Album Notes

YOU CAN TRY TO STAY INCONSPICUOUS IN THIS TOWN, but sooner or later you're bound to run into someone you know... a high school classmate... the halfback from your sixth grade soccer team... the old guy down the block listening to the Cards game in his lawnchair... your ex from the summer after college... Maybe that's why they call it a BIG SMALL TOWN.

The URBAN BLIGHT PLAYERS debut album, BIG SMALL TOWN is a musical travelogue of a life spent in the big small town of St. Louis, Missouri. Old friends, lovers, family, houses, hopes, streets, and neighbors are all waiting to bump into you somewhere in these 11 original songs by songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Bill Michalski.

The group, formed in late 2003, also includes ace drummer Benjy Portnoy (also of the Pala Solution, Mama Rogers) and veteran bassist Wally Schwartz (Give Her a Lizard, Prune.) In addition, perennial Michalski collaborator, Trung Tran (Barenaked Statues) adds backing vocals to the mix. BIG SMALL TOWN was recorded during the summer of 2004 with noted local engineer Jack Petracek (Painkillers, Grandpa's Ghost) at the board.

The band's sweetly off-kilter rock/pop is reminiscent of early REM, Elvis Costello, and the dB's with a touch of Paul Simon-esque singer-songwriter folk. Michalski's wry lyrical portraiture is both sharp and deeply empathetic, depicting the small joys and heartbreaks of everyday life.

The URBAN BLIGHT PLAYERS will be bringing their BIG SMALL TOUR to your block in 2005! Hope to see you there!