Founding members Michael and Andrew Nehra left the band just before summer. The brothers parted ways with the Robert Bradley-led group to pursue other projects, leaving Bradley and bandmates Matt Ruffino, Tom Wilbur and Randy Sly to soldier on.

Since 2000, Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise have played the club circuit, promoting their sophomore release Time To Discover. The group took only a few months off early in 2001 before heading back out with Bare Jr.

Although breakthrough success has all but passed them by, Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise have been well received by critics. Named after the enigmatic vocalist Bradley, the group came together in a third-floor studio in downtown Detroit after the Nehra brothers discovered Bradley playing on the street.

Before the band that bears his name was formed, Bradley was the blind man with the guitar and stool riding the Greyhound from city to city for 18 years. Bradley would hop off the bus, hang out on street corners and play songs he made up on the spot.

From his neck, he hung a cup so he could feel the weight of the coins that people dropped in.

“Whenever I hear people walking I just start to play. Play for an hour, make a hundred bucks and get back on the bus,” Bradley says of his street-playing days.

He had been making a living busking his impromptu songs and was hesitant to join the brothers. He changed his mind after a jam session.

Since that fated day in 1992, Robert Bradley’s Blackwater Surprise have redefined the term road hogs, playing more than 400 shows in recent years alongside Dave Matthews Band, Sonic Youth, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Beck, and Ben Fold’s Five.