Blues Traveler: Cover Yourself

By: Bill Clifford

Embarking on their 20th year, Blues Traveler intended to record a few fan favorites acoustically and distribute the songs via its website. Fan submitted requests were prolific and the quintet enjoyed itself so much reworking the selections that the project turned into a full-fledged album. Cover Yourself (C3 Records), the ninth CD from the New York City band, features eleven of the quintet’s greatest hits not so much reinvented as reinterpreted.

“But Anyway,” the song that put the band on the map for most people, benefits from Ben Wilson‘s whimsical electric piano. G. Love turns in an impromptu guest rap on “Just For Me,” one of the most reworked tracks in the collection. Of the radio hits represented here, “Runaround” takes on a new life with a semi-soulful horn section. In tribute to the late Bobby Sheehan, the band’s original bassist, “Mountains Win Again” is dropped even lower into the blues than the original recording. “100 Years” is among the more pleasant surprises here, getting a lift in tempo from boisterous percussion and Wilson’s thick keyboard swells. “Carolina Blues” features the acoustic guitars of Charlie Sexton and John Popper, and is paired down to a Delta Blues foot-stomper. Cover Yourself is a fine collection of songs nicely re-worked.

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