Who is blues traveler

Whenever we have trouble, a big event, a crisis of faith, or some milestone, there is a black cat there. This is the truth. In , two years after the black cat jam, the trio met up with another Princeton High schoolmate, bassist Bobby Sheehan, who finalized the line-up of the Blues Band. When the band members graduated from high school, they moved to New York City to gain more exposure. The band was soon performing in area clubs under the name Blues Traveler.

Shortly after they started playing clubs, Blues Traveler grabbed the attention of late concert promoter Bill Graham, who immediately decided to become the band's manager. Graham's son David would eventually take over. By that time, they had performed live throughout the region and played 16 to 20 shows per month. Blues Traveler had brought their own style of blues and s rock-influenced music to the stage for several years, and in the band released their self-titled debut album.

Describing Blues Traveler's original brand of rock to Rolling Stone's Elysa Gardner, Popper said, "If [blues musician] Muddy Waters was a white guy living in the suburbs in the late '80s, he'd sound a lot like us. Their continuous live shows had resulted in many comparisons to both the Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band. Blues Traveler had accomplished moderate record sales with very little promotion, mostly due to their relentless touring. But the band insisted that their style of music just worked better on the stage.

Our studio albums are nice tries, but the live shows just totally blow them away. Commitment to live performance led Popper to organize the first annual H. Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere festival. Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit. Blues Traveler's whirlwind of recording and touring came to a temporary halt in after an unfortunate accident. While driving his motorcycle in Bogalusa, Louisiana, Popper was hit by a car.

He had several broken limbs and was briefly confined to a wheelchair. At the time of the accident, the rest of the band was in the Studio in the Country laying down tracks for the instrumental song "Manhattan Bridge. An acronym that stands for "Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere," the rootsy multi-artist summer tour featured legendary heavy-hitters like Neil Young and popular young jam bands Phish and Spin Doctors.

As a long-running frontman, Popper pulls double-duty as both a vocalist and harmonica player. That's a lot of physical wear and tear on the throat.

Over the years, he's learned to adapt to the changes that come with aging. Now I have a lot of technique, but a lot less power. That's why my style lends itself to a nice acoustic performance. He's enjoying the intimate audience experience that comes with a solo show.

It allows for a change of pace from his hard-charging gigs with Blues Traveler. I really love that. Twitter chitribent. Skip to content. John Popper of the veteran blues-rock band Blues Traveler. Denise Truscello. When : 8 p. Where : City Winery, W.

Randolph St. Chrissie Dickinson is a freelance writer. Tom Petty: The final interview » ». Tom Petty: 10 songs you should know, but probably don't » ». Popper was in a serious car accident in , leaving him unable to perform for a number of months. Fortunately, he recovered, but he had to perform in a wheelchair for a while.

The band's aptly named fourth album, Four , released in September , first looked like a sales disappointment, but it rebounded in when "Run-Around," a single taken from it, became the group's first chart hit.

As the group prepared the follow-up to Four , they released the live double album Live from the Fall in the summer of The group returned in the summer of with its fifth studio album, Straight on Till Morning.

After completing his debut solo effort, Zygote , Popper -- who'd been experiencing chest pains for months -- was forced to undergo an angioplasty; weeks later, tragedy struck on August 20, , when Sheehan was found dead in his New Orleans home.

He was just 31 years old. The new millennium saw a newly charged Blues Traveler with the addition of keyboardist Ben Wilson , and their sixth record, Bridge , appeared in May The studio record Truth Be Told followed in , and another concert album, Live on the Rocks , appeared in The group returned to the studio in , releasing the Jay Bennett -produced Bastardos!

In , Blues Traveler released Cover Yourself , a collection of previous hits reworked with acoustic arrangements. In March , the band released 25 , a two-disc set one disc of hits and key tracks and a second disc of B-sides, demos, and rarities celebrating the group's 25th anniversary.