BLUE ROSE marks The Mother Hips’ remarkable endurance with a yearlong celebration on vinyl!

Starting in January 2021, Blue Rose will release a limited edition vinyl from The Mother Hips’ catalog each month starting with the band’s legendary and critically acclaimed debut, Back To The Grotto. This will be the first time Back To The Grotto has ever been pressed to vinyl. Blue Rose will follow every month with an exciting new addition from the band’s catalog, which includes several other titles from their catalog that have never been pressed to vinyl. The momentum culminates with a December 2021 release of a new studio record.

Fans can finally collect The Mother Hips’ entire catalog on vinyl via the preorder here: https://bit.ly/TheMotherHips30years

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” The Mother Hips’ performances have become the stuff of legend. Rolling Stone calls them “divinely inspired.” The New Yorker praises how the band can “sing it sweet and play it dirty.”

The vinyl reissues come hot on the heels of Tim Bluhm’s successful Merle Haggard Tribute Album, Hag Heaven, recorded in Bluhm’s home studio in Marin County. While a portion of the proceeds of that album went to benefit the Blue Rose Foundation, which provides pre-school scholarships to children from economically disadvantaged families, ALL PROCEEDS from the upcoming releases will go DIRECTLY TO THE BLUE ROSE FOUNDATION. A sweet thing just got sweeter.

Founded in 2014, Blue Rose is “about artist development,” says Joe Poletto, the veteran media tech executive who founded the company. He proved that with The Mother Hips, who signed with Blue Rose in 2017 when lead singer Bluhm was still recovering from a near-fatal accident. Since then, Blue Rose and The Mother Hips have released new music and revitalized their back catalog.

Says Bluhm, “I was fortunate enough to start working with Joe Poletto at Blue Rose about four years ago. He’s got such a good ear for picking songs and he has encouraged me and empowered me to record and release as many records as I possibly could. It’s been great to have that support and faith. When you feel like you’re believed in, it’s amazing what you can do.”

Says Loiacono, “There has been lots of hard work and many ups and downs as a band but it's what we love to do and what we have to do. Joe Poletto’s belief in our music has provided a great deal of inspiration over the last few years. This concept of releasing all of our records to vinyl to celebrate our 30th anniversary is a perfect example of his ingenuity and willingness to make visions happen. I listened to the test pressing of Back To The Grotto and it sounded incredible. I actually got a little emotional hearing it on wax for the first time.”

With Blue Rose, The Mother Hips are thriving.

Today, Mother Hips co-founder Greg Loiacono is premiering "Even Though I Lost," a new song from his August 12 Blue Rose album, Giving It All Away. Recorded at Dave Schools’ (Widespread Panic) California studio, Spacecamp and produced by Scott Hirsch (Hiss Golden Messenger, William Tyler), "Even Though I Lost" will be released on streaming services this Friday, July 22 and can be heard now at Americana Highways HERE. Loiacono shares the inspiration behind the song:

"This track was the last one cut for the new record. We were just about to start breaking down the equipment and as I walked by the electric piano I remembered a little riff and sat down to play it. Michael Urbano was at the drum set and joined in. Slowly, the whole band played along and we started recording. It was an impromptu moment that led to some really fun and energetic takes. The only lyric I had at that point was the chorus line, so I was free associating through the verses. But what came up and what I pieced together were these vignettes that kind of celebrate losses and mistakes. Those moments, no matter how messed up they might be when they are happening, are where the good stories come from.”

LISTEN TO "EVEN THOUGH I LOST HERE + PRE-SAVE HERE
PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE

Loiacono had spent lockdown producing records for other artists and revisiting country and soul music of the ‘60s and ‘70s, and the songs and sounds on Giving It All Away capture that vibe perfectly. He credits Hirsch for pushing him beyond his comfort zone as an artist, forcing him to embrace his falsetto singing voice and write with a clarity and directness he was unaccustomed to.

Working with Hirsch as producer and backed by an all-star band that included drummer Michael Urbano (Sheryl Crow, John Hiatt), organist Danny Eisenberg (Counting Crows, Jonathan Richman), and Schools on bass, Loiacono cut the bulk of the album live on the floor at Schools’ Spacecamp studio in Occidental, California, capturing most tunes in just a few takes each. Though Loiacono would later add vocals at his home studio and solicit remote contributions from horn players and backup singers including the legendary Vicki Randle (Aretha Franklin, Mavis Staples), it’s the energy and the feel of those raw Occidental sessions that lays the groundwork for the album’s amiable atmosphere.

“Recording live was essential because the rhythm section is the centerpiece of these songs,” explains Loiacono. “We knew we had to keep everything feeling groovy and deep in the pocket at all times, even on the slowest songs."

That emphasis on groove is undeniable on Giving It All Away, which sounds straight out of the late ’60s or early ’70s with wide-open drums, buoyant bass lines, and lush organ pads underpinning Loiacono’s gently aching meditations on love, loss, and everything in between. The intoxicating “Can’t Forget” wears its broken heart on its sleeve as a badge of honor, while the doo wop-tinged “Mr. G” grapples with the burning questions that linger long after a relationship has ended. The breezy title track takes solace in the revelation that you can never share your heart too freely. “We’re only living when we’re giving it all away,” Loiacono sings. “You can’t take it with you when you go.

