Praise for Blue Weathered Dreams -
"With a slow, lonesome strum and slight baritone rasp reminiscent of Beck’s work on the breakup masterpiece Sea Change, Caleb Travers brings perspective to heartbreak and paints spot-on images of a relationship’s forlorn demise. But the stories told on 2007’s Blue Weathered Dreams aren’t the foggy, beer-soaked laments of an idealized, wayward wanderer. Instead Travers’ songs capture the emotion of everyday life without melodrama or pretense -- whether it be through vivid descriptions of family dealings, romantic entanglements or personal struggles."
–Shae Moseley; River Front Times
"These songs ache with the seriousness of a singer who sees darkness on every horizon, from the unbreakable bonds of family to the search for redemption... they are worth a listen if only to hear Travers beautiful tenor voice; it's a standout among local singers in any genre."
-Christian Schaeffer; River Front Times
"...a well-produced, genuine alt-country effort that evokes rural travels, family hardships and perseverance."
-Matt Fernandes; Rock Candy
"The music Caleb makes is richly woven and carefully considered—timeless, really... At first listen, you're likely to stop whatever it is that you're doing and listen—you know, really listen. This is a guy who's got something to say; Caleb & Co. are well worth your four or seven or 52 minutes. But be warned: Once you've given your time, you'll want to give it again, and again."
-Laura Hamlet; STL Sound
Praise for Big City Lights -
"...one of the genre’s rising stars..."
-Columbia Tribune
Best Country Band (Alertnative)(2007)
"His Ryan Adams jones shows, but so do his good nature, ambition and talent. Travers is pushing all of 25 and his band, including veteran pedal-steel whiz Scott Swartz of the Linemen, is pushing this son of south city toward more than just Telecaster strumming and dirt-road divining. His band can play it Stonesy, Byrdsy and Whiskeytowny without ever sounding dated or in denial over how much room they have for growth. Travers sings with wiry strength, with an inviting slur and unfaked Midwestern drawl, and his songs get their hooks in, indirectly echoing pure country-rock, whether from the Eagles or Buffalo Springfield. Travers and band are currently finishing up their first EP. It promises to be the twang fix a flagging alt-country scene needs."
-River Front Times " Best Of 2007" Best Country Band (Alternative)
"...straight-shooting, tear-stained rock & roll [that] rests on the lachrymose depths of Travers' flickering tenor voice."
-Christian Schaeffer; River Front Times
Bio -
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 “Annieâ€, 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.
Blue Weathered Dreams will be released on February 9, 2008, at Off Broadway in St. Louis, and available for download at online stores.