Here’s another show that I was really excited came up on the schedule. It has been at least 13-15 years since we had Blair Crimmins and the Hookers on one of Dirty South TV’s live music television shows. They were really special and unique back then and they still are today! If you can imagine Ragtime Jazz mixed with blues and rock and roll and juke joint jumpin music-you will begin to picture just how special these cats are!
So, I get to Northside Tavern in between their first and second set. Somehow I managed to get a parking spot right out front and I get in as fast as I could get set up. Again, as with the current theme this week-the place was ABSOLUTELY PACKED! It took me a while to get a spot to get set up in just to take a photo-forget running video.
I cannot begin to explain how special this group and their music is. I literally don’t have the words. Unique and really special are severe understatements. But here’s a little about them:
Blair Crimmins began his current music career in Atlanta, Georgia, with a drive to bring Ragtime and 1920’s style Dixieland Jazz to new audiences. While playing small clubs around the Southeast he developed a sound that is at once modern while being very deeply rooted in the past. He has toured the U.S and Italy playing festivals and has opened for acts such as Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Old Crow Medicine show. A multiinstrumentalist on guitar, banjo and piano, Crimmins writes songs and arrangements for a classic New Orleans style horn section consisting of trumpet, clarinet and trombone. His debut release “The Musical Stylings Of” became a college radio sensation on WRAS in Atlanta, Georgia making him the most requested band on the air. In 2012 Crimmins showed his musical diversity by writing and recording the full score for the independent short film “Old Man Cabbage”. The following year, Crimmins was the critics pick for Best Song Writer of 2013 in Creative Loafing’s Best of ATL issue. His next album entitled Sing-a-longs! earned him a nomination at The Georgia Music Awards for Best Jazz Artist. After years of relentless touring all around the country and abroad, Blair Crimmins released his 4th album of original ragtime music You Gotta Sell Something (2017), as well as a children’s album All Aboard (2019) and a 5th full length record featuring swinging covers of his favorite artists ranging from Louis Armstrong to David Bowie entitled “Okay Boom!” in 2021.