In planning their fourth Atlantic release, Hootie & the Blowfish opened the vaults of their recorded archive this year, uncovering an extensive collection of live and studio cover songs. In cooperation with their active Internet fan base, the band has now assembled a 15-track rarities collection, Scattered, Smothered, And Covered.
The odds 'nΓÇÖ sods album is the result of a unique online campaign, one in which the bandΓÇÖs fans participated in shaping the setΓÇÖs ultimate content. The South Carolina-based quartetΓÇöMark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker, and Jim SonefeldΓÇölined up their 10 favorites from the pool of available tracks before offering fans the opportunity to select five more from a remaining list of eight.
"The reason we wanted to release this album in the first place is because of the fans, seeing as we canΓÇÖt be sure when the next Hootie studio album will come out," explains Sonefeld. "So getting those folks involved seemed to make perfect sense. At the same time, the band was thinking about all the negativity that has surrounded the issue of music and the Internet over the past year. We just figured, Wow, we can do something here that makes good use of the Internet and does it in a truly positive way. Everything just took off from there."
Hootie & the Blowfish have always enjoyed performing songs by their favorite artists, such as R.E.M., Bill Withers, and Austin, Texas, cult heroes, the ReiversΓÇöboth on stage and in the studio. While many of these cover versions have been available as overseas B-sides, soundtrack cuts, or bonus tracks, none of these recordings has previously been included on a domestically released Hootie album.
"IΓÇÖve never been a huge fan of cover albums, but IΓÇÖve also never seen a cover album that contained mostly obscurities," says Sonefeld. "We did these songs because we love playing them, but we love to share them as well. As it turned out, two of the songs I really wanted on the album didnΓÇÖt make itΓÇöso now I really feel like we gave something to the fans. Still, itΓÇÖs a refreshing and interesting way to put an album together."
Beginning in August, Hootie fans age 21 and over started registering their song choices at www.budweiser.com (devotees under the legal drinking age were routed to an Atlantic-hosted site where they could cast their ballots). Audio clips of the eight Hootie cover songs were made available to help voters narrow down their selections. In addition to picking five songs for inclusion on Scattered, Smothered, And Covered, fans also determined the albumΓÇÖs artwork by selecting one of three cover designs.
"Listening to all the songs we had to choose from really took me back and put this whole ride in perspective," says Sonefeld. "We tend to forget the reason we all got here, which was a recording session in Los Angeles in the spring of 1994. To go back and hear outtakes from that session made me feel kind of goosebumpy. It really made me proud of all the work weΓÇÖve done over the years."
