FORMER SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS LEADER TOM MAXWELL DEBUTS "BLOW WOLF" FROM FORTHCOMING ALBUM

FORMER SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS LEADER TOM MAXWELL

DEBUTS "BLOW WOLF" FROM FORTHCOMING ALBUM

“Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag” Album Out On August 26, 2014

“Hell: My Life In The Squirrel Nut Zippers” Out August 26, 2014 On Oyster Print Press

Listen To "Blow Wolf" via The AV Club:

http://www.avclub.com/article/hear-jumping-new-song-tom-maxwell-squirrel-nut-zip-207009?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=SocialMarketing&utm_campaign=Default:1:Default

July 18, 2014 - After an almost ten year hiatus from recording, the former lead singer of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Tom Maxwell returns with a new album, a new band Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag and a new book.

As a member of the Squirrel Nut Zippers between 1994 and 1999, Maxwell became a critic’s darling and his song “Hell” became a smash hit at radio.  Tom’s songs propelled the Squirrel Nut Zippers to multi-platinum status, selling over 3 million albums.

His new self-titled album, Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag, was recorded with long-time Zippers producer Mike Napolitano and features guest vocals by Ani DiFranco.  The Minor Drag is an extraordinary collection of musicians, featuring members of Lost In The Trees and The Old Ceremony. They display remarkable flexibility and nuance, and boast instrumentation not often found: drums, tuba, vibraphone, piano and guitar. 

Along with the new album, a memoir written by Maxwell about the Squirrel Nut Zippers’ strange rise, Hell, will be published by Oyster Point Press (formerly Pressque Publishing) on August 26^th, simultaneous with the release of this album. 

You can read more about the album and book via USA Today here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2014/07/07/tom-maxwell-ani-difranco-roll-with-it-premiere/12284783/

Both are available for pre-sale now on Tom Maxwell’s website at: www.tommaxwell.com  

Tom Maxwell & The Minor Drag have just announced an album release show at the Mercury Lounge in New York City on August 25th.  Tickets go on sale today at Noon EST : http://www.mercuryloungenyc.com/event/633211-tom-maxwell-minor-drag-new-york

Wang Dang Doodle - Tom Maxwell, Wave Milor, Pete Ragusa & Wolf Crescenze

Pete Ragusa, musician, songwriter, and producer, recently left his longtime gig with D.C.-area blues and rock legends The Nighthawks. Pete joined the band in 1974, two years after harmonica player and lead singer Mark Wenner formed the band. “After thirty-five years of putting my body and soul into The Nighthawks, it’s time to take the opportunity to move on,” says Ragusa, the band’s longtime drummer, “and work on the projects and make the records I’ve always wanted to make but haven’t had time to do.” Ragusa adds that he looks forward to such new endeavors as producing other artists as well as continuing to perform as a sideman in the Washington, D.C. area “with friends I’ve always admired as musicians.”

Among his favorite experiences as a Nighthawk, Pete emphasizes his gratitude for the opportunities “to sit in Muddy Waters’s living room as well as to play with him,” and “to share the stage with such legends as B.B. King, Hubert Sumlin, Pinetop Perkins, and Buddy Guy,” along with many others including Gregg Allman.

According to Washington Post music critic Richard Harrington, "A bar owner’s dream, the Hawks have filled a thousand and one nightspots with raucous boogie that drives people to drink.” Some years The Nighthawks played 300 nights a year, and during Pete’s tenure he played on more than 20 albums.

Pete Ragusa, who calls himself a “groove drummer,” also co-wrote and performed several Nighthawks songs featured on the award-winning HBO TV series “The Wire.” Now he’s a guest artists with McMurdo Station.
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