Blues Traveler by Blues Traveler

Blues Traveler, the debut from the New Jersey jam band of the same name, came out on A&M Records in 1990. The group had come together in Princeton in 1987, and the record puts bandleader John Popper, who sings and plays harmonica, front and center.

The songs are long, loose-limbed workouts built on plain blues riffs, the kind of structure that leaves room for the band to stretch out, but Popper's harmonica keeps pulling the jams back into focus, darting and squealing over the top like a lead guitar. "But Anyway" is the one that stuck around, a rolling, upbeat singalong that radio kept coming back to years later, and "100 Years" turned up on the countdowns too. Travelers and Thieves came next.

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