Written by: Tyler Hypnarowski
The Spin Doctors. The Allman Brothers Band. The Wallflowers. Phish. Lenny Kravitz. Cracker. Dave Matthews Band. Barenaked Ladies. The Rolling Stones.
Those are just a few of the bands that Blues Traveler have shared the stage with over the years. Pretty diverse list of co-bills, huh?
To add to that list, Blues Traveler recorded their most recent album, Blow Up The Moon, in 2015 and recruited artists such as Dirty Heads, JC Chasez, Plain White Tees, Jewel, Bowling For Soup and others to help in the recording process. Certainly sounding different than anything Blues Traveler has ever released, Blow Up The Moon had reggae songs, electro-pop songs, and challenged the band to think and create outside the box. The album was “a really fun project to collaborate with other groups and find out how they write and incorporate their styles into ours and make different music together”, said founding member and drummer Brendan Hill. All said, Blues Traveler’s fingerprint is still all over the album, with John Popper‘s signature harmonica present throughout.
The band has roots in New Jersey and by the early 90s they were stalwarts in the New York City jam band scene. In 1992, they helped organize the H.O.R.D.E. Tour, which would become a successful touring festival running through 1998. These epic summer treks also featured the likes of fellow jam bands including Phish, Aquarium Rescue Unit, and Widespread Panic as well as eventual alt-rock heroes such as Sheryl Crow, Smashing Pumpkins, Ben Folds Five and others.
In the heat of their rising success as an improvisational rock band, Blues Traveler struck mainstream gold in 1994 with their album Four, which featured two mega hits that still get plenty of radio play to this day. “Run-Around” and “Hook” weren’t exactly a new sound for Blues Traveler, but they were eaten up by the masses and catapulted Blues Traveler into the world of MTV and being musical icons.
Still, they were a blue collared band at heart who’s bread and butter was their live show. So their audience grew, but the fire in their shows kept burning. Fans who came to singalong to “Hook” and “Run-Around” were almost always rewarded, but often had to wait until the end of the show or encore to do so. Their concerts remained jam fests, full of harmonica solos, 12-bar blues, and improvisation.
Things got a little weird, John Popper admitted to Glide Magazine in 2011 stating “there were our normal fans, who were a bunch of hippies, and then 50 million 12-year-olds who hate every other song we play except “Hook” and “Runaround.” However as the 90s went on, Blues Traveler was unable to chart another big hit, whether they were trying to or not, and their crowd sizes balanced out to about where they are today. And the band is totally cool with that. “The success of ‘Four’ guaranteed us work, which is really what it’s about because I love playing in front of an audience.” Popper went on to say.
So it’s a win/win for everyone now. A win for Blues Traveler, who get to continue to play their music the way they always have. A win for longtime fans, who still get to close their eyes and pretend they are back at the Wetlands rocking out during an 11 minute “But Anyway” jam. And a win for casual fans who just want to hear one or more of their epic singles which helped define the music of the 1990s.
Blues Traveler trucks on with a month long tour beginning January 26th in Boston. See the full dates here.
