Blues Traveler

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• Genre: Jam Rock
• Blues Traveler Website

About

Blues Traveler formed in 1988, and it wasn't long before the band's penchant for extended jams found an eager audience. The band signed to A&M two years later and released their eponymous debut. The album failed to chart, but the band did what they do best: tour. More albums followed with similarly lackluster results, but the band continued on with a hectic tour schedule. Their aptly titled fourth album Four looked like it would meet the same under-the-radar fate as its predecessors upon its release in 1994; but the following year the single "Run-Around" was released, and the combination of MTV airplay and constant radio airplay proved to be an unstoppable force. Not only was "Run-Around" one of the best-selling singles in 1995, but Four went platinum five times over. H.O.R.D.E tours and more albums followed. In 1999 John Popper underwent angioplasty, leaving the future of the band in question. Popper recovered, but weeks later bassist Bobby Sheehan was found dead in his New Orleans home at age thirty-one.

- Linda Ryan