BLUES TRAVELER

'Blues Traveler' is an American alternative rock/blues rock/jam band formed in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1987. They are best known to general audiences from their hit songs "Run-Around", "Hook" and "But Anyway".
As of 2007, the group comprises singer and harmonica virtuoso John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, drummer Brendan Hill, bassist Tad Kinchla and keyboardist Ben Wilson. Tad Kinchla and Ben Wilson joined the band following the death of original bassist Bobby Sheehan in 1999 of a drug overdose in New Orleans.

Contents

Overview

History

Formation

Early years

Concert recordings

Trivia

Discography

Studio albums

Live albums

Miscellaneous

External links

Notes

Overview

While Blues Traveler is best known among fans for their improvisational live shows, the general public is most familiar with the group from their fourth studio album ''Four''. Released in 1994, the two singles "Run-Around" and "Hook" gained mainstream radio popularity.
Blues Traveler's subsequent releases were not as successful as the quintuple platinum sales of ''Four,'' though the band has maintained a loyal fanbase from the beginning of their career. Their albums with A&M in the later 1990s include ''Straight on Till Morning'' and ''Bridge''.
Sheehan's death in 1999 and Popper's struggle with obesity put a damper on the group's success, and A&M dropped the band after low sales of their 2001 album ''Bridge.'' However, the band took this transition period as an opportunity to start in new directions musically.
The group signed with Sanctuary Records and released ''Truth Be Told'' on August 5, 2003. Their latest album, ''¡Bastardos!'', was released on September 13, 2005 by Vanguard Records.
Blues Traveler is currently recording a "best-of" collection of older songs reinterpreted with acoustic instrumentation. The band recently played an acoustic session on A&E's Private Sessions.

History

Formation

The genesis of Blues Traveler was a high school garage band formed in Princeton, New Jersey in the mid 1980s. Harmonicist, singer and guitarist John Popper and drummer Brendan Hill formed a group they called The Establishment (later renamed Blues Band) with Hill's brother on bass and a rotating roster of guitarists. The band produced a few cassette tape demos. In addition to some original songs, their repertoire included upbeat covers of "Gloria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".
The group added guitarist and football player Chan Kinchla. Although a promising athlete, he instead decided to commit to playing music after a knee injury. Popper met bassist Bobby Sheehan and the two became good friends, with Sheehan becoming the new bass player for Blues Band in 1987.
The quartet held a basement jam session (later christened The Black Cat Jam) which spawned the core grooves for several songs on their first album. A black cat happened to be nearby, and the group took this as a sign and adopted the Black Cat as their mascot figure.
The group changed their name to Blues Traveler, taking the latter part from the name of the primary demon in the film ''Ghostbusters'', Gozer the Traveler.

Early years

After graduating Princeton High School and moving to New York City, Popper, Hill, and Sheehan enrolled in the music program at The New School for Social Research while Kinchla attended New York University. Blues Traveler began playing gigs along the New York-area club circuit, sometimes nightly. The group shared an apartment together, along with Popper's friend, singer Chris Barron, and developed a close relationship with Barron's band, Spin Doctors (which formed out of another group Popper and Hill had founded). The two groups would often share the stage, playing non-stop concerts of multiple sets.
During this time, Blues Traveler acquired a devout follower, Gina-Z (subject of the band's song "Gina") who is involved with the group's business to the present day. From these New York shows they were discovered by an A&M Records talent scout, Patrick Clifford, and the band signed their first recording contract.

Concert recordings

Blues Traveler allows and encourages fans to record and trade live performances^[1], provided that no money changes hands and no profit is made.
The band has also given permission for live fan-made recordings to be hosted on the Live Music Archive. Recordings available there span from 1986 through the present day.

Trivia

★ Blues Traveler shared stories of their evolution as a band on the VH1 television program ''Behind the Music''.

★ The band appeared in a 1995 episode of the sitcom ''Roseanne'', as the former band of character Dan Conner. Later, the band recorded the theme song for the show.

★ Blues Traveler appeared as an Amish band in the film ''Kingpin''

★ Blues Traveler appeared as themselves in the movie ''Blues Brothers 2000''. They also appear on the soundtrack with the song "Maybe I'm Wrong".

★ On September 19, 2005, Blues Traveler played their cover of Beetlejuice's song "This is Beetle" on the Howard Stern radio show.

★ Blues Traveler appeared on the September 30, 1995 season premiere of ''Saturday Night Live'', performing "Run-around" and "Hook." The band was a replacement for Prince, who was originally scheduled as the musical guest before backing out at the last minute.

★ Blues Traveler's song "The Mountains Win Again" has been featured in a series of Busch Beer commercials in North America.

★ Clips of Blues Traveler's music were included in a NASCAR game for the Sony PlayStation (PSX).

★ The Song "Dog Train", written by Sandra Boynton and recorded by Blues Traveler for Boynton's album "Dog Train", has been used in a series of commercials promoting the AKC/Eukanuba National Championship.

★ Blues Traveler was featured on VH1's I Love the 90s.

Discography

Studio albums

★ '''Blues Traveler'''
(1990)

★ '''Travelers and Thieves'''
(1991)

★ '''Save His Soul'''
(1993)

★ '''Four'''
(1994)

★ '''Straight on Till Morning'''
(1997)

★ '''Bridge'''
(2001)

★ '''Truth Be Told'''
(2003)

★ '''¡Bastardos!'''
(2005)

Live albums

★ '''Live from the Fall'''
(1996)

★ ''''
(2002)

★ '''Live on the Rocks'''
(2004)

Miscellaneous

★ ''
(2002)

External links

★ BluesTraveler.com - Official website

★ Legally download live Blues Traveler shows from the Internet Archive's live music archive

★ Legally download live Blues Traveler shows from bt.etree.org

★ Blues Traveler Taping Policy - states that distribution of Blues Traveler recordings is permitted

★ ¡Bastardos! Review on Everythingrock.com

★ Setlist Database @ bluestraveler.net

★ Setlist Database @ btdb.org

★ Brendan Hill's bio - BluesTraveler.com

★ Tad Kinchla's bio - BluesTraveler.com

★ Ben Wilson's bio - BluesTraveler.com

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Notes

1. Blues Traveler's recording policy