Little Village was an American/

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

band, formed in 1991 by Ry Cooder (guitar, vocal),

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...

(guitar, piano, vocal),

Nick Lowe Nicholas Drain Lowe (born 24 March 1949) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and producer. A noted figure in power pop and New wave music, new wave,Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America". Howard Sounes. ''Dow ...

(drums). Each of the group's members had previously worked on Hiatt's 1987 album '' Bring The Family'', and formed in 1991 while on a break from their own musical projects. The group's name was initially (and jokingly) announced as Hiatus. It was soon changed to Little Village, in reference to the foul-mouthed in-studio diatribe by

Sonny Boy Williamson II Alex or Aleck Miller (originally Ford, possibly December 5, 1912 – May 24, 1965), known later in his career as Sonny Boy Williamson, was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter. He was an early and influential blues harp st ...

, on a

Chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to dist ...

reissue album titled ''Bummer Road''. The group released its only album, '' Little Village'', in early 1992. The songs were composed by all four group members and mainly sung by Hiatt, although Lowe took lead on two songs and Cooder one. While the album was met with general commercial indifference, it was nominated in 1993 for a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

as ''Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Duo or a Group''. The album peaked at No. 23 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

. Nick Lowe later said, "Little Village was really good fun. Unfortunately, the record we did was no good. I suppose on some level, it worked, but

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

kind of gave us too much time to do it." Little Village toured the U.S. and Europe in 1992 to support the album, but the group disbanded later that year.

Singles

* "She Runs Hot" 1992 with a music video set at a NASCAR-Style track and bodyshop. * "Solar Sex Panel", 1992 * "Don't Go Away Mad", 1992

References

{{Authority control American rock music groups Supergroups (music) Musical groups established in 1991 Reprise Records artists