Music
Blues Traveler made an album with Hanson, Jewel, and Plain White T's
by Josiah Hughes
February 18, 2015
Blues Traveler’s iconic, neon-green four LP was a certified classic. Thanks to their blend of blues, jam rock, Barenaked Ladies-style pop and John Popper’s bleeting harmonica, not to mention the fact that your dad was stacking up 10 CDs for a penny or whatever through Columbia House, the album went platinum six times over.
Despite some setbacks — including the drug overdose death of bassist Bobby Sheehan in 1999 — Blues Traveler have kept on blues travelin’ with a steady stream of new albums and live shows. In 2012, they released their eleventh studio album Suzie Cracks the Whip, but they’re about to outdo themselves with their most ridiculous project yet.
Called Blow Up the Moon, the album sees Blues Traveler working with a diverse batch of musicians. And when we say diverse, we mean, like, batshit crazy diverse.
In fact, the album sees the harmonica-honkin’ blues band jamming out with what might be the most bizarre collection of musicians ever assembled. The release includes appearances from brotherly MMM boppers Hanson, folk poet Jewel, pop-punk one-hit wonders Plain White Ts and Bowling for Soup, and even JC Chasez from *NSYNC.
Curious how the Trav would sound when mixed with 3OH!3, the screamo-meets-crunkcore duo? Don’t worry, they’re on there. So is emo act Secondhand Serenade, country outfit Thompson Square, major-label rock act New Hollow and Thomas Ian Nicholas — the actor from Rookie of the Year and American Pie who’s now a solo folk dude.
But wait, there’s more. Blow Up the Moon also features Rome Ramirez, the vocalist best known for his titular role in the post-Sublime project Sublime with Rome. He appears on the album’s tropical-flavoured first single “Castaway” along with a ska band called “Dirty Heads,” which you can listen to below.
In a press release, our boy John Popper naturally compared the album to the music of The Beatles. “We wanted to experiment with co-writing since we usually try to do everything in-house, in this misguided homage to The Beatles,” he said, adding, “We found quality writers to see what they could bring to us as a band, and also people who could see our strengths, something that’s hard to see for yourself.”
Blow Up the Moon will blow up your preconceived notions of what Blues Traveler can sound like when it arrives on April 7 via Loud & Proud Records.
