Keep Sharp

Sacramento, California’s musically fearless, wildly entertaining and award-winning Rick Estrin & The Nightcats return with another superb collection of blues and roots music full of sharp-witted songs and brilliant musicianship. Celebrated throughout the blues world, the band has twice won the coveted Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year, and Estrin has won BMAs for Song of the Year, Traditional Male Blues Artist and Instrumentalist – Harmonica. The Hits Keep Coming is modern blues at its most potent, with ten sparkling new originals ranging from from crisp, hooky retro-rock to intense, noir-ish blues, along with sublime interpretations of Muddy Water’s “Diamonds At Your Feet” and Leonard Cohen’s “Everybody Knows.” The songwriting is whip-smart throughout, and the band’s ensemble playing is infectious and jaw-dropping.

In 1998, Fastball scored a hit single with "The Way," which propelled its album All the Pain Money Can Buy to platinum sales. The resulting pressure proved too much for the Austin-based power pop trio, and they took a few years off before returning to the scene with this, their debut album for the respected Rykodisc label. The time off seems to have worked as a tonic; on Keep Your Wig On, Fastball's sound is tight, sharp, sometimes humorous, and always supremely well-crafted, despite the group's carefully cultivated garage sensibility.