The Nighthawks – Established 1972 (2022) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

The Nighthawks – Established 1972 (2022)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 47:55 minutes | 1,03 GB | Genre: Blues Rock
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © VizzTone

VizzTone is proud to announce the April 15, 2022 release of Established 1972 by The Nighthawks, an album that represents 50 years of Washington DC’s road warriors going strong.

On this landmark anniversary, founder, lead singer and harpmaster Mark Wenner is still at the helm, while drummer Mark Stutso, guitarist Dan Hovey and bassist Paul Pisciotta all share vocals and songwriting, making this lineup one of the strongest ever. Decades of gigs and countless rabid fans have earned them the name “The Best Bar Band In The World.” More than a bar band or blues band, as they’re frequently labeled, this is a band that played with Carl Perkins in addition to Muddy Waters.

In March 2020, with a brand-new recording to promote, The Nighthawks did something previously unthinkable: They stopped in the middle of a Florida tour and drove home. Like so many other people, the band members found themselves out of work as the coronavirus swept the country. Itching to play, The Nighthawks found a couple of spaces large enough to stay apart while woodshedding new material. Previously, the process had been a streamlined one: The band would rough out a dozen new tunes in an afternoon and perform them every night for a year or two before recording. But now there was time, tons of it. Weeks turned into months.

Produced by the Nighthawks and longtime compadre David Earl, they took advantage of the pandemic slowdown to hunker down in Earl’s Severn Sound Studios in Annapolis, Maryland and crank out fourteen new tracks in classic Nighthawks style.

Dan Hovey wrote a very relevant rocker, “You Seem Distant.” Mark Stutso followed with a full blast “Coming and Going.” Florida friend Colin Kenny, a.k.a. Raiford Starke, wrote the soulful “West Memphis” and the band stylistically took it to Memphis. Stutso came up with “Gas Station Chicken” and everyone contributed to bringing in the funk. Hovey added three more: “Houseband,” “Fuss and Fight,” and the acoustic delight “Driving.” In between are British pub rock monster Gariant Watkins’ “Nobody”; Jimmy Reed’s “Take it Easy,” featuring producer David Earl contributing the Eddie Taylor licks on guitar; Eddie Hinton’s version of Sam Cook’s “I’ll Come Running Back”; John Hammond’s version of Mose Allison’s “Ask Me Nice”; a wild version of the reggae classic “Johnny Too Bad”; an outtake rendition of Elvis Presley’s “Ain’t That Lovin’ You”; a Hillbilly interpretation of the Coasters’ “Run Red Run”; and half a dozen others that fell by the wayside. They’d play, record, rearrange, and re-record til they got them just right.

In the tradition they set forth on Rock and Roll, the band’s debut 1974 recording and mission statement, the material is not bound by genre other than the widest range of American Roots Music.

Tracklist:

1-01. The Nighthawks – Nobody (03:00)
1-02. The Nighthawks – You Seem Distant (04:15)
1-03. The Nighthawks – I’ll Come Running Back To You (04:11)
1-04. The Nighthawks – Coming And Going (02:30)
1-05. The Nighthawks – Take It Slow (03:14)
1-06. The Nighthawks – Johnny Too Bad (02:57)
1-07. The Nighthawks – Ask Me Nice (04:19)
1-08. The Nighthawks – West Memphis (03:35)
1-09. The Nighthawks – Ain’t That Lovin You (02:24)
1-10. The Nighthawks – Gas Station Chicken (03:56)
1-11. The Nighthawks – Houseband (03:41)
1-12. The Nighthawks – Fuss And Fight (03:33)
1-13. The Nighthawks – Run Red Run (03:27)
1-14. The Nighthawks – Driving (02:45)

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