''Blues Traveler'', the eponymous debut album from

Blues Traveler Blues Traveler (formerly known as "The Establishment" or "The Black Cat Jam" or "The Establishment Blues Band") is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. They are known for extensive use of segues in live performance ...

, was released on

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

in 1990. The album features "jam structures on basic

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

riffs" focused around the harmonica playing of band leader

John Popper John Popper (born March 29, 1967) is an American musician and songwriter, known as the co-founder, lead vocalist, and frontman of the rock band Blues Traveler. Early life John Popper was born in Chardon, Ohio. His father was a Hungarian immig ...

, which writer William Ruhlmann said gave the band a more focused sound than that of the

Grateful Dead The Grateful Dead was an American rock music, rock band formed in 1965 in Palo Alto, California. The band is known for its eclectic style, which fused elements of rock, Folk music, folk, country music, country, jazz, bluegrass music, bluegrass, ...

Track listing

# "

But Anyway "But Anyway" is a song by the jam band Blues Traveler, and the lead track on their 1990 eponymous debut album, ''Blues Traveler.'' The song peaked at number 5 on the Adult Alternative Airplay chart on 12 July 1996, and at number 24 on the ''Bil ...

" (

Chan Kinchla Chandler Kinchla, better known as Chan Kinchla, (born May 29, 1969) is a Canadian-American musician best known as the guitarist for the jam band Blues Traveler. Early life Kinchla was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Kinchla is the older br ...

) – 4:10 # "Gina" (Kinchla, Popper) – 4:03 # "Mulling It Over" (Kinchla, Popper) – 3:43 # "100 Years" (Popper) – 3:43 # "Dropping Some NYC" (Kinchla, Popper, Bobby Sheehan) – 3:19 # "Crystal Flame" (Kinchla, Popper) – 9:39 # "Slow Change" (Kinchla, Popper) – 4:54 # "Warmer Days" (Popper) – 4:55 # "Gotta Get Mean" (

Brendan Hill Brendan Colin Charles Hill (born 27 March 1970 in London, England) is an English-born American musician, best known as the drummer (and one of the co-founders) of the jam band Blues Traveler. History Hill is one of the original members of Blu ...

, Kinchla, Popper) – 3:49 # "Alone" (Popper) – 7:33 # "Sweet Talking Hippie" (Hill, Kinchla, Popper, Sheehan) – 6:22

Personnel

;Blues Traveler *John Popper – lead vocals, harmonica, 12-string acoustic guitar *Chan Kinchla – guitar *Bobby Sheehan – bass *Brendan Hill – drums, percussion ;Additional personnel *

Chris Barron Chris Barron (born Christopher Gross; born February 5, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of Spin Doctors. Biography Christopher Gross was born February 5, 1968, in Honolulu, where his father was statio ...

, Justin Niebank, Kevin Traynor – backing vocals on "Dropping Some NYC" *

Joan Osborne Joan Elizabeth Osborne (born July 8, 1962) is an American singer, songwriter, and interpreter of music, having recorded and performed in various popular American musical genres including rock, pop, soul, R&B, blues, and country. She is best kn ...

– backing vocals on "100 Years" and "Warmer Days" *

Howie Wyeth Howard Pyle Wyeth (April 22, 1944 – March 27, 1996), also known as Howie Wyeth, was an American drummer and pianist. Wyeth is remembered for work with the saxophonist James Moody, the rockabilly singer Robert Gordon, the electric guitarist L ...

– piano on "Warmer Days" *

Arnie Lawrence Arnold Lawrence Finkelstein (July 10, 1938 in Brooklyn, New York – April 22, 2005 in Jerusalem, Israel) was an American jazz saxophonist. Career Lawrence studied clarinet in his youth before switching to saxophone. He played from age 12 in clu ...

– soprano saxophone on "100 Years"

Certifications

References

Blues Traveler albums 1990 debut albums A&M Records albums {{1990s-rock-album-stub