YEAR
2004
INDUCTED BY
Dave Matthews
CATEGORY
Performers
Traffic dove into the psychedelic rabbit hole of their own minds.
Beholden to no one but the music and their muse. With their nine minute songs and sudden hook appearances mid-song, Traffic broke all the rules.
Steve Winwood
Chris Wood
Dave Mason
Jim Capaldi
HALL OF FAME
ESSAY
By John Milward
The word traffic is frequently followed by jam.
For the British rock band Traffic, the musical jam session began in the spring of 1967 at a country cottage in Berkshire, England. As the quartet wrote and rehearsed, member Steve Winwood’s soulful voice and wailing organ could be heard on the radio via “Gimme Some Lovin’ ” and “I’m a Man,” monster hits from his previous band, the Spencer Davis Group.
Now woodshedding with Winwood were guitarist Dave Mason, drummer Jim Capaldi and the horn-blowing Chris Wood. The resulting album, Mr. Fantasy, fit right into a year that saw the release of Sgt. Pepper and the rise of San Francisco psychedelic bands Jefferson Airplane and Grateful Dead.
