BrienTravis.com

Brien Travis is an American singer-songwriter whose eclectic style incorporates elements of modern rock, jazz, folk, and electronica. He is one of the few pop musicians who have brought the piano and synthesizers to center stage as main instruments. He writes, performs, produces, and records most of his work completely solo, with the exception of occasional guest musicians.

Born of Irish, German, and Cherokee Indian heritage, Travis began playing the piano at a very early age as a toddler, and was later formally trained before tracking off on his own path to hone his personal style of playing.

His songs, while being nonconformist in genre, cover the spectrum of human connection-often either in an enigmatic form or in journal-like sequences that more often than not “play out like an audio version of a photography art exhibit.” His songs mainly ask questions rather than provide answers for those seeking the secret of life. His influences range across the music grid-from John Denver to Bjork, The Mamas and the Papas to Laurie Anderson, Leonard Cohen to Tori Amos. Travis is a child of the 80’s, and grew up on new wave pop like Cyndi Lauper and Tears For Fears. You can hear all of this in Travis’ own music.

He self-released several instrumental albums before writing, producing, performing, and recording his vocal debut album solely by himself in 1997. The LP, “Little Box Of Voodoo” was welcomed by college radio DJ’s across the southeast and later swept the Independent Music Awards Of Tennessee, garnering Travis male vocalist, album, and songwriter of the year. The album was often compared to another piano playing singer-songwriter, Tori Amos, and her debut album “Little Earthquakes”. The subject matter was dark, and steered as far away from what mainstream radio was playing at the time. The college radio hit, “Boy In The Corner Café”, told the tale of a suicidal youth who decides to “run away” by jumping out the window of a high-rise building.

Several ‘basement’ EPs followed. After 2001’s “Dispatches” EP, Travis took time off from his music after a few personal losses. He started to explore other outlets like acting and scoring films. On Halloween in 2005 Travis woke in the middle of the night with excruciating pain in his left leg. Emergency surgery was needed to aid in the recovery of a bacterial infection that had attacked Travis’ lymph nodes. While bed ridden for over a month, Travis came up with the idea for his 2006 covers album, “Cul de Sac”, which after completion, was offered as a free download from his official website, and was also mentioned in Rolling Stone magazine in an article about the new ways to promote Indie artists.

In 2007, he released another EP, “Magnolia Railroad”, only this time returning to his instrumental roots. The only two vocal tracks on the disc included a critically-praised cover of the Ben E. King classic “Stand By Me”, as well as an early draft of an original song titled “It Goes This Way”. Throughout 2007, he performed at various events, helping raise awareness for some of his favorite causes, including the American Heart Association’s Sing Your Heart Out event in Murfreesboro, performing alongside the likes of Leigh Nash and Marc Broussard. The concert was recorded for NPR’s “In The Round” and was broadcast several times after listeners’ response of his performance of the Tears For Fears song “Mad World”.

In the fall of 2008, Travis released his third full length album of original material titled “Karma Lounge”. It featured the hit single “Voodoo”-a song that Travis had released months earlier as a single. The disc also contained fan favorites “This Fairytale”, “Daylight”, and “Time”. A reworked, country-influenced version of “It Goes This Way” also appeared on the album. That October, as part of a Halloween bash at one of the coffeehouse hot spots, he was the surprise performer of the evening, with his take on “Don’t Fear The Reaper” and the Twin Peaks theme “Falling”. In December, he recorded a duet of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”, the classic holiday tune, with radio personality Jane Ellen.

2009 saw only two live performances, one being a Relay For Life event promoting the American Cancer Society, a cause Travis strongly supports, while the other was a live European techno take of “Sweet Dreams” at the Magic 98.5 radio station’s annual Bridal Fashion Show. In July 2009, he released a retrospective collection of home-studio recordings along-side more well known tracks called “Tales Of Lazy Wednesdays”. All of the included material was remastered and lightly reworked, adding effects and more instruments to the original recordings.

He is also a photographer and is a self-proclaimed “foodie” and loves to cook and create original recipes. He also writes fiction, though to date has never attempted to have his work published. Travis lives in a small rural area about an hour from Nashville. He is currently working on his next album as well as a photography book.