A quarter century.
Blues Traveler, the jam rock band fronted by the harmonica-playing John Popper that made it big in the mid-’90s, is celebrating its 25th year as a band. That’s how long many big names in the music industry have been on this planet. For some perspective, Grammy winners Adele and Chris Brown are but 23 and 22, respectively.
“I think like so many things that last, it comes down to the harmony within the band,” said keyboardist Ben Wilson by phone from his brother’s home in Austin, Texas. “When you step through the door, you realize there’s a lot of internal discussion and internal respect for one another’s view and democratic in approach. I think that, coupled with the ability to make a living doing it so that there’s reason to continue, you end looking up and it’s been 25 years later.”
| Onstage |
| Blues Traveler |
| Where: State Theatre, 220 N. Washington St., Falls Church |
| When: 6 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Sunday |
| Info: $35; with the Justin Trawick Group; thestatetheatre.com |
Blue Traveler performs Sunday at the State Theatre.
The New Jersey-based band gained mainstream success with the 1994 album “Four.” Songs such as “Run-Around” and “Hook” remain ’90s canon mainstays.
Though the band has struggled to replicate the success of “Four,” Blues Traveler boasts 10 original albums to its name. Last month, the band released the aptly titled retrospective “25,” featuring greatest hits, B-sides and unreleased material.
“We were just excited and proud to be able to get it out, and I think our fans are going to dig it too,” Wilson said.
Wilson joined Blues Traveler following the 1999 death of bassist Bobby Sheehan.
“One day I was scrounging around sanding drywall and painting and doing remodeling work, and then the next day I was sitting in a rehearsal studio down here in Austin, Texas, for six or eight hours a day writing songs with a great band,” Wilson remembered. “It’s funny because the day before you get the call, you’re this guy, but the day after you’re just the same guy, but boy do people look at you different.”
Blues Traveler will continue its busy year this summer. The band has an album of new material due out in June, and then hits the road again with the Barenaked Ladies, Big Head Todd & the Monsters, and Cracker.
“It’s going to be fun,” Wilson said of a lineup any child of the ’90s can readily recognize. “It’s a little bit of a throwback. Some people might be turned off by that. I think it’s awesome.”
Between headlining a spring tour of smaller venues, recording an album of originals, releasing a greatest-hits package, and hitting the road with three other bands that came to attention the decade before last, Blues Traveler is clearly walking the line between looking back and moving forward.
“There’s a lot of fuel left in the tank,” Wilson said.
