Blues Traveler was formed in 1987 by singer/harmonica player John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, bassist Bobby Sheehan, and drummer Brendan Hill; the band was part of a revival of the extended jamming style of ’60s and ’70s groups like the Grateful Dead and Led Zeppelin.
Blues Traveler were on the vanguard of the jam band scene of the 1990s, the first of their generation to sign to a major label, and one of a handful to experience genuine commercial success when the naggingly catchy “Run-Around” went into the Billboard Top Ten in 1995. By that point, Blues Traveler had already carved themselves a place within the firmament of modern rock, earning a loyal audience through their sweaty improvs of blues-based rock and coalescing their peers by launching the H.O.R.D.E. Festival in 1992. One of several Lollapalooza-inspired touring fests, H.O.R.D.E. illustrated the large audience for jam bands and helped push Blues Traveler toward the top of the charts with their 1994 album Four going platinum six times. They didn’t stay in the upper reaches of Billboard for long, but they never faded away. They worked steadily throughout the 2000s and beyond, sometimes experimenting — 2015’s Blow Up the Moon was littered with unexpected cameos — but always returning to the blues as their foundation, a debt underscored by the 2021 blues covers album Traveler’s Blues.
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