Review and video by Joel Patterson
When I say “there’s something like ecstasy at every Chandler Travis concert,” I’m not talking about the drug – I mean the real thing. This guy is a sorcerer – something happens that goes way beyond the bounds of everyday life, you kind of start to leak into a different dimension– or maybe you’re just so overtaken by the joyful spirit of the music, you see the world in a different way? As you can tell, I’m quite confused by it and my testimony could be suspect… but I do know I find myself singing along with every song, energized, and I wonder if I might burst into babbling tongues, like at a tent revival meeting, slobbering and rolling on the ground and the whole bit.
Naturally thinking I might just be insane, I sought out Fred Rudofsky’s counsel, because I found him sitting at a table with wondering and almost glazed eyes. “They are open to everything they’ve ever heard,” he explained to me. “All those influences come through and they’re blending together, and you end up with something completely original.” That’s why this music touches all your nerves and tingles to your bones. It’s the DNA of every popular music form, recombined and newly reborn, but I still say there’s something mystical there, something inexpressible and divine and celestial.