Blues Traveler

In recent years, the extent of the press that Blues Traveler received was due to the mainstream media's coverage of vocalist John Popper and his massive weight loss due to extreme surgery. North Hollywood Shootout will refocus all eyes and interest on the band's music. Popper remains deft with his harmonica, which pushes itself to the center of every song, while the band's jammy, Middle America-friendly music leaps out of your speakers. Everything about Blues Traveler and this release breezes by your ears with uplifting attitude.

"You, Me and Everything" is a juicy slice of adult contemporary pie that even fans of Dave Matthews Band will be willing to sink their fangs into. We're not gonna lie. The record does have a bit of a hippie cast to it, and that's perfectly acceptable for the granola crunching set! Songs like "Love Does" and the rawkin' "The Beacons" and "Orange in the Sun" are the types of songs that you listen to while barefoot and enjoying a longer-than-expected summer weekend. Popper may have formed the band in New Jersey, but the music is ripe for the taking for red-blooded Americans that nest in any part of the country. There's a universal, almost uniquely Americana appeal to the music due to BT's seamless, effortless fusion of blues, funk, folk and rock. Few bands can pull the blend off, but Popper does it in a way that's simple and effective. The album features a few ballads, but they're never offputtingly sentimental.

Blues Traveler may have peaked in the 1990s during the alt rock zeitgeist, but Popper and crew continue to come to work every day, outfitted with decidedly Americana and neo-folk tunes in their arsenal of tricks.

— Amy Sciarretto
09.18.08

Unlike so many of their jam band peers in the '90s, Blues Traveler had a genuine Top Ten hit with 1995's "Run-Around" -- and unlike the Spin Doctors, their only possible rival in the jam band single race, they didn't implode after their success; they kept rolling, staying on the road and churning out record after record until they faded from the charts. The hits stopped coming and the major-label contract ceased, developments that made the group seem like old-fashioned journeymen, a working band delivering on the promise of its name. On record, this meant they ran lean and sometimes experimental, cutting back to basics on The Bridge and stretching out on Bastardos!, moves that pleased fans. But a switch apparently flipped within the group, and Blues Traveler decided they had spent enough time playing for the faithful, so they signed with Verve Forecast -- their largest label since parting from A&M/Interscope at the turn of the millennium -- and turned in North Hollywood Shootout, which defies all expectations by being Blues Traveler's first full-fledged AAA pop album, a collection of songs with sanded melodies that have the veneer of adult pop and perhaps would be if they weren't sung by John Popper, whose harmonica is often buried deep in the mix. North Hollywood Shootout kicks off with a slowly creeping fog of keyboards, subdued rhythm, and mellow strumming. "Forever Owed" does such a good job of establishing a quiet, serene mood that it comes as no surprise when the drum loops and synthesized squawks surface on the second song, "You, Me and Everything." Still, the bandmembers crank their amps slightly on a couple of occasions, grinding out bluesy three-chord riffs and at one point inviting Bruce Willis in for a free-form rant called "Free Willis," which isn't nearly as strange as it thinks it is. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide