Larger-than-life blues star Rick Estrin has piloted the wildly fun and musically fearless Rick Estrin & The Nightcats for the last decade, touring the world and proving night after night why they won 2018’s Blues Music Award for Band Of The Year. The limitless combined talents of blues harmonica virtuoso and sly, soulful singer Estrin, guitar mastermind Kid Andersen, keyboard wizard Lorenzo Farrell and endlessly creative drummer Derrick “D’Mar” Martin take Estrin’s inventive, original songs to new and unexpected places. On stage, the band’s ability to deliver an unpredictable, no-holds-barred show is unmatched.

Now, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats return with their fourth studio album, Contemporary. With the band kicking everything up a notch, Estrin and the Nightcats explore some different sounds, instrumentation and grooves, while maintaining the trademark Nightcats style. Produced by Andersen and Estrin and recorded at Andersen’s now-famous Greaseland Studio in San Jose, California, Contemporary delivers twelve surprising, wise-cracking, foot-stomping songs, including nine by Estrin (one co-written with Andersen), one each by Andersen and Farrell, and one obscure Bobo Jenkins cover. From the noir-ish romp I’m Running to the hilarious title track to the sardonic Resentment File (co-written with Estrin’s friend of over 50 years, Joe Louis Walker), Contemporary packs a modern blues punch. According to Estrin, “Recording at Greaseland, we all had so much fun and were so relaxed, the genius ideas just started pouring in from all sides. I really expect this record to blow some minds.”