Catching Up With… Brendan Hill Blues Traveler has helped define the jam-band aesthetic since well before the genre existed. The group’s latest foray, however, is down a road previously untraveled. by Bob Birouard Blues Traveler’s sound is so closely tied to John Popper’s harmonica playing that it’s easy to take drummer Brendan Hill for granted. But Hill provides the sturdy foundation under the harp virtuoso, and that balance has never been clearer than on the band’s latest effort, Blow Up the Moon. It’s a musical relationship that has existed since well before the New Jersey–bred blues-rock band’s breakout 1994 album, Four, and Grammy-winning single, “Run-Around,” fueled a decades-long career of regular recording and near-constant touring. “Nowadays you have to play live to survive,” Hill says. “You need to entertain people and perfect your craft. We developed our sound on the New York City club scene, and we would gauge our […]

August 2015 Issue