ease into the sunny slipstream that lies between country and roots rock, relying on happy and comfortable hooks that make the 13 songs on
feel instantly familiar. Such coziness was latent on
and turned into
's calling card as he carved out a career in Nashville, so it suits the middle-aged
quite well; they prefer to laugh about the good old days instead of trying to re-live them. This friendliness lends itself to a collection of songs that are resolutely sturdy, designed to sound more charming over time, and the inherent warmth of
is reason enough to give the tunes a chance to grow. After all, it offers a mighty good time: it's a reunion that conjures the spirit of the past without succumbing to nostalgia. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine