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Hank Williams Jr.

Randall Hank Williams (born May 26, 1949), known professionally as Hank Williams Jr. or Bocephus, is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His musical style has been described as a blend of rock, blues, and country. He is the son of country musician Hank Williams and the father of musicians Holly Williams and Hank Williams III, and the grandfather of Coleman Williams. He is also the half brother of Jett Williams.

Williams began his career following in his famed father's footsteps, covering his father's songs and imitating his father's style. Williams' first television appearance was in a December 1963 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show, in which at age fourteen he sang several songs associated with his father. Later that year, he was a guest star on Shindig!

As Williams struggled to define his own voice and place within the country music genre, his style began slowly to evolve. His career was interrupted by a near-fatal fall while Williams was climbing Ajax Peak in Montana on August 8, 1975. After an extended recovery, he rebuilt his career in the country rock scene. As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams' repertoire of musical instrument skills includes guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, dobro, piano, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, fiddle, and drums. In 2020, Williams Jr. was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Early life
Williams was born Randall Hank Williams on May 26, 1949, in Shreveport, Louisiana. His father nicknamed him Bocephus (after Grand Ole Opry comedian Rod Brasfield's ventriloquist dummy). After his father's death in 1953, he was raised by his mother, Audrey Williams.

While he was a child, Williams was influenced by a number of contemporary musicians who visited his family and taught him various musical instruments and styles. Among these figures of influence were Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash, Fats Domino, Earl Scruggs, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis. Williams first stepped onto the stage and sang his father's songs when he was eight years old.

He attended John Overton High School in Nashville, Tennessee, where he would bring his guitar to music class and play for pep rallies and performances with the choir.

Career
In 1964, Williams made his recording debut with "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", one of his father's many classic songs.

He provided the singing voice of his father in the 1964 film Your Cheatin' Heart. He also recorded an album of duets with recordings of his father.

A change in appearance and musical direction
Although Williams' recordings earned him numerous country hits throughout the 1960s and early 1970s with his role as a "Hank Williams impersonator", he became disillusioned and severed ties with his mother.

By the mid-1970s Williams began to pursue a musical direction that would eventually make him a superstar. While recording a series of moderately successful songs, Williams began a pattern of heavy drug and alcohol abuse. Upon moving to Alabama, in an attempt to refocus both his creative energy and his troubled personal life, Williams began playing music with Southern rock musicians including Waylon Jennings, Toy Caldwell, and Charlie Daniels. Hank Williams Jr. and Friends (1975), often considered his watershed album, was the product of these then-groundbreaking collaborations.

On August 8, 1975, Williams was nearly killed while mountain climbing in southwestern Montana. While climbing Ajax Peak on the continental divide (Idaho border) west of Jackson, the snow beneath Williams collapsed and he fell almost 500 ft onto rock, causing multiple severe skull and facial fractures. Williams spent two years recovering, re-learning how to talk and sing, and undergoing 17 surgeries to repair his skull and reconstruct his face. The accident was chronicled in the semi-autobiographical, made-for-television film Living Proof: The Hank Williams Jr. Story. To hide his scars and disfigurement from the accident, Williams grew a beard and began wearing sunglasses and a cowboy hat. The beard, hat, and sunglasses have since become Williams' signature look.

In 1977, Williams recorded and released One Night Stands and The New South, and worked closely with his old friend Waylon Jennings on the song "Once and For All". In 1980, he appeared on the PBS show Austin City Limits during Season 5, along with the Shake Russell-Dana Cooper Band.

Country music career

In 1976, Rolling Stone wrote that Williams' "mainstream country material has always been among Nashville's best".

He was prolific throughout the 1980s, sometimes recording and releasing two albums a year. Family Tradition, Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound, Habits Old and New, Rowdy, The Pressure Is On, High Notes, Strong Stuff, Man of Steel, Major Moves, Five-O, Montana Cafe, and many others resulted in a long string of hits.

Between 1979 and 1992, Williams released 21 albums—18 studio albums and three compilations—that were all certified at least gold by the RIAA. Between 1979 and 1990, he enjoyed a string of 30 Top Ten singles on the Billboard Country charts, including eight No. 1 singles, for a total of 44 Top Ten singles, including a total of 10 No. 1 singles, during his career.

In 1982, he had nine albums simultaneously on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart, all of which were original works and not compilations. In 1987–88, Williams was named Entertainer of the Year by the Country Music Association. In 1987, 1988, and 1989, he won the same award from the Academy of Country Music. The pinnacle album of his acceptance and popularity was Born to Boogie.

During the 1980s, Williams Jr. became a country music superstar known for catchy anthems and hard-edged, rock-influenced country. During the late 1970s and into the mid-1980s, Williams' songs constantly flew into the number one or number two spots, with songs such as "Family Tradition", "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound", "Old Habits", "Ain't Misbehavin, "Born to Boogie", and "My Name Is Bocephus".

The hit single "Wild Streak" (1987) was co-written by Houston native Terri Sharp, for which Williams and Sharp both earned gold records. In 1988, he released a Southern pride song, "If the South Woulda Won". The reference is to a notional Southern victory in the Civil War.

His 1989 hit "There's a Tear in My Beer" was a duet with his father created using electronic merging technology. The song was written by his father, and had been previously recorded with Hank Williams playing the guitar as the sole instrument. The music video for the song combined existing television footage of Hank Williams performing, onto which electronic merging technology impressed the recordings of Williams, which then made it appear as if he were actually playing with his father. The video was both a critical and commercial success. It was named Video of the Year by both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. Williams would go on to win a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Country Vocal Collaboration.

He is well known for his hit "A Country Boy Can Survive" and as the performer of the theme song for Monday Night Football, based on his 1984 hit "All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight". In 1991, 1992, 1993, and 1994, Williams' opening themes for Monday Night Football earned him four Emmy Awards. In 2000, he provided the voice of Injun Joe in Tom Sawyer. In 2001, Williams Jr. co-wrote his classic hit "A Country Boy Can Survive" after 9/11, renaming it "America Can Survive". In 2004, Williams was featured prominently on CMT Outlaws. In 2006, he starred at the Summerfest concert.

He has also made a cameo appearance along with Larry the Cable Guy, Kid Rock, and Charlie Daniels in Gretchen Wilson's music video for the song "All Jacked Up". He and Kid Rock also appeared in Wilson's "Redneck Woman" video. Hank also had a small part of Kid Rock's video "Only God Knows Why", and "Redneck Paradise".

In April 2009, Williams released a new single, "Red, White & Pink-Slip Blues", which peaked at number 43 on the country charts. The song was the lead-off single to Williams' album 127 Rose Avenue. The album debuted and peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Also in July 2009, 127 Rose Avenue was announced as his last album for Curb Records.

