Traffic

Traffic came together in April 1967 in Birmingham, brought to life by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. The four had previously met during after‑hours jams at the Elbow Room club. After Winwood’s departure from the Spencer Davis Group, the quartet decamped to a cottage in the Berkshire countryside to craft their debut material—a cozy setting that yielded the psychedelic pop of their early hits and the album Mr. Fantasy. From psychedelic pop beginnings, Traffic quickly displayed a restless musical appetite. They infused their rock foundation with jazz‑like improvisation, folk textures and imaginative instrumentation—flute, sax, sitar, Mellotron—helping pave the way for a more exploratory strain of British rock. Their self‑titled 1968 album featured the enduring “Feelin’ Alright?”, while Dave Mason’s “Hole in My Shoe” became an unexpected pop hit. After a brief breakup, Winwood, Capaldi and Wood reunited in 1970 and unleashed John Barleycorn Must Die—Traffic’s breakthrough in the U.S., reaching number 5 and earning a gold disc. Their 1971 album The Low Spark of High‑Heeled Boys went platinum in America and became a staple of FM radio. Follow‑ups Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory (1973) and When the Eagle Flies (1974) also enjoyed U.S. gold status. Despite intermittent disbandments, the band cast a long shadow on rock’s progressive and improvisatory fringes. Traffic reunited one last time in 1994, releasing Far from Home and touring with the Grateful Dead before bowing out. The original quartet was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2004, cementing their legacy as one of Britain’s most inventive and genre‑fluid bands of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Their influence can still be heard in the work of bands exploring the boundaries of rock, folk and jazz.