by Erinn Fortson
“That’s one of the only things I’m good at, is just [remembering] various celebrities’ names for no good reason. People I can’t stand and have no interest in, I still end up remembering their names. It’s a really embarrassing thing to be good at.”
As he talks about his innate ability to memorize Hollywood’s infamous players, it’s clear Chandler Travis shows modesty even for trivial talents. During our discussion of movies, music and life, Travis reflects back on an extensive career in the entertainment industry with the same humility.
Travis’s musical works span over forty years. Since the seventies, he has been part of many successful bands, beginning with Travis Shook and the Club Wow. During these earlier days, Travis and then band mate Steve Shook, shared the stage with fellow musicians and entertainers such as Bonnie Raitt, Bruce Springsteen, and even George Carlin.
“We met [George] in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, at the Main Point, where he was substituting for Dave Van Ronk,” says Travis. “His album FM & AM, I think, was just about to come out if I’m not mistaken. So, he was fairly early in the evolution of his long hair phase. So, we met him at the perfect time and we had a lot of interests in common, including music. He was a big record hound, so we certainly got along on that score and several others.”
Travis continues to perform all over the country between his work with the Chandler Travis Three-o, The Catbirds, and The Chandler Travis Philharmonic, a nine-piece ensemble and Travis’s biggest group. When I spoke with Travis a few months ago, he had recently performed at New Leaf Café in Rosemont, Pennsylvania with the Catbirds.
“I love it,” Travis says about being on the road. “When I’m home, a lot of time I’m on my desk trying to either go on tour or promote something or doing all this business stuff, you know what I mean? Besides the fact that I just like to play and I love springing my band on strangers, it’s also a lot less work for me when I’m on the road.”
“I like [performing for] strangers, much better than people I know. It’s fun playing for people I know, too, but I mean I sort of like the sensation [of playing for strangers]. I even like it better when you can’t see anybody, but you can hear them.”
Travis has also been performing with his former partner, Steve Shook this year. Shook recently released Dignify, his first solo project, which is the reason for the duo’s reunion.
Beginning to take guitar lessons when he was only 13, Travis says he’s always been music centric. He’s especially had a fascination with vinyl, his earliest memories being of his record collection and the first album he bought on his own.
“It was a square record that I got in a hardware store on how to lay linoleum floor tiles,” says Travis. “For some reason, there was something about records that I was totally drawn to and I think I would have been, even if they didn’t have music on them. There’s just something about seeing records that just totally killed me, you know?”
“I have a turn table, but I never use it. I’m older now, so I’m less social; I don’t have parties as much and that kind of thing. So, I go a long time in between record parties. And when I have one, I just love it. It’s just the greatest. But I mean, sitting around here by myself, when you’re trying to find new stuff and you want to be able to search through everything, you end up doing it online. It’s totally different world from how it used to be. But there’s upside either way, you know?”
