Blues Traveler

Last fall, Blues Traveler members expressed awe when they began their 30th anniversary tour. “Three decades… three decades and I am still surprised when we play and find some rich new musical vein to tap,” front man John Popper was quoted as saying. “Three decades and I cannot believe my luck with this band of brothers and this string we have run!”

Well, the string has not yet run out and the one-time garage band, which emerged in the late ’80s and is best known for its improvisational live shows and its Grammy-winning, multi-platinum album, Four, is coming to the Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center March 3rd at 8PM. Ticket prices range from $49 to $89 and Barrington Brewery will provide a beer tasting during intermission.

Blues Traveler has released 20 full-length albums with its most recent, Blow Up the Moon, being a collaborative effort featuring a range of artists across the musical spectrum of country, pop, reggae and hip-hop.

The blues-rock quartet was formed in 1988 by Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, bassist Bobby Sheehan, and drummer Brendan Hill. Signed to A&M, they released their first album, Blues Traveler, in May 1990. Their aptly named fourth album, Four, released in September 1994, at first seemed a sales disappointment but rebounded in 1995 when Run-Around, a single taken from it, became the group's first chart hit.

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.

It was considered a key part of the re-emerging jam band scene of the 1990s. Sheehan’s death and Popper’s health problems put a damper on the band’s popularity and A&M dropped it in 2002, but the band members took this as an opportunity to start in new directions musically and went independent, releasing on smaller experimental labels.

Currently, the group is composed of Popper, Kinchla, Hill, Tad Kinchla, and keyboardist Ben Wilson. Tad Kinchla and Ben Wilson joined the band following the death of original bassist Bobby Sheehan in 1999.

Run-Around became one of the biggest singles of 1995, spending nearly a full year on the charts and sending Four into quintuple platinum status. Many albums later, in March 2012, the band released 25, a two-disc set celebrating the group's 25th anniversary. That was followed by two other albums, Susie Cracks the Whip and Blow Up the Moon.

The band's music covers a variety of genres, including blues rock, psychedelic rock, folk rock, soul and Southern rock.

For further information and tickets, please visit the link below.