In this interview spotlight, I chat with the Jimmy Travis Band about their latest release, challenges, working with Elton John, how the music biz has changed over time and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
Long answer: The Jimmy Travis Band (rock, country rock, soft rock) began as group of American expatriates living in Berlin. You see we discovered that there you could live there from music alone. I moved to London to work on an album for Warner Brothers. John Vaughan was U.S. Army brat who grew up in Germany. Francis Serafini is from Rhode Island and I found him in a Berlin club playing solo gigs. Trevor Cooper is from London and he agreed to put together a duo for club dates. Hansi is our drummer and the only German member of our group. I loved playing with these guys seeing how they were some of the best songwriters in Europe. Our life style included sleeping until 5 pm and getting coffee. Then we went to work writing songs we could play in the clubs that night. Berlin was heaven for musicians. We wrote songs and played in the clubs, usually three clubs a night. We did TV and radio. We toured western Europe out of Berlin. But in the end I guess you could say we did it for the music and the blondes. The group’s genres are country, country rock soft rock. Our influences are Roy Orbison, Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Byrds, The Everly Brothers, Gene Clark and The Eagles.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
We decided to follow our particular form of country rock die to the fact that Jimmy was born in the same Detroit hospital as Glenn Frey and was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Our songwriting was always on a parallel course. Glenn was what I called a rehearsal Nazi but he was a dedicated song writer.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
We decided to stick with a desert motiv and use artwork from the southwester states like New Mexico ala Georgia O’Keefe
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
I began working with Elton John at his Rocket Records in London and he and I never had the hassles of the digital world. We just recorded and toured. The last check I saw on Elton’s desk was for 67,000,000 pounds. Life was so simple then.
What was the last song you listened to? “You Belong To The City”
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
CD’s I guess but things are changing rapidly. Kids today can’t hear the difference between MP3’s and Japanese virgin vinyl.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify was a clever idea but it’s unfortunately run like a private club. Apple? I HATE APPLE AND THEIR OVERPRICED GEAR. I love the aesthetic of the Bandcamp site and our fans agree.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
Two primary sites for music apart from Bandcamp would be
#1 http://www.jimmytravisband.org/home/ and
#2 https://jimmytravisband.com/
https://thejimmytravisband.bandcamp.com/album/addicted-to-you
Anything else before we sign off?
Yes, I need suggestions on picking a new city to live in…particularly for music and romance….Someone asked me recently, “Why do you like the music business”? For the blondes, for the blondes.