Musical style
As a multi-instrumentalist, Williams' repertoire of skills includes guitar, bass guitar, upright bass, steel guitar, banjo, Resonator guitar, piano, keyboards, saxophone, harmonica, fiddle, and drums. Williams began his recording career performing covers of his father's songs. Despite catering to the country music market, Williams preferred to listen to rhythm and blues. Williams also recorded singles under the name Luke the Drifter Jr. (a reference to his father's alias "Luke the Drifter"), rock and roll singles under the aliases Rockin' Randall and Bocephus (a nickname given to him by his father), and blues under the name Thunderhead Hawkins. Williams' music has been categorized as country rock, blues rock, southern rock, outlaw country, rockabilly and rock and roll.

Legacy
Artists who have cited Hank Williams Jr. as an influence include Delta Generators, Walker Hayes, Sam Hunt, Davin James, Shooter Jennings, Wayne Mills, The Sickstring Outlaws and Gretchen Wilson.

On April 10, 2006, CMT honored Williams with the Johnny Cash Visionary Award, presenting it to him at the 2006 CMT Music Awards. On November 11, 2008, Williams was honored as a BMI Icon at the 56th annual BMI Country Awards. The artists and songwriters named BMI Icons have had "a unique and indelible influence on generations of music makers".

In 2015, Williams was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. On August 12, 2020, Williams was selected to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Personal life
His daughter Katherine Williams-Dunning, the only one of his five children to not pursue a music career, died in a car crash on June 13, 2020, at age 27. His son Shelton performs as Hank Williams III; his other children include Holly Williams who is also a musician, as is his grandson Coleman Williams (Hank III's son), who performs under the sobriquet "IV". His wife Mary Jane Thomas died on March 22, 2022, aged 58, after complications from a liposuction.

Politics
Williams has been politically involved with the Republican Party. For the 2000 U.S. presidential election, he rerecorded his song "We Are Young Country" to "This is Bush-Cheney Country". On October 15, 2008, at a rally in Virginia Beach for Republican presidential nominee John McCain, he performed "McCain-Palin Tradition", a song in support of McCain and his running mate, Sarah Palin. He has contributed to federal election campaigns, mostly to Republicans, including Michele Bachmann's 2012 presidential campaign. However, he has donated to some Democrats in the past, most notably Jim Cooper and John S. Tanner.

In November 2008, Williams considered a run for the 2012 Republican nomination as a U.S. Senator from Tennessee for the seat held by GOP incumbent Bob Corker, although his publicist said regarding Williams "no announcement has been made". Williams ultimately did not run.

2011 Fox and Friends controversy
In an October 3, 2011, interview with Fox News Channel's Fox & Friends, Williams discussed a June golf game where President Barack Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner had teamed against Vice President Joe Biden and Ohio Governor John Kasich, saying the match was "one of the biggest political mistakes ever". When asked why the golf game troubled him, Williams stated, "Come on. That'd be like Hitler playing golf with Netanyahu ... in the shape this country is in?" He also said that the President and Vice President were "the enemy" and compared them to "the Three Stooges". Later, anchor Gretchen Carlson said to him, "You used the name of one of the most hated people in all of the world to describe, I think, the president." Williams replied, "Well, that is true. But I'm telling you like it is." As a result of his statements, ESPN dropped Williams' opening song from its Monday Night Football broadcast of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers versus the Indianapolis Colts and replaced it with the national anthem.

Williams later said his analogy was "extreme – but it was to make a point", and "some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood ... I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me – how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites, and it made no sense. They don't see eye to eye and never will". Additionally, Williams said he has "always respected the office of the president ... Working-class people are hurting – and it doesn't seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change". ESPN later said it was "extremely disappointed" in Williams' comments, and pulled his opening from that night's broadcast.

Three days later, ESPN announced Williams and his song would not return to Monday Night Football, ending the use of the song that had been part of the broadcast on both ABC and ESPN since 1989. Williams expressed defiance and indifference on his website, and said he was the one who had made the decision. "After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision," he wrote. "By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run." Williams' son, Hank Williams III, stayed neutral in the debate, telling TMZ.com that most musicians, including his father, are "not worthy" of a political discussion.

After his song was pulled from Monday Night Football, Williams recorded a song criticizing Obama, ESPN and Fox & Friends, titled "Keep the Change". He released the track on iTunes and via free download at his website. The song garnered over 180,000 downloads in two days.

Williams continued to make his opinions of Obama known and during a performance at the Iowa State Fair in August 2012, he called Obama a Muslim telling the crowd, "We've got a Muslim president who hates farming, hates the military, hates the U.S. and we hate him!"

Discography

 * Your Cheatin' Heart (1964)
 * Connie Francis and Hank Williams Jr. Sing Great Country Favorites (1964)
 * Ballads of the Hills and Plains (1965)
 * Blues My Name (1965)
 * Country Shadows (1966)
 * A Time to Sing (1967)
 * My Own Way (1967)
 * My Songs (1967)
 * Luke The Drifter Jr. (1968)
 * Songs My Father Left Me (1969)
 * Luke the Drifter Jr. Vol. 2 (1969)
 * Live at Cobo Hall (1969)
 * Sunday Morning (1969)
 * Removing The Shadow (1970)
 * Luke The Drifter Jr. Vol. 3 (1970)
 * Singing My Songs: Johnny Cash (1970)
 * I've Got A Right To Cry (1971)
 * Sweet Dreams (1971)
 * All For The Love of Sunshine (1971)
 * Whole Lotta Loving (1972)
 * Eleven Roses (1972)
 * After You, Pride's Not Hard to Swallow (1973)
 * Living Proof (1974)
 * The Last Love Song (1974)
 * Bocephus (1975)
 * Hank Williams Jr. and Friends (1975)
 * One Night Stands (1977)
 * The New South (1977)
 * Family Tradition (1979)
 * Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound (1979)
 * Habits Old and New (1980)
 * Rowdy (1981)
 * The Pressure Is On (1981)
 * High Notes (1982)
 * Strong Stuff (1983)
 * Man of Steel (1983)
 * Major Moves (1984)
 * Five-O (1985)
 * Montana Cafe (1986)
 * Hank Live (1987)
 * Born to Boogie (1987)
 * Wild Streak (1988)
 * Lone Wolf (1990)
 * Pure Hank (1991)
 * Maverick (1992)
 * Out of Left Field (1993)
 * Hog Wild (1995)
 * A.K.A. Wham Bam Sam (1996)
 * Three Hanks: Men with Broken Hearts (1996)
 * Stormy (1999)
 * The Almeria Club Recordings (2002)
 * I'm One of You (2003)
 * 127 Rose Avenue (2009)
 * Old School New Rules (2012)
 * It's About Time (2016)
 * Rich White Honky Blues (2022)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Hank Williams Jr.


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Homer's Odyssey (The Simpsons)

"Homer's Odyssey" is the third episode of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on Fox in the United States on January 21, 1990. In this episode, Homer becomes a crusader for safety in Springfield and is promoted to safety inspector at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. The episode was written by Jay Kogen and Wallace Wolodarsky and was the first Simpsons script to be completed, although it was the third episode produced.

