Hootie & The Blowfish gear up for new album, summer tour

Hootie & The Blowfish tackle a U.S. tour this summer, in the midst of which they'll issue a new studio set.

The tour kicks off in mid-July, and dates so far stretch into September. The group will warm up with a pair of May festival performances. Details are shown below.

One day before playing an Aug. 10 show in its home state of South Carolina, the band drops its fifth studio album. Titled "Looking for Lucky," the set will surface on the band's new indie label, Sneaky Long Records, an imprint of Vanguard Records, with whom the band recently signed after parting with Atlantic.

The group recorded "Looking for Lucky" in Nashville with longtime producer Don Gehman. Guests on the 10-track set include Sam Bush, Matraca Berg and new Grass Revival's John Cowan.

Hootie and the Blowfish's 1994 debut, "Cracked Rear View," remains their most successful release to date. The album--which features the hit singles "Hold My Hand," "Let Her Cry" and "Only Wanna Be with You"--is multi-platinum certified for shipping 16 million copies in the U.S.