Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter/producer Van Hunt makes his long awaited return this week with the online premiere of “June,” his first new music in more than three years. The track will be available as a free download via The Huffington Post (TK).
 
“June” heralds the hugely anticipated release of Hunt’s extraordinary new album, What Were You Hoping For? . The album – a joint venture between the Nashville-based Thirty Tigers and Hunt’s own label, godless-hotspot – arrives in stores and at all digital retailers on September 27th.
 
“’June’ was written to mirror a person’s complicated moodiness,” Hunt says. “Some people are called pessimists because of their persistent dourness – but I think they are optimists. Sorely disappointed optimists. The song is my attempt to make one, in particular, smile.”
 
Hunt will unveil a series of new tracks each month leading up to release of What Were You Hoping For? with free downloads available at a range of blogs and music websites. Among them will be the album’s first single, “elP,” which will impact multi-format radio outlets nationwide later this summer. In addition, free downloads will be available at Hunt’s newly relaunched official website, www.vanhunt.com.
 
Furthermore, the Los Angeles-based Hunt and his crack band plan to hit the road in the weeks surrounding the album’s release, marking his first national tour since 2008. A full itinerary will be announced shortly.
 
Van Hunt first fell in thrall to the power of music from an early age, taking inspiration from a remarkable range of musicians and composers, spanning J.S. Bach to David Bowie, Thelonious Monk to Curtis Mayfield, Iggy Pop to The Isley Brothers. The Dayton, Ohio-born musician soon made his way to Atlanta, where he drew acclaim for his creative production efforts and crafty songwriting, featured on recordings by such diverse artists as Dionne Farris, Joi, Rahsaan Patterson, and Cree Summer. His own self-titled debut album arrived in 2004, instantly establishing Hunt as a distinctive and original talent with its idiosyncratic melding of R&B, neo-soul, funk, pop, and rock ‘n’ roll. The equally inventive On The Jungle Floor followed two years later, highlighted by the single, “Character” as well as by a surprising cover of Iggy Pop & James Williamson’s Kill City classic, “No Sense Of Crime.”
 
In 2007, Hunt received a Grammy Award for “Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals,” honoring “Family Affair,” a collaboration with John Legend and Joss Stone found on the 2006 Sly & The Family Stone tribute album, Different Strokes For Different Folks. Hunt had previously received a 2005 “Best Urban/Alternative Performance” Grammy nomination for his breakthrough hit single, “Dust.”
 
Hunt’s third album, Popular, was slated for 2008 but remains officially unreleased. Nevertheless, the album has become an underground sensation, a classic lost album hailed by LA Weekly as “a left-field stunner” for its “trippy fusion of funk grooves, punk guitar and soul vocals.” In 2009, Hunt liberated a collection of B-sides, demos, remixes, and other rarities on the self-released collection, Use In Case Of Emergency (Rare Items From The Vault).
 
A charismatic and engaging live performer, Hunt also attracted critical praise touring both as headliner as well as alongside such diverse acts as Kanye West, The Roots, Coldplay, Mary J. Blige, Seal and Dave Matthews Band. 

"My initial meeting with Rocco - It was pure and centered and seemed to have a sense of purpose, and I felt that there was something burning in his heart that I could be helpful to. It had that kind of truth in it that I decided to run with. I like the street corner aspect of working with Rocco, it woke up a certain part of my renegade ways I’m trying to keep alive these days. I fully believe in DeLuca. I think that he’s got the power to be a contemporary troubadour, as I see it, and I hope I can be his friend for a long time, whether I am operating in the same limelight, ahead of him, behind him, in his shadow, whatever it takes, I’ll be there. The one thing that I love about Rocco DeLuca is he is driven by his own heart." - Daniel Lanois

Rocco Deluca was born in the winter in Southern California. Like other Angelenos he was surrounded by local literature, Latino art, motorcycles, film and music. His early years were spent studying the likes of Billy Holiday and Nina Simone as well as the darker and raw Delta Blues heroes of the 1920's. At the age of seven, he taught himself to play listening to these records. By the time he was a teenager, Rocco had developed the skills and the confidence to start performing for others. For the first few years, he played only specific instruments. It wasn't until later he discovered he had a voice. Street busking, clubs, theatres and festivals, Rocco has performed around the world many times over with his 1931 National by his side. His authentic and unusual lyric and voice has since garnered him international attention and acclaim.

Rocco has had the good fortune to cross paths with and gain inspiration from various legends. John Lee Hooker gave DeLuca the opportunity to support his live shows. And later, Johnny Cash and June Carter were kind enough to invite him into their Hendersonville home, where values and excellence were displayed. Most recently, Deluca was recorded by and toured with Daniel Lanois, where he learned great lessons in work and experimentation.

After extensive travel from Kingston to London to the deserts of Texas and California, Rocco has placed his recent stories into a collection called Drugs 'n Hymns. Sifting through failures, cities, friendships, and geographic shapes, Rocco conjured images that were documented live in a room no bigger than a closet, with some help from the Echo Park Jubilee Tambo Flower Unsung Heroes Choir.

Drugs 'n Hymns is the culmination of detailed moments inspired by both the illuminated and the disturbed, unfolding into a drug deal that takes place during the Sacred Service- Always in conflict with salvation and sin, the cerebral and the bestial, light and shade. Rocco's love of contradiction is ever present.

Inspired by 'religion', literature and experience, DeLuca takes the listener on a pilgrimage, a forever evolving search for salvation.