Plot
Mrs. Krabappel takes Bart's class on a field trip to the Springfield Nuclear Power Plant. Distracted when Bart waves at him, Homer crashes an electric cart into a cooling vent and is fired. Homer searches for a new job without success. Feeling like a failure, he writes a note to his family and decides to commit suicide by tying a boulder to himself and jumping off a bridge.

His family hurries to the bridge to save him, but they are almost run over by a speeding truck. Homer pulls them to safety just in time, and he is suddenly filled with a new reason to live: to place a stop sign at the dangerous intersection. After successfully petitioning the city council, Homer embarks on a public safety crusade that involves placing speed bumps and warning signs throughout the town.

Inspired to use his new safety efforts in order to not give up on finding a new job, Homer takes on the biggest danger in Springfield, the nuclear power plant. After Homer rallies people to his cause, Mr. Burns decides to end the furor he is creating by offering him a new position as the plant safety inspector, along with a higher salary. Homer, torn between his principles and his livelihood, tearfully tells his followers that they must fight their battles on their own from this point on, and takes the job.

Cast

 * Dan Castellaneta as Homer Simpson, Barney Gumble, Mr. Winfield, City Council #1 and City Council #3
 * Julie Kavner as Marge Simpson
 * Nancy Cartwright as Bart Simpson, Lewis and Actor
 * Yeardley Smith as Inanimate Carbon Rod #2 and Lisa Simpson
 * Harry Shearer as Otto, Waylon Smithers, Smilin' Joe Fission, SNPP Supervisor, Loaftime Announcer, Jasper, City Council #2, City Council #1 (take 2) and Demonstrator
 * Marcia Wallace as Edna Krabappel
 * Hank Azaria as Moe Szyslak and Chief Wiggum
 * Christopher Collins as Mr. Burns
 * Pamela Hayden as Wendell
 * Sam McMurray as SNPP Employee and Duff Commercial VO
 * Russi Taylor as Sherri, Terri, Inanimate Carbon Road #1 and Mrs. Winfield

Production

Waylon Smithers makes his first appearance in this episode, although he can be heard over a speaker in the series premiere. In his first visual appearance, he was mistakenly animated with the wrong color and was made an African American by Györgyi Peluce, the color stylist. David Silverman has claimed that Smithers was always intended to be Mr. Burns's "white sycophant", and the staff thought it "would be a bad idea to have a black subservient character" and so switched him to his intended color for his next episode. Smithers's skin tone was later explained as an "extreme tan".

Blinky the Three-Eyed Fish makes a brief cameo in this episode; he later becomes of importance in episode four of the second season, "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish". Also notable is that Marge was originally called Juliette in this script as a homage to Romeo and Juliet. Homer's middle initial, J, is mentioned for the first time in this episode. According to Matt Groening, it was a reference to Bullwinkle J. Moose. Additionally, the following characters made their first appearances in this episode: Otto Mann, Chief Wiggum, Jasper Beardley, Sam & Larry, Mr. & Mrs. Winfield and Sherri and Terri.

The episode's title comes from the Greek epic poem Odyssey, traditionally attributed to the legendary poet Homer. On the bus, Bart sings "John Henry was a Steel Driving Man", an American folk-song about a 19th-century hero of the working-class, building railroads across the West Virginia mountains.

Reception
In its original broadcast, "Homer's Odyssey" finished twenty-eight in ratings for the week of January 15–21, 1990, with a Nielsen rating of 14.9, equivalent to approximately 13.7 million viewing households. It was the highest-rated show on the Fox network that week, beating Married... with Children.

Since airing, the episode has received mixed reviews from television critics. Warren Martyn and Adrian Wood, authors of the book I Can't Believe It's a Bigger and Better Updated Unofficial Simpsons Guide, said that "the story rather fizzles out at the end, but there are many good moments, especially in the power plant".

Colin Jacobson at DVD Movie Guide said in a review that the episode is "possibly the best of the [first six] shows" and that it "suffers a little from an odd tone, as the characters hadn't become settled. Still, it seems surprisingly clever and witty."

In September 2001, in a DVD review of the first season, David B. Grelck rated the episode $1 1/2$ (of 5) and called it "the first season at its worst", continuing that it was "notable for introducing Mr. Burns and (a strangely African-American) Smithers, but otherwise boring and preachy".

Home media
The episode was released first on home video in the United Kingdom, as part of a VHS release titled The Simpsons Collection, in which it was paired with the sixth episode of the season, "Moaning Lisa". In the United Kingdom, it was once re-released as part of a VHS boxed set of the complete first season, released in November 1999.

In the United States, the episode would finally see the home video release as a part of The Simpsons Season One DVD set, which was released on September 25, 2001. Groening, Archer, Kogen, and Wolodarsky participated in the DVD's audio commentary. A digital edition of the series' first season was published December 20, 2010, in the United States containing the episode, through Amazon Video and iTunes.

title: Homer's Odyssey (The Simpsons)


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Indigo Girls

Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part of the Atlanta metropolitan area. They started performing with the name Indigo Girls as students at Emory University, performing weekly at The Dugout, a bar in Emory Village.

They released a full-length record album entitled Strange Fire in 1987, and contracted with a major record company in 1988. After releasing nine albums with major record labels from 1987 through 2007, they formed the IG Recordings company in 2009 and resumed self-producing albums.

Outside of working on Indigo Girls–related projects, Ray has released solo albums and founded a non-profit recording label that promotes independent musicians. Saliers is an entrepreneur in the restaurant industry as well as a professional author; she also collaborates with her father, Don Saliers, in performing for special groups and causes. Saliers and Ray are both lesbians, though not a romantic couple, and are active in political and environmental causes. They are regarded as queer icons.

Early years
Amy Ray and Emily Saliers first met and got to know each other as students at Laurel Ridge Elementary School in DeKalb County, Georgia, just outside Decatur, Georgia, but were not close friends because Saliers was a grade older than Ray. While attending Shamrock High School (now Druid Hills Middle School), they became better acquainted, and started performing together, first as "The B-Band" and then as "Saliers and Ray".

Saliers graduated and began attending Tulane University in Louisiana. A year later, Ray graduated high school and began attending Vanderbilt University in Tennessee. Homesick, both returned to Georgia and transferred to Emory University in Atlanta (where Saliers' father was a professor). By 1985, they had begun performing together again, this time as Indigo Girls. Saliers stated in a March 2007 National Public Radio Talk of the Nation interview, "we needed a name and we went through the dictionary looking for words that struck us and indigo was one."

Their first release in 1985 was a seven-inch single named "Crazy Game", with the B-side "Everybody's Waiting (for Someone to Come Home)". That same year, the Indigo Girls released a six-track extended play album named Indigo Girls, and in 1987 released their first full-length album, Strange Fire, recorded at John Keane Studio in Athens, Georgia, and including "Crazy Game". With this release, they secured the services of Russell Carter, who remains their manager to the present; they had first approached him when the EP album was released, but he told them their songs were "immature" and they were not likely to get a record deal. Strange Fire apparently changed his opinion.

