Hurry Up & Hang Around

On the eve of their 30th birthday, Blues Traveler decided to hole up in a rented house in Nashville, woodshed a new album, and record the songs with Matt Rollings, a keyboardist from Lyle Lovett's Large Band who is best known as a producer for Willie Nelson. Rollings' presence shouldn't be seen as an indication that Blues Traveler have gone country on Hurry Up & Hang Around. Rather, they've adopted the ways of Nashville, turning out honed professional product that's proud of its polish and craft. Cut for cut, Hurry Up & Hang Around is tight and cozy, a showcase for a band with well-honed chops and a desire to reconnect to its roots. Certainly, the album is a far cry from Blow Up the Moon, the 2015 album that found Blues Traveler experimenting with every sound that they'd never tried, so it's a bit of a relief to find the group back on familiar ground, doing what it does best. Some credit must go to Rollings, as there is very little of the excess or silliness that marks so many Blues Traveler records -- the closest Hurry Up & Hang Around comes is "Daddy Went A Giggin," a tongue-in-cheek update on the folk standard "Froggie Went A Courtin'" -- but the album still retains Blues Traveler's gregarious, most precarious character. It's that latter trick that makes Hurry Up & Hang Around something of a comeback: after a spell in the wilderness, the band seems to be back where it belongs, which isn't a bad thing at all for an anniversary album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine