Blues Traveler
Friday, August 22nd, 2008
8:00 pm Main Stage
listen to music
The current version of Blues Traveler is a quintet, comprised of the three original members John Popper (harmonicas and vocals), Chan Kinchla (guitars), Brendan Hill (drums and percussion),plus Ben Wilson on keyboards, and Tad Kinchla on bass. While every great band owes its good fortune to good chemistry, it more often than not takes years to develop that chemisrty, and thanks to the rightly selfish approach the band used on their 2005 album Bastardos!, they found themselves finally hitting their stride with Blues Traveler 2.0.
"When Tad and Ben joined the band, there was already a certain dynamic in place between John, Brendan, and I, and they were respectful of that, Says Chan. "Now we've all found our places in the sonic mix. It's us as a band for the first time since Bobby's (founding bassist Bobby Sheehan) death."
Formed in Princeton, NJ in 1983, Blues Traveler grew a passionate regional following for its sweaty, titanic live shows, which often found Popper, Chan, Hill and Sheehan jamming endlessly into the night. As high school friends, the band moved to New York City where it became a mainstay on the club and bar circuit, helping ignite a new generation of jam music fans.
In 1990, Blues Traveler released its first self-named album, which included the favorite single "But Anyway". They quickly returned with Travelers & Thieves in 1991 and their third album, Save His Soul in 1992. Recording on the latter album was temporarily interrupted by John Popper's motorcycle accident, although the band resumed touring shortly thereafter with Popper in a wheelchair. Two singles were released from the album, "Defense & Desire" and "Conquer Me", which reached #34 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.
In 1992, the group founded the Horde Festival along with other bands such as Phish and Spin Doctors.
The band's fourth album, titled four, was released in late 1994. The upbeat pop single "Run-around" became a smash hit and was followed by the catchy "Hook". "Run-around" won a Grammy award and broke a record for most weeks on the chart. Blues Traveler appeared at Woodstock '94 and later became an opening act for The Rolling Stones.
The band played on the 1995 season premiere of Saturday Night Live as a last-minute replacement for Prince. The 1996 comedy film Kingpin featured the group, dressed like Amish, playing their song "But Anyway" during the closing credits. The song then became the band's third top 40 hit, peaking at #12.
The double live album, Live from the Fall, was released in 1996. It featured recordings from the band's autumn 1995 concerts and showcased the strength of the band's live performances. The next studio album, Straight On Till Morning, was released in 1997. It achieved platinum status, reaching number 11 on The Billboard 200 albums chart, but did not perform as well as four. The single "Carolina Blues" peaked at number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.
Tragically, on August 20, 1999, Bobby Sheehan was found dead in his New Orleans home, where he had been recording music with some friends the night before. Sheehan's death was ruled an accidental drug overdose.
The remaining members of Blues Traveler convened and agreed that Sheehan would have wanted them to continue as a band. Auditions for a new bassist were held in concert, and included Chan Kinchla's younger brother Tad, who was unanimously determined to be the best choice for the role. Additionally, an open call was sent for a permanent keyboard player, a role of which Sheehan had often been a proponent. Ben Wilson of the band Big Dave and the Ultrasonics was chosen, and has since became a central contributor to the band's songwriting.
The band discarded their concept album material, instead releasing a smaller online EP, Decisions of the Sky, and went to work collectively composing a new set of songs with the new lineup. The resulting album was Bridge, which had the working title Bridge Outta Brooklyn as a tribute to Sheehan (with both the acronym B.O.B. and his nickname "Brooklyn Bobby"). The songs "Girl Inside My Head" and "Just for Me" received airplay, but the album's sales fell somewhat short of expectations. The live album What You and I Have Been Through and the compilation Travelogue: Blues Traveler Classics were both released in 2002.
The band left Sanctuary for Vanguard Records and released ¡Bastardos!, which was produced by Wilco's Jay Bennett and was touted as the band's return to music that they wanted to play. The album charted at 49 on the Top Independent Albums, and a live EP of songs from the album was released to independent record stores.
Blues Traveler's last album was Cover Yourself, a "best-of" album of previously-released songs re-recorded and reinterpreted with acoustic instrumentation. The band allowed their fans to select the songs to be included on the ]