A New York-based blues-rock quartet formed in 1988 by singer/harmonica
player John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, bassist Bobby Sheehan, and
drummer Brendan Hill, Blues Traveler was part of a revival of the extended
jamming style of '60s and '70s groups like the Grateful
Dead and Led Zeppelin.
Signed to A&M, they released their first album, Blues
Traveler, in May 1990 and followed it with Travelers
& Thieves in September 1991. Popper was in a serious car accident
in 1992, leaving him unable to perform for a number of months. Fortunately,
he recovered, yet he still had to perform in a wheelchair for a period
of time. In April 1993, Blues Traveler released its third album, Save
His Soul, which became its first to make the Top 100. Blues
Traveler's aptly named fourth album, Four,
released in September 1994, at first looked like a sales disappointment,
but it rebounded in 1995 when "Run-Around," a single taken from it,
became the group's first chart hit. "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. As the group prepared the followup to Four,
Blues Traveller released the live double-album Live
from the Fall in the summer of 1996.
Blues Traveller returned in the summer of 1997 with its fifth studio
album, Straight on Till Morning