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Playing the blues

Bel Air man performs with John Popper and Blues Traveler

BY BRYNA ZUMER

Posted 8/11/10

(Enlarge) Scott Rakowski, of Bel AIr, stands with Blues Travelers' John Popper at the band's July 28 concert at Innsbrook Pavilion in Glen Allen, Va. This was the second time Rakowski had the opportunity to play with the band he admired as a teenager. (Photo courtesy of Scott Rakowski)

There aren’t many people who can say they played on stage with the stars who inspired their music, but Bel Air’s Scott Rakowski got that chance not once, but twice.

Rakowski, who grew up in Dublin, started playing harmonica as a student at North Harford High School because of Blues Traveler’s hit 1994 album, “Four,” which made harmonica-playing frontman John Popper a household name.

“I’ve been playing for 15 years and pretty much just got started because of Blues Traveler, when they had their hit singles and everything out in the ‘90s,” Rakowski, 29, said. “I used to come home from school every day and play through all their albums.”

While still a high school senior, he played on stage once with Blues Traveler when they performed at Towson University.

Then, lightning struck again.

Blues Traveler launched a Twitter page, and Rakowski got back in touch. That led to him playing with Popper and the band again, this time on July 28, at Innsbrook Pavilion in Glen Allen, Va.

“It was just a perfect evening,” he said.

Now living in Bel Air and working for the Harford County government, Rakowski also listened to Tom Petty, another harmonica player, and began writing and recording music in high school with a band called Out of the Blue.

Blues Traveler, a quintet that originated in Princeton, N.J., became popular with the songs “Run-Around” and “Hook” from the “Four” album, and has released seven albums since.

Popper invited Rakowski to accompany the band on “Mulling It Over,” a song that lasted almost 10 minutes and required a lot of improvising along with Popper’s trademark rock and jazz style.

“He occasionally gave me very quick instructions. It was really impromptu,” Rakowski said. “It’s very jazz-based, and I played in the high school jazz band. I knew the song really well, so when they said I was going to be playing on that, I knew I could do it.”

It was a unique experience to play with a band he has long revered, Rakowski said.

“It’s a lot of fun, and you are playing with someone you have always respected and kind of idolized,” he said. “They were always really good at doing little meet-and-greets after the show. They were always very down to earth and open with their fan base.”

Popper has a one-of-a-kind style, he said.

“He almost plays the harmonica like a guitar. There’s a lot of effects that he uses,” Rakowski said.

Before Blues Traveler, the harmonica “was almost more like a folk instrument. He really made it like a rock instrument,” he said. “He made it a lead instrument. He was the first person, I think, to really take a harmonica and say, ‘This is what’s going to be at the forefront of the music.’”

Rakowski’s time with the well-known band spurred him to consider starting his own band, again, and getting more serious about music.

“That’s my number one goal, is to maybe start advertising and to put it out there that I’m looking for people to play with,” he said.

At the July 28 show, “obviously, [Popper] respected my playing. It was more relaxed and more comfortable,” Rakowski said. “[Popper] prompted me to really get out there and start playing. He said, ‘You don’t want to be the guy who always wants to play with the big bands when they come to town.’ He was really encouraging me to ultimately do something original.”