Blues Traveler News

Forget American Express. John Popper doesn't leave home without a lot of things. 

The Blues Traveler frontman was busted for pot possession Wednesday after Washington State Patrol officers discovered quite an assortment of items in his car during a traffic stop. 

According to the WSP, officers pulled over the vehicle Popper, 39, was riding in after they clocked it going 111 miles-per-hour on Interstate 90 near Spokane.  

Officers caught a whiff of pot and, with the help of a police dog, they searched the black Mercedes SUV, discovering marijuana, a marijuana pipe and, stashed away in hidden compartments, a small cache of weapons, authorities said. Four rifles, nine handguns and a switchblade, to be exact. 

Let's just say, the state patrol seized the Mercedes, which was registered to Popper, but not before uncovering a Taser and night-vision goggles, as well. The vehicle was also equipped with a siren, emergency headlights and a public address system, the WSP said.  

"Popper indicated to troopers that he had installed these items in his vehicle because [in the event of a natural disaster] he didn't want to be left behind" and told the arresting officers that he collected weapons, the WSP said in a news release.  

Well, surely Popper, a confirmed gun collector, didn't want to give them the runaround.   

The musician and pal Brian Gourgeois, who was driving, were arrested and booked at Adams County Jail before being released on their own recognizance, the WSP said. Both will face misdemeanor charges of possessing a controlled substance and drug paraphernalia, and Gourgeois will also be charged with reckless driving.  

"Since January, John has been in Austin, Texas, recording an acoustic album of the band's greatest hits and was driving home from Austin to western Washington when the car was pulled over," Popper's manager, George Couri, said in a written statement.

"He is an avid gun collector and when he takes long trips, he likes to visit shooting ranges."

Popper, who lives in Snohomish, Washington, was also busted in Texas for marijuana possession in 2003.  

The singer-songwriter is scheduled to hit the road (hopefully at a slower pace) later this month with the John Popper Project with DJ Logic. Blues Traveler released its eighth studio album, ¡Bastardos!, in 2005.