The thing that makes Chandler Travis one of the archetypal showmen and performers of our age is not only his outlandish, swaggering humor. That’s the hook, I think… that’s what people mention and remember, the hysterically funny, outrageous wisecracks.
What really ropes you in is the awesomely courageous and gentle way he explores human emotion. All his many love songs are at the heart of it all meditations on this theme – not sentimental wishy-washy fantasies of imaginary happiness, but site specific stories of two way streets, cul-de-sacs and dead ends. It’s honest in confronting the tragic aspects, as well as the delirious joys, of falling in, out of and sideways in love.
Here he brings his quartet – naturally named Three-0 – to Saratoga Springs’ legendary Caffe Lena last Friday night. Opener was the master of solo electric guitar and sheer stream-of-consciousness poetic intensity Pete LaBonne.
NOTE: The Chandler Travis Three-O returns to Nippertown for a show the Ale House in Troy at 8pm on Saturday, June 16. Mark your calendar now…
The children are singing / the church bells are ringing Everyone’s happy, we’ve all had our nappy There’s anticipation all over the nation As hearts all race recklessly
‘Cause every mother’s son sure loves his mum on Mother’s Day And every other day / prepares [...]
… and when we say “record” we really mean a “record” – seven inches of pretty purple vinyl perfectly pressed with a little hole in the center to be played at 33 & 1/3 RPM. The Petite 7 Inch Record is a record about lovingly assembled by our dear friends at our favorite radio show, [...]
I’ve got a song I’ve been saving up for years called “First Warm Day“; it’s written about those freak early warm days you get sometimes in March and how good they feel, and we’re determined to release it on the first warm day of 2012 (not that there’s really been all that many cold days [...]
The Chandler Travis Philharmonic has a track on a new compilation from the legendary independent radio station WFMU, available as part of their 2012 Fundraising Marathon.
A live version of the Maxine Nightingale song “Right Back Where We Started From”, recorded during our 2004 summer residency at Harry’s Blues Bar in Hyannis, MA, appears on [...]
If the name Chandler Travis means anything to you, it means a combination of dazzling musicianship and fearless merry-making – in his many incarnations, the man has developed a fiercely loyal cult following… and with good reason. Sage-like and impish at the same time, he explores the terrains of [...]
Our dear friends Belinda and January Fairy at Bubbles in the Think Thank recently launched a Kickstarter fundraising campaign to raise funds so that they can release “The Petite 7 Inch Record“, a compilation to be released in time for Record Store Day 2012 which will feature tracks from Ray Mason, David Greenberger, Paulette, and [...]
The Catbirds: Chandler Travis, Rikki Bates, Steve Wood and Dinty Child
Review by Fred Rudofsky Photograph by Joseph Deuel
“Welcome to Rich and Denise’s Christmas party!” exclaimed Chandler Travis as he adjusted the microphone, strapped on his bass and smiled at his friends in the audience. It was time for the Catbirds to [...]
There’s a hushed intimacy and quiet restraint about “After She Left” that seeps directly into your bones… – a complete 180-degree turnaround from the exuberant antics of the Chandler Travis Philharmonic. — Greg Haymes, Nippertown
