Cracker Biography

The American rock band known as Cracker was established by Johnny Hickman and David Lowery in the early 1990’s. The two musicians had known each other as children, and after both moved to Los Angeles, they created a unique sound for their band, one that mixes everything from folk and blues, to grunge and punk, to rock and country. They recruited bassist Davey Faragher and then drummer Greg Weatherford to round out the band, and Cracker was formed.

On the strength of their demo—today known as Big Dirty Yellow Demos by their fans—Cracker garnered a deal with Virgin Records and entered the studio to begin preparing their major label debut. A self-titled debut released in 1992 didn’t gain much traction, but the follow-up album—Kerosene Hat—was a hit upon its release in 1993. Spawning the hits “Low,” “Get Off This,” and “Euro-Trash Girl,” the album scored three top forty singles with one of them—“Low”—reaching into the top ten on the modern rock charts in the United States.

Kerosene Hat was followed by the albums: The Golden Age (1996), Gentleman’s Blues (1998), Forever (2002), Countrysides (2003), Greenland (2006), and Sunrise in the Land of Milk and Honey (2009.) Additional notable top twenty singles from Cracker include: “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now),” and “I Hate My Generation.” Cracker has also contributed to a number of tracks to tribute albums, including “Rainy Days and Mondays” (for If I Were a Carpenter, 1994); “Good Times Bad Times” (for Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin, 1995); and “White Riot” (for Burning London: The Clash Tribute, 1999.)

Today, Cracker continues to perform and record with the current lineup of Lowery, Hickman, Bryan Howard, Carlton Owens, and Matt Stoessel. Although Cracker’s latest album was released back in 2014 (Berkeley to Bakersfield), the group performs a number of show dates throughout each year, and recently wrapped a late 2018 and early 2019 tour that brought the band to dozens of venues throughout the nation.