Blues Traveler photo by Graham Fielder
Blues Traveler—John Popper (vocals, harmonica), Chan Kinchla (guitar), Tad Kinchla (bass), Ben Wilson (keyboards) and Brendan Hill (drums), along with a few guests, have made an 11-song album containing something old, something new, something borrowed and something blues.
The quintet recently announced the release of a new studio album Traveler’s Blues, a collection of re-imagined and re-charged classics from The American Blues Songbook, set for release on July 30.
The group comes to Middle Tennessee’s The Caverns in July as part of its summer tour in support of the album.
Traveler’s Blues marks the 14th full-length album for Blues Traveler.
Blues Traveler burst onto the scene in 1987 and hit the ground running with a trio of gold-selling albums—Blues Traveler (1990), Travelers and Thieves (1991) and Save His Soul (1993). The next album, Four (1994), went six times platinum and spawned the definitive “Run-Around,” which garnered a Grammy. The band logged another platinum album with Straight on Till Morning in 1998 and spent the next 20 years selling out shows on multiple continents.
“Back in the day, we were all into blues,” says Chan Kinchla. “We started as a high school blues band. It was fun to come full circle and really get back to blues more than we’d ever planned. It took a lifetime for us to play this style well. There’s no way we could’ve pulled off this album when we were younger. After 30 years, we finally made the record we aspired to make as kids.”
Retreating to Nashville in late 2020, they teamed with producer Matt Rollings and dove right into the deep end.
“We went in there and knocked it out,” Kinchla recalls. “If you overproduce blues, it sounds like shit. Blues is supposed to feel alive. We wanted to keep it raw and immediate. We weren’t trying to cover the way the artists had done the songs; we were trying to make them our own.”
A swaying 12-bar blues progression holds down Jimmy Reed’s “You Got Me Runnin’” (featuring Crystal Bowersox) as harmonica and piano intertwine. Swaggering piano struts through the jangle of tambourine on the Mississippi Sheiks’ staple “Sittin’ on Top of the World” (featuring Warren Haynes) before Popper trades verses with Haynes, who then trades licks with Kinchla.
“We’ve known Warren since 1990 when we opened up for the Allman Brothers,” Chan continues. “We’ve played with him in various ways for three decades. He’s an amazing musician and a wonderful guy. It’s cool we’re still rocking together.”
Then, there’s their take on the Gnarls Barkley smash “Crazy” (featuring Rita Wilson and John Scofield). As the beat simmers, Popper leans into the iconic lyrics with palpable charisma before Scofield rips out a lead and Wilson delivers a powerhouse counter-vocal. “Roadhouse Blues” serves as a raucous Doors tribute and revs up as a “cool harmonica vehicle.”
Pre-order the album at orcd.co/travelersblues.
Blues Traveler performs at The Caverns Above Ground Amphitheater in Pelham, Tennessee, on Sunday, July 18. For more on the band, visit bluestraveler.com.