Epic Records (1988–2006)
The success of 10,000 Maniacs, Tracy Chapman, and Suzanne Vega encouraged Epic Records to enlist other folk-based female singer-songwriters; Epic signed the duo in 1988. Their first major-label release, also named Indigo Girls, which scored No. 22 on the album chart, included a new version of "Land of Canaan", which was also on their 1985 EP album and on Strange Fire. Also on the self-titled release was their first hit "Closer to Fine" (a collaboration with Irish band Hothouse Flowers), which scored No. 52 on the popular music chart and No. 26 on the modern rock chart. They even managed one week on the mainstream rock album-oriented rock music chart at No. 48. In 1990, they won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Folk Album.

Their second album, Nomads Indians Saints, went gold in December 1991 and included the hit song "Hammer and a Nail", a No. 12 modern rock music track; it was not as successful as their first, which was certified platinum at about the same time. The Indigo Girls followed it with the live Back on the Bus, Y'all and 1992's album Rites of Passage, featuring the song "Galileo", the duo's first top 10 modern rock music track (#10). During the accompanying tour in December, they invited on a few dates Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie and the Banshees as special guest to sing a couple of songs with them. They then recorded Swamp Ophelia in 1994, which went platinum in September 1996, and charted at No. 9 on the Billboard 200 album chart.

In 1995, the Indigo Girls released a live, double CD, 1200 Curfews. Shaming of the Sun was released in 1997 followed by Come on Now Social in 1999. Shaming of the Sun debuted at number seven on the Billboard charts, driven by the duo's contribution to the Lilith Fair music festival tour. The track "Shame on You" received more airplay on adult alternative, top 40 and adult top 40 radio stations than any of their previous singles, although this seemed to be a peak in their crossover success.

Retrospective, a compilation album with two new tracks, was released in 2000 and Become You followed two years later. Their last Epic studio album was All That We Let In, released in 2004 with an accompanying tour. On June 14, 2005, they released Rarities, a collection of B-sides and rare tracks partially decided by fans' input, which fulfilled the album count obligation for their contract with Epic.

Hollywood Records (2006–07)
After departing Epic, the Indigo Girls signed a five-record deal with Hollywood Records. Their first (and only) Hollywood album, Despite Our Differences, produced by Mitchell Froom, was released on September 19, 2006. John Metzger from MusicBox Online described Despite our Differences as "the most infectious, pop-infused set that the duo ever has managed to concoct. In fact, its melodies, harmonies, and arrangements are so ingratiating that the album carries the weight of an instant classic." Thom Jurek from AllMusic wrote: "part of an emotional journey as complete as can be. More relevant than anyone dared expect. It's accessible and moving and true. It's their own brand of rock & roll, hewn from over the years, that bears a signature that is now indelible. A moving, and utterly poetic offering."

After releasing Despite Our Differences, the Indigo Girls' contract was terminated by Hollywood Records during their 2007 tour.

Independent work (2007–present)
Following their break with Hollywood Records, the Indigo Girls announced their next record would be released independently. Poseidon and the Bitter Bug was released on March 24, 2009, from IG Recordings, the Indigo Girls' label, and distributed through Vanguard Records. This album is their first fully independent release since 1987's Strange Fire, and their first two-CD set since 1995's live album 1200 Curfews; the first disc has the 10 tracks accompanied by a backing band, and the second includes the same 10 songs with only Ray and Saliers on vocals and acoustic guitars, and an additional track. On June 29, 2010 Indigo Girls' second full-length live album, Staring Down the Brilliant Dream, was released on IG Recordings/Vanguard Records. This was followed on October 12, 2010 with their first holiday album Holly Happy Days. Indigo Girls' thirteenth studio album, Beauty Queen Sister, was released on October 4, 2011, and their fourteenth studio album, One Lost Day, was released on June 2, 2015 (both on IG Recordings/Vanguard Records).

Beginning in 2017, the Indigo Girls have toured the United States performing their music arranged for symphony orchestra. After more than 50 performances, in 2018 they released a live double album entitled Indigo Girls Live with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra. In 2020, they followed this with the studio album Look Long.

Songwriting and influences
Ray and Saliers do not ordinarily collaborate in writing songs. Saliers described herself as "a lyric person. [...] I’ve always respected Joni Mitchell and Bob Dylan". Saliers said: "Amy is much more a combination of music and lyrics. She really likes alternative rock a lot, and she likes the feel of certain kinds music as well as the lyrics. Amy is more stream-of-consciousness. She doesn’t censor herself at all; she just channels it through herself, so in her lyrics, she has tons of different kinds of images, sensual images, things of the earth, that connection to nature. Mine is a much more singer-songwriter intellectual narrative style. I take an idea and try to really pinpoint it, make it as clear as possible".

They write separately and work out the arrangements together. There are a few exceptions, mostly unreleased songs from their early, pre-Epic days: "I Don't Know Your Name" and "If You Live Like That." "Blood Quantum", which appears on Honor: A Benefit for the Honor the Earth Campaign featured Ray's verses and chorus and Saliers's bridge. Finally, "I'll Give You My Skin", which appears both on Tame Yourself (a benefit album for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and on the Indigo Girls release Rarities, is a collaborative work by Ray, Saliers, and Michael Stipe, which is doubly rare because Saliers and Ray usually write their songs without outside collaborators. For their 2002 release, 'Become You,' Ray reported that they handed instruments back and forth to compose leads collaboratively, something they had never done before. In September 2020, the Indigo Girls released "Long Ride", the first song Ray and Saliers had written together in 30 years.

Touring band
The Indigo Girls have toured as a duo and with a band. In 1990, they toured with Atlanta band the Ellen James Society backing them; they have also toured with side players, with one distinct group from 1991 to 1998, a second from 1999 to 2009, members of which appeared on all of the Girls' subsequent albums and which re-formed as a live band in 2023, and a third from 2012 to 2016.

 * First touring band
 * Budgie – drums (1992)
 * Gail Ann Dorsey – bass guitar, support vocals (1994)
 * Sara Lee – bass guitar (1991–98)
 * Jerry Marotta – drums, percussion (1992–98)
 * Scarlet Rivera – violin (1992)
 * Jane Scarpantoni – cello (1992)
 * Joshua Segal – guitar, violin, mandolin, vocals (1997)

 * Second touring band
 * Brady Blade – drums (2002–04, 2023)
 * Matt Chamberlain – drums (2006–2009)
 * Blair Cunningham – drums (2000)
 * Caroline Dale – cello (1999)
 * Jeff Fielder – guitar (2023)
 * Lyris Hung – violin (2012–present)
 * Carol Isaacs – keyboards, accordion (1999–2007, 2023)
 * Clare Kenny – bass guitar (1999–2007, 2023)
 * Caroline Lavelle – cello (2000)
 * Matt Brubeck - cello, percussion, vocals (2000)
 * John Reynolds – drums (1999)
 * Julie Wolf – keyboards, accordion (2007–11)

 * 2012-6 touring band
 * Jaron Pearlman – drums (2012–2016)
 * Benjamin Ryan Williams – bass (2012–2016)
 * Lyris Hung – violin (2012–present)

Solo projects
In 1990, Ray founded Daemon Records, which has signed Magnapop, Ellen James Society, New Mongrels, Kristen Hall, Rose Polenzani, Girlyman, Athens Boys Choir, and James Hall among others.

