Travis Dow
A brief bio/discography:
As a performer:
The River - 1991-1995
Blessed West - 1996-1998
Cal Hollow - 1998-2001
Evolution of an Idea Project - 2002-2009
Katie Todd Band - 2001-2006
Travis Dow Band 2004-2005
Concrete Cowboys - 2006-Present
As a writer (album cuts/singles):
The River
Cal Hollow - 2 albums
*Single - "No Mercy" (1999)
Evolution of an Idea - 3 albums, co-written with Will Foreman
Travis Dow Band
Concrete Cowboys - "Hard Country" (2008) and "Next" (2009)
*Single - "Even Misery" (2008)
*Single - "Never Satisfied" (2008)
Solo Albums:
"100% Handmade" (2002)
"Someone's Awake" (2004)
"Back To Nowhere" (2006)
"Mister" (2010)
Travis Dow
Where I come from:
I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but I consider the San Francisco Bay Area home, as I lived there from age 7 until age 29. I have a degree in Theatre Arts from Humboldt State University, where I fronted my first band, The River. We played about half cover songs and half originals. After a stint as rhythm guitarist in the San Francisco-based Blessed West, I created Cal Hollow (originally called Box Elder) in 1997, along with Seth Berenberg on bass, Mark Cameron on drums, and Jeffrey Hemmelgarn on guitar and additional vocals. Our first album, "Two Bulb Twilight", on Jericho/Sire Records, was helmed by Grammy-winning Producer John Porter (The Smiths, B.B. King), and included the single “No Mercy”, which generated substantial airplay both in the U.S. and abroad. Basically, we hit the jackpot. When Jericho had financial difficulties, we were cut adrift, and the band parted ways soon after.
I took off for Nashville to explore the source of all things. While performing at the Folk Alliance Festival in Vancouver, Canada, I made several important connections in the Chicago music scene. Thus, I decided to move North to reform Cal Hollow and also serve as lead guitarist with piano-pop phenom Katie Todd in her band.
The Cal Hollow project produced one more album ("North Central") before disbanding, so that both myself and drummer Mark Cameron could devote more time to The Katie Todd Band. Over the next five years the band would play shows throughout the Midwest U.S., record three albums, and generate intense label interest, ultimately remaining independent.
During that time, I continued working on my solo material, producing four more solo albums, "100% Handmade", "Someone's Awake", "Travis Dow Band", and "Back To Nowhere", and one collaborative album with lyricist Will Foreman ("The Fate of Dreams, Vol. 1").
In the Fall of 2006, it was finally time to go, and I, along with my fiance Katie, packed up and headed back to the West Coast, this time settling in Portland, Oregon. Another solo album is in the works, along with the second and third albums in collaboration with Will Foreman, "The Fate of Dreams, Vol. II and Vol. III". My primary "thing" at the moment is writing and performing with the stellar Portland country band Concrete Cowboys, which gives me a chance to work on the country songs I've always wanted to write. Chad Kessner's voice provides the vehicle for a lot of things I couldn't say before, and the band's often packed shows provide instant feedback and an enthusiastic audience.
What I've Been Up To:
*Debut album (with Cal Hollow), Two Bulb Twilight, was released in May 1999 and was produced by 4-time Grammy Award winner John Porter (The Smiths, B.B. King, Keb Mo’, Bonnie Raitt) on Jericho/Sire Records.
*Three albums with the Katie Todd Band: Changing Faces(2003), LIVE(2004), and Make Some Time For Wasting(2005), produced by Blaise Barton (Liz Phair, Ike Reilly). Opening slots included shows with Jewel, Steve Winwood, The Wallflowers, Five For Fighting, Pete Yorn, Patti Labelle, Anna Nalick, and Lifehouse, as well as a spot at Lollapalooza '06.
*Produced and performed behind four solo projects, 100% Handmade(2003), Someone’s Awake(2005), Travis Dow Band(2006), and Back To Nowhere(2006).
*Interviews & features in Gavin Magazine. Articles and reviews in the San Francisco Weekly, Examiner and the Times, the Chicago Reader, and various newspapers throughout the U.S.
*Airplay on over 50 radio stations in more than 20 states, including Chicago’s WXRT, San Francisco’s KLLC, WXPT Minneapolis, KUPL Portland, and FM-100 Memphis
* Winner of San Francisco Musician's Union Songwriting Contest - 1998
*With Concrete Cowboys:
- Placed third in nationwide Marlboro Country Music Contest
- Several Oregon and Washington Battle of the Bands wins
- Performances with Emerson Drive, Whiskey Falls, Hal Ketchum, Rhett Atkins, Andy Griggs, Lee Brice
-Winner - "Outstanding Achievement in Country Music", Portland Music Awards, 2010
Travis Dow
“Today’s music sounds great technically: the drums sound wonderful, the guitar sounds so good, the voices are great. It’s sad, because it’s so good and so bad at the same time. It’s boring, and that’s the worst thing you can say about music.” – Bobby Bare
I don’t generally go in for generalizations like this, and of course this doesn’t cover everything you hear on the radio, but taken as a whole over the past several years, I think it’s accurate.
Now that’s just the Top 40 radio we’re talking about, not all of the great stuff happening on the sidelines. Still, why the sidelines? Why can’t the great songs be heard by everyone anymore? Would “He Stopped Loving Her Today” get any airplay in this kind of environment, or would it be “too slow”, “too sad”, or “too country” to appeal to the younger crowd?
I’m not a young songwriter rolling into Nashville wet behind the ears, but I’m also not an old timer. At 38, I guess I’m somewhere in the middle. I can appreciate the way that Garth and others brought country together with singer/songwriters like James Taylor and Billy Joel. I can also appreciate writers like Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard or Curly Putnam, who wrote what is perhaps the greatest love song of all time, “My Elusive Dreams”. Listen to it if you get a chance.
I’m by no means a country purist, telling everyone within earshot that this ain’t country and that ain’t country…unless of course it isn’t, and it’s trying to be. “Country”, to me, doesn’t have to have a twang, or a fiddle, or a steel guitar – it just has to be real. Country fans can spot a fake in the first 3 seconds. I think.
It doesn’t have to be about the farm or the ranch or the honky tonk or the hoedown, but if it is, it better be a song about something that people actually go through, and be sung by someone who sounds like they know what they’re talking about.
As songwriters, we’ve all written from points of view that are not our own, and subjects we haven’t lived. That’s part of the creative process, and part of our job is to interpret as well as to speak from our own point of view. But if we’re true to ourselves as writers, those songs aren’t finished unless we’ve got something of ourselves in them. All emotion is universal, but play that song you wrote about the soldiers to a soldier, or a soldier’s family, and then you’ll know whether it’s finished or not.
I don’t think country music has gone into the tank, or that it can’t be revived. If I did, I’d keep writing, but I wouldn’t have any aspirations of bringing my songs to Nashville. However, I still think there are people in town in positions of influence who cringe a little when they listen to the radio, and who live for those moments when they’re able to successfully merge art and commerce into something truly inspiring that they’re actually proud to sell.
I don’t pretend to have the songs that can do that, but that’s the goal, every day. I don’t relate to songwriters who don’t claim to care about success. A writer writes for an audience, and success means more of one. The money just means you can write and play music all day. That’s not success, but its part of where we all want to be. When I say I want to be successful songwriter, it means I want to communicate. Thanks for being on the other end.