Hi, I'm John Popper, lead singer of the band
Blues Traveler.
I also play harmonica, and am arguably one
of the best in the world.
But thank God, there really never can be an
actual best, but I'm damn good.
I'm gonna teach you a few things about the
harmonica.
How do you make a solo album, well there are
many ways to make a solo album.
I guess the first way to make a solo album
is to be in a band that's recognized enough
that when you go and make an album on your
own its called a solo album.
Because in a sense, no album is truly solo
as you're going to need to work with a producer.
You're going to need to work with some sort
of a studio, which means an engineer and eventually
you're going to need to work with other musicians,
unless your going to do all the instruments
yourself like your Prince or Frank Zappa.
Some people do that and there are madmen,
they even do the engineering and all the production.
But you can do a solo album pretty cheaply
with today's technology.
But it really comes down to, you got to find
someone who is really interested and at every
point that I'm mentioning every process here,
you have got to get someone who thinks, ""Wow
this is a good idea.""
So it really comes down to relating to people
and communicating with them that their effort
are with you and you will be requiring their
efforts and they are not going to be a waste
of time and all to your mania and glory.
My solo album was in collaboration with Jono
Manson, who when Blues Traveler first came
to New York City.
He was kind of the king of the scene that
we jumped in on that club scene, the nightingale's
scene.
But Jono was a very good friend of mine and
we were always looking for an opportunity
to do something other than the Blues Traveler,
and so that made me doing a solo album a very
tasty idea.
We named the solo album John Popper and the
Duskray Troubadours, which if you think about
it, Blues Traveler is a color and a name for
travelling performers and what is duskray
and a Troubadours, but another color and a
description of travelling performers?
Not very imaginative if you think about it.
I think my next album will be John Popper
and the Red Minstrels.
