Photo credit: Michael Weintrob

Hurry Up & Hang Around is the latest studio record from Blues Traveler. Following two albums in which the group worked with outside musicians, it represents the first collection of songs written exclusively by the group since 2008’s North Hollywood Shootout. As John Popper told us in our recent feature, relative to the prior two albums, “You meet someone you’ve never met before, and you sit down, like their therapist, and you try and respond to them. Eventually, you come up with a song. It was a nice project. It was fun for us to do. But, it wasn’t really a Blues Traveler album. This one was a chance to celebrate what we’ve learned from the last two.”

Today we premiere the official lyric video for “When You Fall Down” from Hurry Up & Hang Around. Songwriter Ben Wilson, reflects, “This was one of the tunes that all of sudden pops out of you. I stumbled upon with this simple little progression that sat around for a while until I gave it the reggae-like feel. That, coupled with the disaster of 2016, gave me what I thought was a funny idea to turn the ‘party starts when …’ phrase on its head. It’s a party alright, but not until, we hope, 2020. The rest of the song just describes various aspects of what I saw going on around the election. Every once in a while just the right combo of emotion and music come together for a song to feel easy. A party song with a purpose!”

Blues Traveler returns to the road on April 27 at The Event Center at Rivers Casino in Pittsburgh, PA. Then, following some additional dates, the group will kick off an extended summer tour with moe. on July 11. Each night will offer a moe. set, a Blues Traveler set and a third, collaborative set featuring both bands. Blues Traveler’s tour itinerary appears below the video.

Blues Traveler Tour Dates

APR 27 – The Event Center at Rivers Casino – Pittsburgh, PA
MAY 5 – BeachLife Festival – Redondo Beach, CA
MAY 24 – Summer Camp Music Festival – Chillicothe, IL
JUL 4 – Red Rocks Amphitheatre – Morrison, CO w/ Leftover Salmon & Jackie Greene
JUL 6 – CrossroadsKC – Kansas City, MO
JUL 9 – Saranac Brewery Utica, NY
JUL 11 – Long Island Community Hospital Amphitheater at Bald Hill – Farmingville, NY w/ moe.
JUL 12 – Stone Pony Summer Stage – Asbury Park, NJ w/ moe.
JUL 13 – MECU Pavilion – Baltimore, MD w/ moe.
JUL 15 – Union Bank & Trust Pavilion – Portsmouth, VA w/ moe.
JUL 16 – The Freeman Stage – Selbyville, DE w/ moe.
JUL 17 – Pines Theatre – Northampton, MA w/ moe.
JUL 19 – Rockland Trust Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA w/ moe.
JUL 20 – Toyota Presents Oakdale – Wallingford, CT w/ moe.
JUL 21 – Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion – Gilford, NH w/ moe.
JUL 24 – Rebel – Toronto, ON w/ moe.
JUL 25 – Peach Music Festival – Scranton, PA
JUL 27 – Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica – Cleveland, OH w/ moe.
JUL 28 – PNC Pavillion at Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH w/ moe.
JUL 30 – Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre at Freedom Hill – Sterling Heights, MI w/ moe.
JUL 31 – Farm Bureau Insurance Lawn at White River State Park – Indianapolis, IN w/ moe.
AUG 2 – Ascend Amphitheater – Nashville, TN w/ moe.
AUG 3 – Coca-Cola Roxy – Atlanta, GA w/ moe.
AUG 4 – The Red Hat Amphitheater – Raleigh, NC w/ moe.
AUG 6 – White Oak Amphitheatre – Greensboro, NC w/ moe.
AUG 7 – Dailys Place – Jacksonville, FL w/ moe.
AUG 9 – White Oak Music Hall – Houston, TX w/ moe.
AUG 10 – The Pavillion at Toyota Music Factory – Irving, TX w/ moe.
AUG 11 – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater – Austin, TX w/ moe.
AUG 18 – Bayside Summer Nights – San Diego, CA