Saliers was a founding co-owner of Watershed Restaurant in Decatur, Georgia. She sold Watershed in 2018. Saliers was an initial investor in the Flying Biscuit Cafe in Atlanta, Georgia. In 2005, Saliers and her father, Don Saliers, a theology professor at Candler School of Theology at Emory University, released the book A Song to Sing, a Life to Live: Reflections on Music as Spiritual Practice. They promoted the release of the book together including several days of speaking and performing together at the Washington National Cathedral College in Washington D.C.

Ray has put out six solo albums, entitled Stag, Prom, Live from Knoxville, Didn't It Feel Kinder, Amy Ray: Live MVP, Lung of Love, Goodnight Tender and Holler through Daemon. She has toured with both The Butchies and her bands The Volunteers and the Amy Ray Band. Saliers also released a solo album, Murmuration Nation, in 2017.

Appearances in other media
Ray and Saliers appeared in the 1995 film Boys on the Side, playing short excerpts from their songs "Joking" and "Southland in the Springtime", as well as singing "Feliz Cumpleaños" ("Happy Birthday" in Spanish) with the gathered group of friends during the birthday cake scene, and standing on the far side of several shots over the next few scenes. Neither had spoken lines. The duo also appear in the 2006 documentary Wordplay, where they discuss their reaction to appearing in a New York Times crossword puzzle and then begin to solve one together.

They performed onstage in the 1994 revival of Jesus Christ Superstar in Atlanta, titled Jesus Christ Superstar: A Resurrection. Ray starred as Jesus with Saliers as Mary Magdalene. They later reprised their roles in stagings in Austin, at the South by Southwest (SXSW) festival, and in Seattle.

Ray and Saliers made several cameo appearances on the sitcom Ellen; in the episode "Womyn Fest", Ellen and her friends attend a feminist music festival and catch the end of a performance by the Indigo Girls.

The girls are mentioned multiple times in Stephen King's 1995 novel Rose Madder, and Curtis Sittenfeld's 2023 novel Romantic Comedy, as well as being name-dropped in various TV shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Will and Grace, South Park, 30 Rock, The Office, Squidbillies, The Big Bang Theory, Saturday Night Live, Harley Quinn and Nip\Tuck.

Their posters are seen on the British soap Brookside and the 1996 slasher film Scream.

The duo appeared onstage alongside standup comedian Tig Notaro during Notaro's 2018 show "Happy to be Here" at The Heights in Houston, Texas, as a closing bit, performing one song.

In the 2023 film Barbie, Barbie sings along to "Closer to Fine." The song appears three times in the film, as well as in its trailer.

A collection of Indigo Girls' songs is used in the jukebox musical movie Glitter and Doom, which has been touring movie festivals across North America. The film has no confirmed release date.

Personal lives
Both Ray and Saliers long identified themselves as lesbians and use she/her pronouns. More recently, Ray and Saliers have publicly commented that they are or previously have been sexually attracted to men in their lives, and that they identify as queer. More specifically, Ray has openly talked about her gender dysphoria and identifying as gender fluid, and the challenges she has felt in her own body. “I definitely still feel like a guy a lot of the time, but I guess I’ve just gotten to a place where like, ‘Well, I have fought really hard to be in this body and I’m just gonna stay here,’ and also felt somewhat evenly split between male and female to the point where I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can choose, like I think I’m gonna have to just live in the center,’” Ray said. Both Saliers and Ray have spoken openly about having internalized homophobia. Because of their engagements for LGBT rights, they are regarded as icons of the movement.

Amy Ray has long lived in the foothills of the North Georgia Mountains with her longtime partner, filmmaker Carrie Schrader from Seattle, whom she’s been with since 2001. In November 2013, Schrader gave birth to the couple’s child, Ozilline “Ozie” Graydon. Ozie is named after Ray’s grandmother, who was also the inspiration for the 1999 Indigo Girls song “Ozilline,” penned by Ray.

Saliers married her longtime girlfriend, former Indigo Girls tour manager Tristin Chipman, at New York City Hall in 2013. Chipman, a Canadian, is from Calgary, "but she spent most of her adult life in Toronto," according to Saliers between songs when performing onstage in Vancouver in 2013. The couple have a daughter, Cleo, born in November 2012.

Political activism
The Indigo Girls have been politically active, championing the causes of and held benefit concerts for the environment, gay rights, the rights of Native Americans, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty. For many years they incorporated a recycling and public outreach program into their road tours by including Greenpeace representative Stephanie Fairbanks in their road crew. They helped Winona LaDuke establish Honor the Earth, an organization dedicated to creating support and education for native environmental issues. After performing on the activist-oriented Spitfire Tour in 1999, Ray and Saliers joined forces with The Spitfire Agency to develop the Honor The Earth Tour, which visits colleges and Native communities, and raises money for their non-profit of the same name. Ray and Saliers have also appeared at the annual SOA Watch rallies, the March for Women's Lives, and several other rallies and protests.

In 2006 the Indigo Girls were featured in artist Pink's album I'm Not Dead in the song "Dear Mr. President", which Pink says is a political confrontation with George W. Bush about war, poverty, LGBT rights, abortion rights, and the No Child Left Behind Act. Returning the favor, Pink performed on the Indigo Girls' "Rock and Roll Heaven's Gate," which is about, among other things, sexism and heterosexism in the music industry.

In June 2007 the Indigo Girls were part of the multi-artist True Colors Tour 2007, on the tour's Las Vegas stop which benefited the Human Rights Campaign and other organizations that provide support to the LGBT community. The Indigo Girls performed again on the True Colors Tour 2008.

In April 2013, in response to criticism from transgender activists, the Indigo Girls issued a statement that they would play at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, but would protest the festival's "womyn-born womyn" policy from the stage, would donate any money received to trans activism, and would not return to the festival without "visible and concrete signs" that the policy would be changed.

In November 2017, the Indigo Girls were nominated to Out magazine's "OUT100" for 2017 in recognition of their work and their visibility.

The Indigo Girls are also members of the Canadian charity Artists Against Racism and have worked with them on awareness campaigns.

Live albums

 * Perfect World was released as a promo CD maxi single on March 1, 2004 together with 3 live tracks.

