John Popper, Grammy-winning lead singer of Blues Traveler and one of the best harmonica players of all-time, is such a joy to hold a conversation with. We could have asked him several great questions of our own but decided for THIS INTERVIEW we’d ask him questions from 4 of his fans. Sharing is caring!
Mitch Snavely: Who gave you the “Run-Around”?
John Popper: A girl! It was girl. That song was about a friend of mine who I was in love with, and she just thought I was a friend. I was always kinda there for her. We got into a fight over … I got busy or something, and we got into a big fight. So, I actually wrote the song slow so I could make her cry and make her feel really guilty. And she did! The first time she heard it she cried. When we got into the studio to rehearse it a producer said put a good beat behind it. Right away it sounded like a really good song.
Dante LaSalle: Who is your favorite band you’ve played with – that’s either opened for you or you opened for them?
John Popper: Well, we opened for The Rolling Stones. I’d say they’re about the best band out there. A band that opened for us? This band Lake Trust was really good. And a band called The Surreal McCoys, but they’re not around anymore. And…we opened for Santana. That’s pretty good. There’s so many. The Allman Brothers. Jerry Garcia. Playing with Stevie Wonder was pretty amazing! That question is like asking “Which is your favorite venue to play?” You like them all for different reasons.
Heather Brown: I saw you at Wheaton College in MA in 1991. It was a spring weekend and a pretty good show. Do you remember it?
John Popper: Wheaton College… ’91… Massachusetts… Uhhh, yeah, sure… Yeah, yeah! And I thought that was her! She was the one in the crowd going, “Yeeeah!” I probably remember.
Jenny King: What was it like being on ‘Roseanne’?
John Popper: That was a surreal moment. I wanted to be a comedian. ‘Saturday Night Live’ saved my life. Comedy was the whole thing for me. I watched the ‘Roseanne’ show religiously! Being on the show was just surreal. I was standing in their kitchen, and I opened up the refrigerator I’d always see on TV, and there was fake plastic bologna in it. Roseanne was so cool to us. All of them were. She was really amazing. And to use my words… Roseanne wanted me to put words to her theme song. The very last scene of her show was her looking through her photo album with Phoebe Snow singing my words! That was one of the highpoints of my life. Phoebe Snow was amazing! And to have her singing them, it was just so beautiful.
THIS: Okay, we’ve got one too! What got you into playing the harmonica?
John Popper: The Blues Brothers is what got me into playing the harmonica and got me into playing music. Then we got to be in ‘The Blues Brothers 2000’! The movie inspires you and then you’re in the movie. That was a pretty surreal thing. And it was fun. |THIS.
[By Mitch Snavely, Dante LaSalle, Heather Brown, Jenny King, and Mr. Joe Walker]
