Bloodkin at El Rocko Lounge

Bloodkin The 15 song double album, Black Market Tango, released on April 16, 2021 on Cosmo Sex School Records and is Daniel Hutchens and Eric Carter’s first album of new material for the influential Southern rockers in over a decade. Sadly, shortly after the release Daniel Hutchens passed away after suffering a stroke. David Barbe, owner and operator of Athens’ Chase Park Transduction Studios, said Bloodkin was one of the first bands to record at Chase Park when it opened and he added that during the past 24 years he had worked with Hutchens and Carter on six Bloodkin studio albums, a five-disc boxed set and two of Hutchens solo albums. Barbe referred to Hutchens as “a kind, generous soul who had love in his heart for everyone he encountered.” 

The story of Bloodkin began when 8 year olds Daniel Hutchens and Eric Carter met in West Virginia. Their friendship was initially built on their mutual love of baseball, comic books and rock n roll but by high school, they found themselves spending much of their time building the foundation of Bloodkin in Eric’s garage. The duo relocated to Athens, Georgia and over the course of their career has accumulated a catalog of more than five hundred original songs with gripping guitar riffs summoning hard grit blues and raw poetic lyrics that speak to individual passions and universal plight. Their masterful songwriting has influenced Widespread Panic, whose John Bell raved, “Bloodkin has been one of our greatest influences. Danny and Eric’s music has a consistent blend of poetry, intestinal fortitude, and song-craftsmanship that I envy” and Dave Schools has praised, “Their ability to render their emotions in words blows my mind on a daily basis.” Patterson Hood of the Drive-by Truckers and Jerry Joseph have also named the band as influential, Joseph even name checks them on a song on his most recent album.

In the decade since releasing their last album of new material, Baby, They Told Us We Would Rise Again, Bloodkin released a career-spanning box set and Daniel released a solo album. While Danny and Eric would work on a song here and there, sending ideas back and forth via different technologies, as well as play gigs with an occasional new song thrown in, recording a new Bloodkin album wasn’t discussed.

Then in late 2018 early 2019, a decade after their last album, Daniel and Eric started to talk about making another record. They got together to see what they had, Daniel with his notebooks and Eric with his stray pieces of music and lyrics, and sat for a few hours in Eric’s apartment, going through their ideas and playing their guitars. They realized they had something and that there was still plenty of chemistry to be found in their songwriting collaborations.

They reached out to David Barbe, who has been at the helm of many of their studio albums, and got started at Chase Park Transduction in Athens, GA in February 2019. Daniel and Eric were joined by band members, Aaron Phillips on drums, Jon Mills on Bass, and John Neff on guitar and pedal steel, as well as many special guests. They ended up with four sides and decided to release it as a double album with artwork created by the legendary Flournoy Holmes.

The 15-song Black Market Tango includes several tracks with the classic Bloodkin formula of Danny’s lyrics with Eric’s guitar progressions, but there are just as many that find the band stretching itself in new directions. 

The band continues to tour with the current lineup of Eric Carter, Betsy Franck, Tori Pater, Aaron Phillips, Michael “Spanky” McCluer and John Neff.  Recently the band has been inducted into the Athens Music Walk of Fame. 

Official Band Website - https://www.bloodkin.net/

See Bloodkin live at El Rocko Lounge May 2nd

117 Whitaker St. Savannah, GA

Ages 21+. Tix $20. Doors at 8 PM