The leaky windows and age-old power lines of Travers’ South St. Louis apartment had failed inevitably. An ice-storm had brought the whole city to a grinding halt. But It wasn’t the storm, or the week-long power-outage that was on Travers’ mind. All he could think about was getting that sound, that really timeless sound that he kept hearing out of his head and into live shows. It was cold, but the fire had been smoldering since summer of 2005, when a friend took him to Memphis to see a band he’d had never heard of before. Like most visitors to Memphis, they went to Sun Studios before the show. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something altogether alluring about the “historic” rock ‘n roll he heard about on the Sun Studio tour. Later that night, as Nels Cline, Pat Sansone, and the rest of Wilco delivered a blitzkrieg of noise behind the beautiful melody of Via Chicago, he was changed. But this was the dead of winter, nearly a year-and-a-half later and Travers had no discernible course of action to live out what he so clearly wanted to do. He did have songs, though. And so, like the ice-storm that beset his city, he would have to wait it out. Spring of 2007 would reveal the fruits of Travers’ labor. With a 5-piece band in place including veteran pedal-steel player, Scott Swartz, Caleb Travers and Big City Lights had been rehearsing steadily and were making plans for a demo EP. The band’s first gig was accidentally secured when he evoked an encore at a popular open mic. After he stepped off stage, Travers was offered an opening spot for Austin-based indie-pop quartet What Made Milwaukee Famous. Big City Lights continued to gain momentum opening for Alt. Country heavy, Bobby Bare Jr. and by the end of 2007 they would be named Best Alt. Country band by the River Front Times. One year after it all started, Caleb Travers and Big City Lights are coming back to Off Broadway, back to the heart ‘n’ soul of St. Louis’ songwriter community, to celebrate their debut self-release, Blue Weathered Dreams. Blue Weathered Dreams brings Travers full circle, with songs that go back to the singer’s origins. The tune “Annie”, which grounds the album, is based on his parents’ travels across the Southwest & Midwest as Pentacostal musicians. By the time he was born, however, his mother & father were becoming disillusioned with ministry life and ultimately settled down. Irked by the contradictions of his religious upbringing and the incompletion of his parents' uncharted travels, the album explores the meaning of Travers’ own restlessness and the ties to the story that shaped his own. Sonically, the album walks a tight-rope between pristine, layered guitar work, genteel steel guitar played by Scott Swartz, Travers’ rising and falling vocal theatrics and pure rock 'n' roll revelry. With imaginative song-craft, Travers writes himself into the prayers, stories and dying wishes of lovers, killers and strangers, sometimes as a walk-on cameo or a sympathetic observer, and other times as the protagonist, singing with a grave and penitent delivery. | ||
Buy Caleb Travers CDs:
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Visit the Caleb Travers web-site | ||
| Email Caleb Travers | ||
Other artists from US Stephanie Brickey Javier Mendoza Javier Mendoza Band | ||
Uncommon Ground Upcoming Show Dates | ||
| 2008-09-12 (14 days) | Laura Fleming | |
| Joe Filisko & Eric Noden | ||
| Jay Rapoport | ||
| Shwa Losben | ||
| Caleb Travers | ||
| Al Rose | ||
Uncommon Ground Past Show Dates | ||
| 2008-05-04 (117 days) | Neal Alger Trio | |
| Caleb Travers | ||
| Alex Kadet | ||
| Tiffany Randol | ||