Other contributions

 * Deadicated (1991), covering "Uncle John's Band"
 * Put On Your Green Shoes (1993) – "Wild Wild Party In The Loquat Tree"
 * Joan Baez – Ring Them Bells (1995) – "Don't Think Twice"
 * Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation (1996) – "Free of Hope"
 * Burning London: The Clash Tribute (1999) – "Clampdown"
 * 107.1 KGSR Radio Austin – Broadcasts Vol. 10 (2002) – "Moment of Forgiveness"
 * WYEP Live and Direct: Volume 4 – On Air Performances (2002) – "Become You"
 * Pink – I'm Not Dead (2006) – "Dear Mr President"
 * Anne Murray – Anne Murray Duets: Friends & Legends (2007) – "A Little Good News"
 * Brandi Carlile – The Story (2007) – "Cannonball"
 * Metro: The Official Bootleg Series, Volume 1 (2010)
 * Where Have All the Flowers Gone: A Tribute to Pete Seeger, covering "Letter to Eve"
 * Looking Into You: A Tribute to Jackson Browne (2014) covering "Fountain Of Sorrow"
 * Joan Baez "75th Birthday Celebration" (2016) "The Water is Wide", "Don't Think Twice"

Live recording circulation
Indigo Girls allow fans to tape their shows, and appropriately gathered recordings can be traded, obtained for free from a number of sources.

Awards and nominations
Americana Music Honors & Awards

!Ref
 * 2022
 * Spirit of Americana/Free Speech Award
 * Indigo Girls
 * Won
 * Won

Women Songwriters Hall of Fame Pell Awards

 * 2019
 * Indigo Girls
 * Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
 * Won
 * Won

GLAAD Media Awards

 * 2003
 * Become You
 * Outstanding Music Album
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Grammy Awards

 * rowspan="2"|1990
 * Themselves
 * Best New Artist
 * Nominated
 * Indigo Girls
 * rowspan="2"|Best Contemporary Folk Recording
 * Won
 * 1991
 * "Hammer and a Nail"
 * Nominated
 * 1992
 * Back on the Bus, Y'all
 * rowspan="4"|Best Contemporary Folk Album
 * Nominated
 * 1993
 * Rites of Passage
 * Nominated
 * 1995
 * Swamp Ophelia
 * Nominated
 * 1998
 * Shaming of the Sun
 * Nominated
 * 1995
 * Swamp Ophelia
 * Nominated
 * 1998
 * Shaming of the Sun
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Pollstar Concert Industry Awards

!Ref.
 * 1990
 * Tour
 * Club Tour of the Year
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

title: Indigo Girls


text:
Black Star

Black Star or Blackstar may refer to:

Astronomy

 * Black star (semiclassical gravity), a theoretical star built using semiclassical gravity as an alternative to a black hole
 * Saturn, referred to as "Black Star" in ancient Judaeic belief
 * Black dwarf, a theoretical stellar remnant formed after cooling of a white dwarf to a sufficient level where heat is no longer emitted

Literature

 * Blackstar (novel), a 2013 novel by Josh Viola, based on the album Wish Upon a Blackstar by Celldweller
 * Blackstar, a character from Erin Hunter's Warriors series
 * The Black Star, a fantasy novel by Lin Carter
 * Black Star, a character in pulp fiction written by Johnston McCulley
 * Black Star, a 2018 novel by the Canadian author Maureen Medved

Companies and brands

 * Black Star (cider), a brand of cider produced by Brookfield Drinks
 * Black Star (fragrance), a perfume by Avril Lavigne
 * Black Star (photo agency), a New York-based photo agency founded in 1935
 * Black Star Canyon, an area in Orange County California
 * Black Star Line, a shipping line created by Marcus Garvey to repatriate African-Americans to Africa
 * Black Sex Link, or Black Star, a breed of chicken

Film and television

 * The Black Star (film), a 1922 German silent film
 * Blackstar (Arrow), a character in the series Arrow
 * Blackstar (TV series), a 1981 fantasy/science fiction cartoon by Filmation
 * Black Star (Soul Eater), a ninja assassin character in Soul Eater media
 * Black Stars, a set of characters from Sgt. Frog
 * Black Star, working title of the 1960 western Flaming Star
 * "Black Star", an episode of the series Space: 1999

Military

 * Blackstar (spacecraft), a rumored United States Air Force spaceplane
 * Black Star, or Type 54 pistol, Chinese pistols

Music

 * Blackstar Amplification, a UK-based manufacturer of guitar amplification and effects pedals

Bands

 * Black Star (rap duo), a hip hop group formed by rappers Yasiin Bey and Talib Kweli
 * Blackstar (band), a heavy metal band formed by former members of Carcass
 * Black Star, later named Motör Militia, a Bahraini thrash metal band
 * One of the aliases of jungle producer Rebel MC

Albums

 * Blackstar (album), a 2016 album by David Bowie
 * Black Stars (album), a 2001 album by Jason Moran
 * Mos Def & Talib Kweli Are Black Star, a 1998 album by Black Star
 * Blackstar, a 2003 album by Yahzarah
 * Black Star, a 2006 album by Timati

Songs

 * "Blackstar" (song), a 2015 song by David Bowie
 * "Black Star", a song by Elvis Presley from sessions for the film Flaming Star
 * "Black Star", a 1980 song by Touch (1980s band)
 * "Black Star", a 1984 track by Yngwie Malmsteen from Rising Force
 * "Blackstar", a 1985 song by Georgie Davis
 * "Black Star", a 1995 song by Radiohead from The Bends
 * "Black Star", a 1996 song by Carcass from Swansong
 * "Black Star", a 1996 song by Lustmord from Strange Attractor/Black Star
 * "Blackstar", a 2003 song by Yahzarah from Blackstar
 * "Black Star", a 2004 song by Peccatum from Lost in Reverie
 * "Black Star", a 2011 song by Avril Lavigne from Goodbye Lullaby
 * "BlackStar", a 2012 song by Carlos Jean
 * "Blackstar", a 2012 song by Celldweller from Wish Upon a Blackstar
 * "Black Star", a 2024 song by Static-X from Project Regeneration Vol. 2

Sports

 * Black Stars Basel, a football team based in Basel, Switzerland
 * Ghana national football team, nicknamed "Black Stars"

Other uses

 * Black Star of Africa, symbol of Africa or Ghana
 * Black Star (anarchist group), a Greek direct action group, also known as Mavro Asteri

title: Black Star


text:
Blues Traveler

Blues Traveler is an American rock band that formed in Princeton, New Jersey in 1987. They are known for their extensive use of segues in live performances, and could be considered a key part of the re-emerging jam band scene of the 1990s, spearheading the H.O.R.D.E. touring music festival.

The group comprises singer and harmonica player John Popper, guitarist Chan Kinchla, drummer Brendan Hill, bassist Tad Kinchla, and keyboardist Ben Wilson. Tad Kinchla and Ben Wilson joined the band following the death of original bassist Bobby Sheehan in 1999.

