Travers La Ville: The Bio

My story is really no different than a lot of musicians: boy decides to play music for a living; boy writes songs based on personal experience and or failings, boy puts instruments in hock to pay bills.  But, here’s a brief recap of the musical history of Travers La Ville for those who care.
    I’ve been a singer my whole life, at least what I remember of it. Mom plopped me down in front MTV straight out of the womb and made sure my first live music experience was Michael Jackson’s “Bad” tour. Soon after, I joined every school choir, church choir and garage band I came across. I guess you could say Mom was very intuitive. Anyway, the first time it mattered that I could sing was in 2003 when I was introduced to Ken Tondre (Kevin Fowler/ The Compound Recording Studio). With Ken I recorded my first ep “Farewell to Fairweather.” Funny story: Ken is also the reason I played my first SXSW set on ch. 16 Austin.  

One day a very talented keyboard player organizing a SXSW celebration for ch.16 stopped by The Compound while I was recording to ask Ken if he knew a couple of artist that could play on t.v. and not choke. Ken said, “Sure, I know a guy” and then points at a very green, very excited songwriter from Baytown, Texas who had never even seen the inside of a t.v. station – me. I think the keyboard player’s initial response was something to the effect of, “That kid? Seriously?” but after some reassurance from Ken - and a lot of smiling and nodding from me - I had the gig. When the coast was clear, Ken turns to me and says, “Two words of advice kid: never say no to an opportunity and don’t suck.”

I played a lot of shows after that- Andy’s in Denton, Teeter Totter Fest at Texas Lutheran University, St. Thomas University, Lee College, The Sidecar Pub, Super Happy Fun Land, Dirty Bay Brewery, Coffee Oasis and some I’ve forgotten. I was billed with a few different musicians on the road: Roger Creager, The Spill Canvas, Leeland, Buxton, Taylor Davis- to name a few. I then released and another ep in 2005 with producer John Glover and repeated the process for two more years before going on hiatus. Today, the same challenges lie ahead but the game plan is much simpler, “…never say no to an opportunity and DON’T SUCK.”