Formed in late 2013, Hard Working Americans features acclaimed singer/songwriter Todd Snider, Dave Schools (Widespread Panic), Neal Casal (Chris Robinson Brotherhood), Chad Staehly (Great American Taxi), Duane Trucks and Jesse Aycock. The new celebrated musicians' collective released Hard Working Americans, the self-titled debut album in January 2014, garnering high praise from Rolling Stone, Relix, American Songwriter, Huffington Post, USA Today, and NPR's Fresh Air.
The First Waltz is a 2-disc CD / DVD set including 11 live recordings, a brand new studio track with Rosanne Cash, and a full-length feature film capturing the formation of Hard Working Americans and their first performances together in late 2013. The set comes encased in special packaging, which includes a beautiful 3-D pop out of the Boulder Theatre.
Hard Working Americans is a mission as much as a band. Loose-limbed, freak flag waving specters caper inside this freshly minted but quicksilver evolving unit where the boogie politics of Haight-Ashbury canoodle with southern muscle, blue-collar understanding, and a bold rallying cry for true American individualism, freedom and community.
Part of the HWA mission is shining a light on the folks that get missed in the modern shuffle, and the way the guys crawl inside the songs brings each song to vibrant incarnation, a process that only accelerated more intensely once they took this bohemian revival on the road, something happily evident on the concert film & live album The First Waltz. Directed by Justin Kreutzmann, the film offers an insightful, copacetic-minded snapshot of the beginning chapter of this fertile new collaboration.