The general public is most familiar with the group from their hit singles "But Anyway", "Run-Around", "Hook", the latter two from their 1994 album four which sold several million copies. Fans are allowed to record the band's concerts.

Sheehan's death and Popper's struggle with obesity put a damper on the group's mainstream success, and A&M dropped the band in 2002. In the years following, the band has attempted to work with a number of independent labels and record producers.

Blues Traveler's latest album, Traveler's Blues, was released in July 2021, and was nominated by The Recording Academy for Best Traditional Blues album in the 2022 Grammy Awards.

Formation
The genesis of Blues Traveler was as a high school garage band formed in Princeton, New Jersey in the mid-1980s. Harmonicist, singer and guitarist John Popper and drummer Brendan Hill formed a group they called The Establishment (later renamed Blues Band) with Hill's brother on bass and a rotating roster of guitarists. The band produced a few cassette tape demos. In addition to some original songs, their repertoire included upbeat covers of "Gloria" and "The Battle Hymn of the Republic".

The group added guitarist and football player Chan Kinchla. Although he was a promising athlete, Kinchla decided to commit to playing music instead after a knee injury. Popper met bassist Bobby Sheehan and the two became good friends, with Sheehan becoming the new bass player for Blues Band in 1987.

The quartet held a basement jam session (later christened The Black Cat Jam) which spawned the core grooves for several songs on their first album. A black cat happened to be nearby, and the group took this as a sign and adopted the Black Cat as their mascot figure.

The group changed their name to Blues Traveler, taking the latter part from the name of the primary demon in the film Ghostbusters, Gozer the Traveler.

Early years
After graduating from Princeton High School and moving to New York City, Popper, Hill, and Sheehan enrolled in the music program at The New School while Kinchla attended New York University. Blues Traveler began playing gigs along the New York-area club circuit, sometimes nightly; the most prominent contract was playing Wednesday nights at a club called the Wetlands. Another bar, The Nightingale, was a regular gig, and later became the setting for the song "Defense and Desire".

The group shared an apartment on Bergen Street in Brooklyn, New York, along with their high school friend, singer Chris Barron. A second band that Popper and Hill founded, called The Trucking Company, soon became The Spin Doctors with Barron as their frontman. The two groups would often share the stage, playing non-stop concerts of multiple sets. Their first show together was at a Columbia University fraternity party. During this time, Blues Traveler acquired a devout follower, Gina-Z (subject of the band's song "Gina") who first became an unofficial "band mom" and later a tour manager, and is involved with the group's business to the present day.

At one New York show they were discovered by an A&M Records talent scout, Patrick Clifford, and the band signed their first recording contract. By 1990 all members had dropped out of college classes. The group also attracted the attention of David Graham, son of the world-famous concert promoter Bill Graham, and David Graham became the group's manager. Blues Traveler then started a relentless touring schedule, expanding their reach up and down the east coast.

First albums
Blues Traveler released their self-titled debut album in 1990, with the song "But Anyway" getting airplay on college radio stations. The album included Joan Osborne on backing vocals on two tracks.

A second album, Travelers and Thieves, followed in 1991. Upon Bill Graham's death that year, they released a live EP, On Tour Forever, as a tribute to Graham, which featured guitarist Carlos Santana.

Around this time, the mainstream national audience was exposed to Blues Traveler by television host David Letterman, who has introduced them as "[his] favorite band". The band has since made more appearances on The Late Show than any musical artist. Letterman's band leader Paul Shaffer has played on a number of Blues Traveler recordings.

In 1992, the group founded the H.O.R.D.E. festival as an alternative to others such as Lollapalooza, along with other bands such as Phish and Spin Doctors. Blues Traveler began recording their third album, Save His Soul. Recording was temporarily interrupted by John Popper's motorcycle accident, although the band resumed touring shortly thereafter with Popper in a wheelchair. Two singles were released from the album, "Defense & Desire" and "Conquer Me", which reached No. 34 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Mainstream breakthrough
The band's fourth album, titled four, was produced by the team of Michael Barbiero and Steve Thompson and released in late 1994. The upbeat pop single "Run-Around" became the group's first chart hit followed by "Hook". "Run-Around" won a Grammy Award and broke a record for most weeks on the chart.

Blues Traveler appeared at Woodstock '94 and later became an opening act for The Rolling Stones. The band played on the 1995 season premiere of Saturday Night Live as a last-minute replacement for Prince. They were featured in an episode of the sitcom Roseanne, and later recorded the show's theme song for its final season. The 1996 comedy film Kingpin featured the group playing their song "But Anyway" during the closing credits.

The group recorded the Johnny Rivers song "Secret Agent Man" for the film Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls at Icon Recording Studios in St. Louis, Missouri and the Bob Seger song "Get Out of Denver" for the film Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead, as well as Fats Domino's "I'm Walkin for Rebel Highway: Cool and the Crazy. Several previously recorded Blues Traveler songs were included on film soundtracks, including The Last Seduction, Speed, Very Bad Things, White Man's Burden, and The Truth About Cats & Dogs. The band also appeared in the film Blues Brothers 2000 and on its soundtrack, playing "Maybe I'm Wrong", an original composition with a classic blues-rock sound. Blues Traveler recorded the Sly & the Family Stone song "I Want to Take You Higher" for the NORML compilation album Hempilation and the John Lennon song "Imagine" for the Lennon tribute album Working Class Hero. The original song "Christmas" was included on the benefit album A Very Special Christmas 3.

The double live album Live from the Fall was released in 1996. It featured recordings from the band's autumn 1995 concerts and showcased the strength of the band's live performances.

The next studio album, Straight On till Morning, also produced by Barbiero/Thompson, was released in 1997. It achieved platinum status, reaching number 11 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, but did not perform as well as four. The single "Carolina Blues" peaked at number four on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.

By the end of 1998, the band had prepared a concept album called The Sun, The Storm and The Traveler, based on Aesop's fable of The North Wind and the Sun, and they planned to record it after a recess in the fall of 1999. That summer, John Popper had emergency heart surgery due to artery blockage, forcing the band to cancel their annual July 4 Red Rocks shows at the last minute.

During the hiatus, Popper released a solo album with a backing band consisting of drummer Carter Beauford and members of the group Cycomotogoat.

The band made an appearance performing as themselves in the 1998 movie Blues Brothers 2000 and the 1999 independent film Wildflowers, which had been filmed a couple of years earlier.

Sheehan's death and new lineup
On August 20, 1999, Bobby Sheehan was found dead in his New Orleans, Louisiana home, where he had been recording music with some friends the night before. Sheehan's death was ruled an accidental drug overdose, with cocaine, Valium, and heroin found in his system.

The remaining members of Blues Traveler convened and agreed that Sheehan would have wanted them to continue as a band. Auditions for a new bassist were held in concert, and included Chan Kinchla's younger brother Tad, who was unanimously determined to be the best choice for the role. Additionally, the band also auditioned for a permanent keyboardist -- an action Sheehan had often urged. In January 2000, Ben Wilson of the jump blues band Big Dave & the Ultrasonics was chosen, and has since become a central contributor to the band's songwriting.

