Straight On Till Morning

Shy Brenda Thompson writes naive children's stories to amuse herself. Stifled and desperate for a man of her own, she leaves Liverpool, telling her mom she's pregnant, and gets a job in a boutique in London. She moves in with the promiscuous but good-hearted Caroline but the mod set shuns her for her plain looks. Then she kidnaps a strange young man's dog, so as to perhaps get to know him while returning it. The young man turns out to be Peter, a psychopath with a predilection for killing beautiful things. He renames Brenda Wendy, and they start a hopeful, if strange, relationship. It might have a chance, if it weren't for Peter's murderous secrets.

Despite a few flaws, fans will give a hearty welcome to Blues Traveler Live: Thinnest of Air, a two-disc record of the band's July 4, 2003 gig at Red Rocks, Denver. It's heartening to see the group still in existence, let alone on such good form, as they seem to have been dogged by bad luck for far too long: there was John Popper's near-fatal car accident in 1992, then his heart problems in 1999, closely followed by the sudden death of brilliant bassist Bobby Sheehan. But the no-nonsense New Yorkers have come back from the brink of dissolution, recruiting Tad Kinchla on bass as well as keyboardist Ben Wilson, who makes the band officially a quintet and helps to flesh out their live sound.

Blues Traveler has announced the release of their new studio album Traveler’s Blues on Round Hill Records, a collection of re-imagined and re-charged classics from The American Blues Songbook, set for release on July 30, 2021.