The Hangar welcomes back Three-O (plus) Saturday night

THREE-O PLUS!

The Chandler Travis Three-O returns to the Hangar on the Hudson on Saturday for its first Troy show in years, bringing special guest Paulette Humanbeing in her area debut.

If the name suggests someone unusual, that’s correct in several ways at once.

First the Chandler Travis Three-O is actually four guys, a sub-set of the horn-powered, often pajama-clad Chandler Travis Philharmonic. Think Tower of Power waking up from a nap and ready to rock.

Second, as Travis promised in an email announcing Saturday’s show, “Paulette Humanbeing is an absolute original in the Andy Kaufman/Pete Labonne outsider tradition (and I don’t use either of those names lightly), both moving and hilarious.”

He went on to say, “She’s funny, melodic, and peculiar, and she always keeps you on your toes and usually singing along” a promise sampled songs from “The Many Moods of Paulette Humanbeing” richly prove. Travis collected his favorites among her songs onto the album for his “teensy record company Iddy Biddy.” He wrote “Damn, I love every speck on ‘The Many Mood of Paulette Humanbeing’ (an inaccurate title, as there’s variety galore here, but what the hell, had to call it something!”

He introduced a sample – “Where’s My Horse?” – as “a song with absolutely no topical comment of any kind, brimming with the kind of blissful ignorance you can’t help tapping your foot to!” And he hailed another tune from the same album – “Chequessett” – as “in my opinion one of the most amazing vocal renditions of anything anywhere by anyone, ever.” Imagine Tiny Tim taking over a church choir loft – a strong flavor and not for the faint of heart.

The Three-O is pretty amazing themselves, as numerous area shows have shown to humorous and musical effect. Travis and his former band Travis Shook and the Club Wow, opened for George Carlin for years, developing a formidable funny bone to match musical smarts.

Travis traces the Three-O’s origins to the “arrivals in the (Chandler Travis) Philharmonic of string bassist John Clark and jack of all trades (but especially saxophonist, keyboardist, and clarinetist) Berke McKelvey.” Travis himself plays guitar or electric bass and sings. He wrote that he “had dabbled in smaller formats before, but in Clark and McKelvey suddenly had two extremely talented and enthusiastic players who shared his passion for detailing, arranging, and rehearsing, all of which had been in fairly short supply in not only the CTP, but in Chandler’s other band, the Incredible Casuals.” (Travis’s other, other bands include the Catbirds and the Buttercups.)

He noted Clark and McKelvey made valuable contributions to his 2009 solo album “After She Left” (and Travis makes nearly as many albums as Bill Frisell or Cory Wong), which he called “sort of a petri dish version of the live group to come.” With the addition of singer and longtime supporter Fred Boak, aka The Valet…the Three-O was born.” Travis answered his own question: “What good is a Three-o with only three people?”

The Chandler Travis Three-O “with extremely special guest Paulette Humanbeing” plays the Hangar on the Hudson (675 River St., Troy) Saturday at 8 p.m. show, doors 7:30. $15 on eventbrite.com and hangaronthehudson.com.