Hipshakers & Heartbreakers
The Delta Generators are excited to release their fourth studio album “Hipshakers & Heartbreakers”, a collection of ten songs that range from Roots Rock to Blues, Soul to Americana. This time around the Delta Generators recorded at Woolly Mammoth studio in Waltham MA. David Minehan (guitar player for The Replacements and the Neighborhoods) recorded the album. This album was mixed by multi Grammy Award winner Vance Powell (Jack White, Buddy Guy, Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, North Mississippi Allstars, Beck, etc.) at Sputnik Sound in Nashville, TN and mastered by multi Grammy Award winner Richard Dodd (Tom Petty, Keb Mo’, Dixie Chicks). Fans helped us to fund the album through PledgeMusic.com.
This album is special to the band because nine months before this album was recorded, Rick O’Neal (cofounding member and bass player) had a major (idiopathic) stroke at age 41. His stroke was so serious that after his five-hour surgery to repair his artery and remove blood clots from his brain, he could not talk and his right arm and leg did not work. To continue performing, Rick had to relearn how to play bass in a different way. For now, Rick actually has to play almost exclusively with his left hand (fretting hand). He has inspired many people who come see the Delta Generators play live. His message to anyone who asks is “Don’t give up” and Rick has not given up his dream of being a recording and live/performing artist. He has been a huge inspiration to us all.
In the last couple of years, the Delta Generators have shared the stage with such acts as Robert Cray, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Three Dog Night, Jimmie Vaughn, The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Johnny Winter, Walter Trout, Popa Chubby, Bonerama, Candye Kane, Michael Burks, John Lee Hooker Jr. and Sonny Landreth, among many others. Notable musicians have joined the Delta Generators on stage, including Brad Whitford of Aerosmith.
The Delta Generators have accomplished a lot since forming in 2008. They won the Boston Blues Society’s Blues challenge in 2008, which earned them a spot in the International Blues Challenge held in Memphis in 2009. The band finished as a Top 10 Finalist out of over a hundred bands. The Delta Generators also won an Independent Music Award for Best Blues Album category for their debut album, Devil in the Rhythm, in 2009 . In 2009 they won Best Blues Band in Worcester Magazine and were nominated for Best R&B Act in the Boston Phoenix in 2010. The DG’s 2nd album Hard River to Row was selected by the Blues Foundation as a Top 5 Finalist (out of entries worldwide) in the Best Self Produced CD competition at the International Blues Challenge in 2011. This album also placed nationally at # 8 on the JamBand Radio Chart, # 17 on the Living Blues Radio Chart and #25 in the Roots Music Report. The DG’s were nominated for Best Blues Act 2011 by The Boston Music Awards, and Best Blues Band 2013 by Worcester Magazine Music Awards. In 2016 the band is nominated for a New England Music Award
