G. Love & Special Sauce

A rootsy mix of blues, folk and hip-hop beats minted G. Love and Special Sauce alt-rock favorites in the late '90s, which they supported with a tireless touring schedule that stretched into the new millennium. Frontman G. Love, born Garrett Dutton in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on October 3, 1972, developed a dual interest in folk and blues and '80s hip-hop crews like Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys as a high schooler. He began performing as a solo act on the streets of Philadelphia while attending Skidmore College, but parted ways with the city and the school after his freshman year; after relocating to Boston, Dutton began performing as a busker and occasional club act. He eventually found semi-steady work at the a bar called the Tam O'Shanter, where he teamed with drummer Jeffrey Clemens and bassist Jim Prescott. After dubbing themselves G. Love and Special Sauce, the group quickly progressed from house band at the Cambridge bar the Plough and Stars to recording a self-titled debut album. The LP, issued by Okeh Records in 1994, and its lead single, "Cold Beverage," became mainstays on college radio and MTV, and the band helped to boost sales - which eventually approached gold status - through constant touring, including a high-profile stint on the H.O.R.D.E. tour. Coast to Coast Motel (1995) soon followed, and while critical praise remained positive, sales were somewhat tepid, and the group parted ways after conflicts over finances. Dutton issued a trio of independent albums, for which he was backed by a rotating roster of players, between 1995 and 1998, before patching up differences with Special Sauce. The trio, supported by G. Love's backing bands from his solo releases, issued a third album, Yeah, It's That Easy in 1997, which earned a Top 40 Modern Rock single with the track "Steppin' Stones." By 1999, the group had settled into a steady routine of touring and recording, with Philadelphonic arriving that year and the more ambitious Electric Mile in 2001. Dutton's friend, the alt-folk solo artist Jack Johnson, invited him to sign as a solo artist on his Brushfire label in 2004, which yielded three albums, beginning with The Hustle, and its Top 40 Modern Rock single, "Astronaut," that same year. But he remained active with Special Sauce, primarily as a touring act, although they also performed as the house band for the Comedy Central series "Turn Ben Stein On" (1999-2001). After issuing a live album, A Year and a Night with G. Love and Special Sauce (2007), various iterations of Special Sauce - some with the original trio, some with Timo Shanko on bass and Mark Boyce on drums, as well as combinations of the two units - began recording new music for release in 2008. 2014's Sugar would be the last to see chart placement by reaching No. 63 on the U.S. Heatseekers chart, and 2015's Love Saves the Day, with an all-star lineup of guests that included Lucinda Williams and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos, would be their final studio album to date, though they remained active as a touring outfit. In 2019, the original lineup celebrated their 25th anniversary with an extended jaunt through North America.