New Orleans Nightcrawlers were founded in 1994 by pianist Tom McDermott, sousaphonist Matt Perrine, and trumpeter Kevin Clark. Original members also included trumpeter Barney Floyd, Frank Oxley, Mark Morris, and Peter Kaplan on percussion, Craig Klein and Rick Trolsen on trombones, and saxophonists Eric Traub, Ken "Snakebite" Jacobs and Jason Mingledorff, alongside trumpeter Satoru Ohashi. Originally modeled on the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the Nightcrawlers brought something new to the New Orleans brass band scene: notably sophisticated arrangements that distinguished the group from its contemporaries.
Over the years, the band's lineup has evolved to include saxophonist Brent Rose and drummers Tanio Hingle and Kerry "Fatman" Hunter. The Nightcrawlers have collaborated with and been joined on stage or in the studio by Henry Butler, Evan Christopher, Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, and Bruce Hornsby, and have toured extensively across Japan, Brazil, several countries in Europe, and much of America.
The band has released five albums: their self-titled 1996 debut received an OffBeat Best of the Beat Award (not a Grammy), and their 2020 album Atmosphere won the Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album in 2021 — their first and only Grammy win. Their 2024 album, Too Much to Hold, earned a further nomination in the same category, cementing New Orleans Nightcrawlers as one of the genre's most consistently recognized acts three decades into their run.
