Album Notes

Blair Crimmins & The Hookers is an unusual product in today's music scene. It's one of the few albums that doesn't quite fit into any particular genre. The very first note immediately sends the listener back to a 1920s Vaudeville theatre, where Blair Crimmins intoxicates an audience with his smooth voice and The Hookers support him with flawlessly appropriate musical accompaniment.

The lyrics are narrative and witty, intelligent and entertaining, and Crimmins' energy is so engaging that it's easy to overlook the outlier quality of this album. You'll find yourself wanting more tawdry jazz just like it. Crimmins' accompanies himself on a wide range of instruments: piano, guitar, tenor banjo, ukulele, accordion, organ, vibraphone, trash, and percussion. The Hookers are a band of ten musicians who supply Crimmins with upright bass, tuba, soprano saxophone, clarinet, and lap steel - an unlikely combination of instruments, but a harmoniously solid one nonetheless.

Together this coterie transports their listeners back into a world in which men still wear bowties and golf caps while performing, flapper girls sparkle while dancing to counter the sinister tones of the music, and the audience is always willing to get up and dance.