The band discarded their concept album material, instead releasing a smaller online EP, Decisions of the Sky: A Traveler's Tale of Sun and Storm, and went to work collectively composing a new set of songs with the new lineup. The resulting album was Bridge, which had the working title Bridge Outta Brooklyn as a tribute to Sheehan (with both the acronym B.O.B. and his nickname "Brooklyn Bobby"). The songs "Girl Inside My Head" and "Just for Me" received airplay, but the album's sales fell somewhat short of expectations.

The live album What You and I Have Been Through and the compilation Travelogue: Blues Traveler Classics were both released in 2002.

Independent years

Blues Traveler were one of dozens of artists who were jettisoned as part of A&M's corporate restructuring. The band signed with Sanctuary Records for their next album, Truth Be Told, which achieved number 147 on The Top 200 chart. The band's 2003 Independence Day concerts at Red Rocks Amphitheatre were released on the CD Live on the Rocks and the DVD Thinnest of Air, and include Ziggy Marley singing on his father's song "No Woman, No Cry".

The band left Sanctuary for Vanguard Records and released ¡Bastardos!, which was produced by Wilco's Jay Bennett and was touted as the band's return to music that they wanted to play. The album charted at 49 on the Independent Albums, and a live EP of songs from the album was released to independent record stores. The group recorded "Rag Mama Rag" for the 2007 tribute album Endless Highway: The Music of The Band, as well as "Free Bird" for Under the Influence: A Jam Band Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd.

Blues Traveler have been featured on VH1's Behind the Music, A&E's Private Sessions, and Austin City Limits. The group recorded the title track to the Sandra Boynton children's album Dog Train, which was also used as the promotional music for the American Kennel Club's National Championship event. The band's music has been used in video games (NASCAR 2000) and commercials (Busch Beer). The songs "Business as Usual" and "Money Back Guarantee" are used as transitional music on the public radio finance program Marketplace and its sister show Marketplace Money.

In 2007, Blues Traveler released the album Cover Yourself, a "best-of" album of previously released songs re-recorded and reinterpreted with acoustic instrumentation. It was released October 30, 2007, through Columbia/Red Ink Records. They did a national tour, with New Jersey-based singer-songwriter Lisa Bouchelle as opening act. After the tour John Popper and Lisa Bouchelle recorded the song "Only The Tequila Talking", which was released on her album Bleu Room with a Red Vase in 2010.

Blues Traveler appeared at the 2008 Lollapalooza festival. At their June 2008 shows, the band debuted new songs off their new album North Hollywood Shootout. The album, which features a guest appearance by Bruce Willis in the track "Free Willis (Ruminations From Behind Uncle Bob's Machine Shop)", released in August 2008.

2010s
In March 2012, Blues Traveler released a double-disc compilation titled 25 on Hip-O Records; the album commemorates the band's silver anniversary and includes their hit singles, new covers, and previously unreleased B-side material. It peaked at No. 49 in Canada. The following studio album, Suzie Cracks the Whip, was released on June 26 of that year.

In September 2013, Blues Traveler signed with Las Vegas-based management firm, UD Factory.

On April 7, 2015, the band released their twelfth studio album, Blow Up the Moon which peaked at No. 29 on Independent Albums and No. 47 on Top Rock Albums Billboard charts. As part of the album's promotion album, Blues Traveler released a music video using Rockstar editor in Grand Theft Auto V on September 14, 2015. The music video features JC Chasez and 3OH!3. In 2016, Blues Traveler made a cameo appearance in the film The Meddler. On December 7 the group released a cover version of "Go Tell It on the Mountain".

In April 2017 the band announced a five-week U.S. tour to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the group's formation. In May of the same year, social posts, and a video piece on Keyboard Magazine confirmed the band was in the studio in Nashville recording with record producer Matt Rollings. The album Hurry Up & Hang Around was released on October 12, 2018, through BMG.

2020s
On June 7, 2021, Blues Traveler announced a new album to be titled "Traveler's Blues" and released a two sided EP with the songs that would be featured on the new album. The EP contained songs "Funky B*tch" & "Ball and Chain" which Features Christone "Kingfish" Ingram. The full album would be released the forthcoming month.

"Traveler's Blues" was Released on July 30, 2021. The album features covers of classic blues songs and features Crystal Bowersox, Wendy Moten, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram, Rita Wilson, John Scofield, Warren Haynes, The War and Treaty, Mickey Raphael, and Keb' Mo'. The album was nominated for "Best Traditional Blues Album / Best Traditional Blues Recording" at the 64th annual Grammy Awards.

Concert recordings
Blues Traveler allows and encourages fans to record and trade live performances, provided that no money changes hands and no profit is made. The band has also given permission for live fan-made recordings to be hosted on websites such as Live Music Archive and eTree.org. Recordings available there span from 1986 through the present day.

On more recent tours, they sell recordings of that very night's performance. Attendees can pre-purchase a copy of the show until 30 minutes into the performance and then pick up the CD after the show.

Independence Day shows at Red Rocks
Every year since 1994, with the exception of 1999 (due to John Popper's health) and 2020 (due to COVID-19), Blues Traveler has headlined a show at Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado on the American Independence Day, July 4. The band sometimes plays two consecutive nights, starting on July 3.

This tradition started in 1992 when Blues Traveler was opening for The Allman Brothers Band at the venue for two nights, July 3 and 4. The next year, the band booked the HORDE festival to play there on Independence Day, and in 1994 the current tradition began in earnest.

These shows attract fans from all over the United States. The band frequently debuts new songs and brings back older songs which have fallen out of rotation.

The 2003 Independence Day concerts were recorded for a home video and a live album release.

Musical style
The band have been described as blues rock, folk rock, alternative rock, and southern rock.

Members
Current
 * John Popper – lead vocals, harmonica (1987–present)
 * Chan Kinchla – guitar (1987–present)
 * Brendan Hill – drums (1987–present)
 * Tad Kinchla – bass, backing vocals (1999–present)
 * Ben Wilson – keyboards, backing vocals (2000–present)

Former
 * Bobby Sheehan – bass (1987–1999; his death)

Timeline

Discography

 * Blues Traveler (1990)
 * Travelers and Thieves (1991)
 * Save His Soul (1993)
 * four (1994)
 * Straight On till Morning (1997)
 * Bridge (2001)
 * Truth Be Told (2003)
 * ¡Bastardos! (2005)
 * Cover Yourself (2007)
 * North Hollywood Shootout (2008)
 * Suzie Cracks the Whip (2012)
 * Blow Up the Moon (2015)
 * Hurry Up & Hang Around (2018)
 * Traveler's Blues (2021)
 * Traveler's Soul (2023)

title: Blues Traveler