 “I remember riding around in the back of my mom’s Chrysler as a kid and she’d be playing this Sade song called ‘Hang On To Your Love,’” says Loiacono. “I always envisioned ‘Giving It All Away’ as a response to that tune. The idea here is that you shouldn’t hang on to your love! You should give it away while you can. Tell the people you care about how important they are to you because life is fragile and tomorrow is never guaranteed. Even if you risk getting hurt by opening yourself up in that way, it’s worth it, because someday you won’t be around to give that love anymore.”

Loiacono’s artful cover choices help reinforce that notion throughout the record, as well. The soulful “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” (originally by Barbara Lynn, though later performed by Freddy Fender) refuses to grow jaded in the face of rejection, while an R&B reinterpretation of The Mother Hips’ “Del Mar Station” transforms bitterness into determination, and the inspired take on Genesis’s “That’s All,” which makes peace with love’s fickle nature.

And in the end, that’s what Giving It All Away is all about. Deep connection requires deep vulnerability, and growth is rarely comfortable. When it comes to love, though, the risks are always worth the reward.

TRACKLISTING
Giving it All Away
Can't Forget
Mister G
What Can I Say
Even Though I Lost
That's All
Love is The Way
Del Mar Station
And Not Cry
You'll Lose a Good thing

TOUR DATES (full band shows):
August 12th- The Sweetwater, Mill Valley, CA
August 13th- Harlow’s Nightclub, Sacramento, CA
August 19th- Michael’s on Main ,Soquel, CA
August 20th- Chico Women’s Club, Chico, CA

Today, The Mother Hips are releasing the title track from their upcoming album When We Disappear, their compelling new studio album set for release January 27, 2023 on Blue Rose. Based in Northern California, the Hips headed to New Mexico, spending time at Ghost Ranch before settling in at Jono Manson's Kitchen Sink studio in Sante Fe in late 2021 for the sessions. Self-produced, When We Disappear features nine new tracks co-written by co-founders Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono — collection of lit-psych rock songs Inspired by psychology and literature — as well as a raw, garagey cover of Buffy St. Marie’s 1964 addiction song “Codine.”

STREAM/PURCHASE THE SONG "WHEN WE DISAPPEAR" HERE
PRE-SAVE/PRE-ORDER THE ALBUM HERE

"Greg sent me a rough demo of this song and I thought it was promising," says Bluhm of "When We Disappear." "What he was singing was place-holder gibberish, or sounds mixed with some actual lyrics, including what would become the title. I went through it and matched words to his sounds and then tweaked the words to tell a kind of impressionistic history of our adventures together. In this way I believe both Greg’s and my own subconscious worlds revealed themselves. The music is simple and loose, helping with the devil-may-care attitude of the singing.”

Hailed by the San Francisco Chronicle as “one of the Bay Area’s most beloved live outfits,” The Mother Hips' headline and festival performances have became the stuff of legend, finding them sharing stages with everyone from Johnny Cash and Wilco to Lucinda Williams and The Black Crowes. Rolling Stone called the band “divinely inspired,” while Pitchfork praised their “rootsy mix of 70’s rock and power pop,” and The New Yorker lauded their ability to “sing it sweet and play it dirty.”

The Hips' 28th annual holiday shows (“Hipsmas”) will take place over three days in December at San Francisco’s venerable Great American Music Hall. With a new booking agency on board — Crossover Touring — the band looks forward to a busy touring schedule in support of this release (see tour dates below).

TRACKLISTING
1. When We Disappear
2. Codine
3. She Stepped Away
4. Iffy Jackpot
5. Almost To Idaho
6. Leaving The Valley.
7. Lost Out The Window.
8. Spirit Of 98
9. Room Four
10. Stories Unborn

THE MOTHER HIPS on tour:
Sat, OCT 22    Grass Valley, CA - Hangtown Music Festival
Sun, OCT 23    Grass Valley, CA - Hangtown Music Festival
Fri, OCT 28    Sebastopol, CA - Hopmonk Tavern
Sat, OCT 29    Menlo Park, CA - The Guild Theatre
Fri, NOV 4    Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Sat, NOV 5    Portland, OR - Mississippi Studios
Sat, NOV 26    Santa Cruz, CA - Moe's Alley
Thu, DEC 1    San Luis Obispo, CA - SLO Brew
Fri, DEC 2    Santa Barbara, CA - Soho Restaurant & Music Club
Sat, DEC 3    Pioneertown, CA - Pappy & Harriet's
Fri, DEC 9    Springdale, UT - Bit & Spur Restaurant & Saloon
Sat, DEC 10    Salt Lake City, UT - The Commonwealth Room
Fri, DEC 16    San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
Sat, DEC 17    San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
Sun, DEC 18    San Francisco, CA - Great American Music Hall
Fri, DEC 30   Sacramento, CA - Harlow’s Night Club
Sat, DEC 31   Sacramento, CA - Harlow’s Night Club
Thurs-Sat, JAN 11-14  Tropic of Cancer Music and Arts Festival - Todos Santos, BCS, Mexico