Travers Geoffray Releases New Album 'Highway Kings'
By: Caryn Robbins Apr. 21, 2017
The music of New Orleans courses through singer/songwriter/pianist Travers Geoffray's veins like the Mississippi River cuts across the South. A third generation NOLA jazz musician, Geoffray honed his craft with years of performing in the city's institution of a band Mississippi Rail Company and has now released his first-ever solo album, Highway Kings. Listen to the title track HERE.
Produced by Grammy-winning gospel/bluegrass vet Michael Latterel (Jim Lauderdale, Rhonda Vincent) at Nashville's House of Blues Studio, Highway Kings is about the lures and pitfalls of the open road, stretching like an empty canvas before him, as Travers starts up the engine of his solo career, examining what makes him tick. The new songs were more introspective, varied, and less about maintaining that party atmosphere all night long. Order it HERE.
Combining the organic Americana roots of Sturgill Simpson, the lyrical depth of Jason Isbell and Tom Waits' Tin Pan Alley/country-blues hybrid story-telling, Highway Kings' songs are both literary and cinematic, evoking the epic sweep of "The Grapes of Wrath" in the title track, with its trip through Oklahoma and "the buffalos on golden prairies up above the Utah sky," ending up at the "crystal shores" of California.
"I love the mystique of the open road and traveling," he says. "Many of these songs are not just about physical trips, but the imaginary ones we go on in our heads, because a lot of people can't just pick up and go when they please."
What makes Geoffray's music endure, though, is his commitment to the melodies and harmonies of classic American songwriting tropes, from the musical theater to the Brill Building. You can hear it in the simple pop piano progression on "Don't Stop," a song that wouldn't sound out of place on your local Top 40 station, at least the ones who still play Coldplay or U2. "Hold over my ears magnificent sound," sings Travers, and that's exactly what he's created here. Travers is also on tour this month, performing on the Acura Main Stage at the New Orleans' Jazz and Heritage Festival and headlining shows in the music cities of Nashville and Athens, Georgia. All upcoming tour dates are listed below.
TOUR DATES
4/23 - Nashville, TN - The Basement
4/24 - Athens, GA - Georgia Theater Rooftop
4/29 - New Orleans, LA - New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
4/29 - New Orleans, LA - Gasa Gasa
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