In the summer of 1994, 5 long-time friends from the western suburbs of Chicago got together to have some laughs, drink some beers and play some music. Turning a photo lab into a temporary rehearsal room, it took only a handful of weeks before they had created an album’s worth of songs they could all be proud of.

Traveling Sky was born.

Not concerning themselves with the industry trappings of styles, genres and singles they spent the next year writing songs for the shear pleasure of recording them and handing them out to friends and fans at live performances. Hard rock songs, country-tinged pop ditties, introspective ballads…the music flowed with no end in sight. By the end of their first year Traveling Sky had they secured a distribution deal, which resulted in their self-titled album. The remainder of those songs were recorded and released as this album…Reflections.

There are many different factors that can have an effect on songwriting and recording. Interactions between band members…relationships (both good and bad)…the kinds of music that are being listened to at the time…they can all have a very strong influence on the types of songs that a band may write. That being said, Miles and Time may be the most diverse albums released by Traveling Sky.

After spending way too many months in the recording studio perfecting the sound of their debut album, the guys in Traveling Sky were looking for a sound that was not nearly as polished. The result was several very raw tracks such as Keepin’ On and Slave. At the same time, the addition of a temporary keyboardist, along with a growing interest in funk and R&B led to songs such as Miles and Time, Grounder and Separate Lives.

Table for Two, one of the most poignant and beautiful songs ever recorded by Traveling Sky is harshly followed by In Defense Of…, the single heaviest song in their catalog. Wrapping up the whole album is Just a Ride…a nine and a half minute trippy, free-form, funk exploration.

No rhyme…no reason…just raw emotion worn right on their collective sleeve.

From the single-friendly sound of South of Santa Fe and Let You Down to the moody melancholy of Carmen Street and Weight of the World, This Too Shall Pass by Traveling Sky may be their most focused set of recordings. Having perfected their country rock sound, their focus shifted towards improving their already formidable songwriting skills. Towards the latter half of the album the band does begin to experiment a bit more, utilizing elements of blues, soul and reggae, but never at the expense of the song.

The darkest of all of the Traveling Sky CDs, A History of Decay is a picture of a band close to the edge. Mostly devoid of anything that even remotely resembles a single, this album is above all else, introspective. A great number of songs on this CD are stripped down to acoustic guitars and vocals, but when the full band makes an appearance it is nothing less than brooding.