Foghat Scores First No. 1 Album with ‘Sonic Mojo’

Foghat has achieved a career milestone with their latest album, Sonic Mojo. Following its November 10 release, Sonic Mojo debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top Blues Albums chart, marking the first time in the band’s 52-year history that they’ve hit No. 1 on a Billboard chart. The closest the English rock band has come to the top spot in the past is with Fool for the City, which was released in 1975 and reached No. 23 on the Billboard 200. It contains Foghat’s signature hit, “Slow Ride.”

Sonic Mojo has spawned three singles so far: “Drivin’ On,” “She’s a Little Bit of Everything,” and “I Don’t Appreciate You.” Many of the songs were co-written by the late Kim Simmonds, a former bandmate of Foghat founder Roger Earl. He and Simmonds were in Savoy Brown together before Earl broke off and formed Foghat in 1971 alongside singer and guitarist Dave Peverett, bassist Tony Stevens, and slide guitarist Rod Price, with Earl on drums.

[RELATED: Foghat’s Influence on Southern Rock: How They Shaped a Genre]

“All of us, especially myself, Dave and Rod Price, were big blues and rock and roll fans, so that was always our inspiration,” Earl tells American Songwriter in the November / December 2023 print issue. “Dave would write songs, not just do copies of great American blues artists. If we do somebody else’s song, we would change it. I think we always put Foghat stamp on any songs if we did somebody else’s tune.”

The current Foghat lineup is comprised of drummer Earl, lead singer Scott Holt, bassist Rodney O’Quinn, and guitarist Bryan Bassett. “I had no idea until I got in the band the depth of the catalog and the material that they had covered and the songs that they had written,” Holt adds. “It was amazing to be exposed to that and start really trying to get my arms around it as an entity.”

Foghat closes out 2023 with a pair of shows on December 2 and 9. They’re set to hit the road in 2024 with several dates scheduled from January through May, including a performance for the benefit show at The Fillmore in Maryland, Rock n’ Roll for Children on March 9. They also have one-off shows scheduled in July and September.

Foghat’s 2023 & 2024 Tour Dates:

Sat 12/2            St. Charles, IL                           Arcada Theatre

Sat 12/9            Atlantic City, NJ                        Hard Rock Casino Hotel

Sat 1/13/24       Anna Maria, FL                         The Center of Anna Maria Island

Sat 1/20/24       Indio, CA                                   Fantasy Springs Resort Casino

Fri 1/26/24         Enoch, AB.                               River Cree Resort & Casino

Fri 2/2/24          Bremerton, WA                         Admiral Theater

Fri 2/9/24          Las Vegas, NV                          Golden Nugget

Sat 2/17/24       Parker, CO                                Pace Center

Sun 2/18/24       Solana Beach, CA                     Belly Up Tavern

Sat 3/9/24         Silver Spring, MD                      The Fillmore (Benefit – Rock n’ Roll for Children)

Fri 4/19/24         Belleville, IL                             Lincoln Theater

Sat 4/20/24       Tiffin, OH                                  Ritz Theater

Sat 5/18/2024    Atlantic City, NJ                        Golden Nugget 

Fri 7/19/24         Walker, MN                               Moondance Jam

Mon 9/23/24      Bloomsburg, PA                        Bloomsburg Fair

Tickets are available via StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program. StubHub is a secondary market ticketing platform, and prices may be higher or lower than face value, depending on demand.

Photo by Rick Diamond/Getty Images for IEBA

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