Peter Chandler Travis (born March 15, 1950) is an American musician, songwriter, producer and owner of Iddy Biddy record label.
[11] His father worked as a textile salesman, his mother condensed books for Reader's Digest and his sister, Deborah Travis, is a nurse.
[16][11] They quickly gained popularity playing shows at campuses across the Northeast United States,[16] and were opened for by artists such as Bruce Springsteen,[17][18] and the E Street Band.
[5] In 1972 the group released their only contemporaneous full-length album, The Essential Travis, Shook and the Club Wow, along with several other musicians including members of NRBQ.
[22][11] Starting July 29, 1971,[23] they were booked as the opening act for Dave Van Ronk for a three-day set at a coffee house in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, called The Main Point.
[5] Van Ronk had to cancel last minute and the club owner called in George Carlin, who had opened a series of shows at the same venue earlier that month, as an emergency replacement headliner.
[30] Travis and Shook met with drummer Rikki (Rich) Bates in 1978 and began working on a new, more serious band focused on pop-rock.
[22] Originally with Eric Rosenfeld on the guitar they went by the name The Susan Anton People; they were joined by Johnny Spampinato a couple of years later and became The Incredible Casuals.
[36] Over the years, The Casuals were joined on stage by guest singers, including their soundman, Chris Blood, who had a recurring feature as "The White Prince," performing unusually inept covers of classic songs, with the Casuals credited as the Brain Bats of Venus,[6][33] and they have released two albums on Sonic Trout Records: You've Got a Friend: The White Prince Story, and Resurrection!
[43] The Philharmonic usually consists of nine members, currently, Chandler Travis (guitar/vocals), Alex Brander (drums), John Clark (upright bass), Fred Boak (vocals), Cliff Spencer (keyboards), Dinty Child (mandocello/mandolin/accordion/cello), and their three-piece horn section known as The June Trailer Dancers;[44][45] Berke McKelvey (clarinets/saxophones/keys), Kami Lyle (trumpet), and Bob Pilkington (trombone).
[47] The Catbirds are a simple guitar/bass/drums quartet, play rootsier, louder rock, a bit closer to the Casuals in style than any of Travis's other current groups.