Fairweather Johnson

Fairweather Johnson
Fairweather Johnson
Studio album by Hootie & the Blowfish
Released	April 23, 1996
Recorded	1995
Studio	The Site, San Rafael, California
Genre	Roots rock; heartland rock; alternative rock; jangle pop; folk rock;
Length	49:20
Label	Atlantic; 82886-2
Producer	Don Gehman
Hootie & the Blowfish chronology
Singles from Fairweather Johnson
	"Old Man & Me (When I Get to Heaven)"; Released: April 2, 1996; "Tucker's Town"; Released: June 25, 1996; "Sad Caper"; Released: 1996;

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[2]
Robert Christgau	^[5]
Entertainment Weekly	B^[3]
Los Angeles Times	^[4]
Rolling Stone	^[1]

Fairweather Johnson is the second studio album by American rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, released on April 23, 1996, through Atlantic Records. Three songs from the album were released as singles: "Old Man & Me", "Tucker's Town", and "Sad Caper". The album debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 in May 1996, while their debut, Cracked Rear View, was still in the charts. It has sold 2,361,000 copies in the US as of May 2012.^[6]

Despite its initial success, sales tapered off quickly, and the album earned mixed reviews; much of the criticism took aim at the album's dour, alt-rock inspired sound as opposed to the jangly radio-friendly style of Cracked Rear View. It was included in Pitchfork Media's 2010 list of "ten career-killing albums" of the 1990s.^[7] Stylus Magazine shared sentiments, including it in their "Non-Definitive Guide to the Follow-Up", saying "really, everyone saw this one coming a mile off. Who was really gonna care about another Hootie album?"^[8]

Track listing

All songs written by Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker and Jim "Soni" Sonefeld.

"Be the One" – 3:25
"Sad Caper" – 2:49
"Tucker's Town" – 3:45
"She Crawls Away" – 4:25
"So Strange" – 4:03
"Old Man & Me (When I Get to Heaven)" – 4:27
"Earth Stopped Cold at Dawn" – 3:27
"Fairweather Johnson" – 0:51
"Honeyscrew" – 3:36
"Let It Breathe" – 3:53
"Silly Little Pop Song" – 2:56
"Fool" – 3:05
"Tootie" – 3:04
"When I'm Lonely" – 5:34

Personnel

Hootie & the Blowfish

Darius Rucker – lead vocals, guitar, Dobro
Mark Bryan – guitar, backing vocals, mandolin, piano
Dean Felber – bass, backing vocals
Jim Sonefeld – drums, backing vocals, percussion, piano

Other musicians

Dean Dinning – harmony vocals (track 11)
Nanci Griffith – harmony vocals (tracks 5, 7)
Randy Guss – tambourine (track 4)
Lili Haydn – viola (tracks 7, 13)
Peter Holsapple – accordion (tracks 4, 12), Hammond organ (track 3), piano (track 5)
John Nau – Fender Rhodes (track 10), Hammond organ (tracks 1, 3, 4–6, 10, 12, 14), piano (track 2)
Cary Phillips – infant roar (track 4)
Glen Phillips – harmony vocals (tracks 4, 11)
Michael Severens – cello (tracks 7, 13)

Production

John Clark – photography
Don Gehman – engineering, mixing, production
Ethan Hill – photography
Phyllis Leibowitz – stylist
Benjamin Niles – art direction
Eddy Schreyer – mastering

Chart positions

Chart (1996)^[9]	Peak position
Australian Albums chart	12
Canadian Albums chart^[10]	6
Dutch Albums chart	37
German Albums chart	41
New Zealand Albums chart	6
Scottish Albums chart^[11]	9
Swedish Albums chart	36
Swiss Albums chart	37
UK Albums chart	9
US Billboard 200	1

Certifications


Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
New Zealand (RMNZ)^[12]	Gold	7,500^{^}
United Kingdom (BPI)^[13]	Gold	100,000^‡
United States (RIAA)^[14]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^{^}
^{^} Shipments figures based on certification alone. ^‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.