Check Out the Last SCAA Concert of the Year: Blair Crimmins and the Hookers

The piano entices, the horns captivate, and the raspy, soulful vocals enchant. The music is an automatic feet-tapping escapade that will have the audience moving to the beats of old-time jazz. There is nothing quite as indulging as songs that make you revive the speakeasy days with the remarkable music that came out of these establishments.  Prepare to have an unforgettable night of New Orleans style original jazz performed by Blair Crimmins and the Hookers this Saturday at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre as they take you through a journey like no other.

For Atlanta singer/songwriter Blair Crimmins, it is all about 1920’s jazz.  Crimmins has played in different genres with several bands but it was not until he began learning about the blues and matured as a musician that he found himself face to face with what would soon take him on an entirely different journey.

“I went to school for jazz,” Crimmins says.  “Nobody in my academia told me about this kind of jazz.  It was always focused on Miles Davis and John Coltrane.  There was never a professor who pushed the early stuff on me.”

According to Crimmins, once he found his niche and decided to go on a different track, he pretty much threw out all his previous work and started over again.

“It kind of came to me,” Crimmins says of finding his place in jazz.  “I wasn’t searching for the next cool thing to do.  I’ve played a variety of music and styles, but once I started writing this music I knew that this was something I would never get tired of.  It felt natural and I was good at it.”

Crimmins says his ‘Hookers’ are his versatile band members who are great and can adapt to whatever situation they are in. Crimmins was talking with a couple of friends one day on how he wanted to start his own group.  He began commenting on the perils of being in a band and decided what he wanted was good musicians that he could simply pay for what they do best and not have to worry about any consequences in the future.  After coming to this conclusion, the idea of the name "hookers" came to play.

Crimmins booked his first gig January 2009.  With only a few songs under his belt and two months before the show, he knew he needed to write more songs.  He managed to pull it together.  With solely the drums, bass, keys, and his vocals, he was prepared for the challenge which would be the reaction of the audience.

“People were used to me playing electric guitar in a rock band, so it was out of the blue for people who came out,” Crimmins says.  “Some were receptive and others were not.”

Despite the sudden surprise for his fellow supporters, Crimmins kept moving forward, introducing horns soon after and going from there.  He started was the playing his music as it is now in 2010.

Crimmins’ full-time job is music.  He signed himself, therefore he does the managing and booking.  He writes all the lyrics and musical arrangements for his songs and says he is always planning three months ahead.  As of now, he is in the middle of working on a 15-minute narrative film/music video with local director Raymond Carr for his song “Old Man Cabbage” which Crimmins says is “an epic undertaking.”

“We’re going to use the instruments to tell the narrative of the story,” Crimmins says.  “It’s pretty amazing.  We’re going to score the entire film and perform the score live when the film debuts.”

As for their upcoming show in Mableton, he is excited and looking forward to it.

“I feel that sometimes people don’t really know what they’re getting into,” he says.  “That’s a good thing because I think they will be surprised.  I am expecting them to get up and move a little bit.  Who knows, I might come dance on their table so they might need to move the pasta salad before I start stepping around.”

As for children, Crimmins says they love his music.

“All the time people are telling me, ‘I was driving down the road with my kid in the back, taking them to school and they loved it,’” Crimmins says.

According to Crimmins, playing his music makes him feel like a kid again and that is why he loves it; he doesn’t have to take himself all that serious. 

“It’s very animated,” he says of his music.  “I mean, you listen to one of the songs on the record and there’s a bunch of Muppets singing in the background, so I can understand why kids enjoy it.”

Crimmins’ bright blue eyes seem to glisten even more than they already do and his smile broadens as he begins to make the wah-wah effects using his mouth and hand. It is the effect created by the horn instruments.  This is what he means by the Muppets playing in the background.

Crimmins is planning on recording his second full length, third recording project at the end of the year.  He has been writing more tunes and has a pretty good idea what the album will be about.  He says that it is hard to find people to connect with musically, but that he is fortunate to be in a great place traveling every weekend with his music.

“You can’t do it all,” Crimmins says.  “You’re a musician but you have to know where your place is, and when you find it, it’s a very good place for an artist to be.”

Come out and celebrate with Blair Crimmins and the Hookers this Saturday, Oct. 15, at the Mable House Barnes Amphitheatre.  Doors open at 7 p.m. show starts at 8 p.m.  Free general admission, or reserve a table for $50.