Maine Sunday Telegram Arts Planner

Portland Press Herald GO! Section with Seven Days of Fun Stuff

Make sure to add Travis James Humphrey as a friend on Facebook!  He'll be sponsoring a free CD giveaway soon, and you have to be a Facebook friend to play!

Wait, what?  Travis has a new cd?

This is the common reaction, and the rumor is true!  (Click here for a peek at the cover)  With many thanks to Carl Royer for playing matchmaker, Nashville guitarist Johnny Hiland produced a project that combines Johnny's mastery of stringed instruments and Trav's extraordinary vocal talent.  Johnny wanted to try production, and Trav's vocals and songwriting skills were a good fit for what, we hope, will be Trav's demo/portfolio as a Nashville songwriter and performer.

So, Travis and I did a road trip with a rented Malibu in January, and I watched bad cable television in the hotel room while Travis spent the night in the studio.  The next morning, a tired Travis told me he recorded the songs (all of them) in a single take.  "We recorded some different versions though," he said. "Just for safety and variety."

Yep.  He nailed all the vocals in one night.

The masters arrived when we returned from St. Thomas, and then began the task of working up the cover art.  Since I know just enough graphic design to be dangerous, but not enough to earn money as a professional, it took a while to get it right.  (With many thanks to Hannah Wilde for supplying images! It took a different, last-minute, artistic direction, but we're so pleased with the result.)

Right now, the project is being duplicated, and it should go on sale online and in stores by Friday, April 30.  To celebrate, we're hosting TWO LOCAL CD RELEASE PARTIES with a final blowout bash at Northern Musical Supply in Houlton.

Hope to see you there!

Next up:  Wait, are you guys moving to Nashville?

1. It sounds like little angels getting their wings.
2. Drunk people can puke on it and it doesn't really matter because you can hose it off.
3. If someone starts shooting in the bar, it's possible that the it will stop the bullet, and even if it doesn't, it will still be playable.
4. You can fly from Maine to the Virgin Islands and not only does the guitar's action not change at all, it doesn't even go out of tune.
5. TSA dudes who play guitar think it's awesome and let you through with string clippers because they understand.

For information about how to obtain one of your own, talk to John at Friendly River Music.

Here I am, playing mine at Water Island's very own Joe's Beach Bar.

I've never heard an invitation to an accountant phrased that way.  "And bring your calculator!  It'll be fun."  Or a carpenter.  "We've got pizza!  And bring your tools, so you can tackle this deck remodel."  I've just never heard it go down like that for other people.  Photographers, maybe, but generally speaking, no.

If it didn't happen so often, it wouldn't be as bad.  And to be clear, if family or friends needed entertainment for a gathering and he wasn't already booked, Trav would probably say sure.  He's nice like that, and if he could add a musical element to a party, he would.  He'd agree to perform if it was important, but it would be a performance.  He wouldn't be chatting, or sampling the buffet at his leisure, or enjoying the music, or playing in the pool, or dominating at horseshoes.  Travis would be working the gig.

I'd originally planned to talk lots about that annoying tic, and how it's never meant with malice-just ignorance.  I'd originally planned as much, but the reality is that right now, at this exact moment, Travis is off exploring a lagoon with his snorkel.  He's exploring a little lagoon on an island outpost, just off the coast of St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands. 

The island outpost is, aptly, Water Island, and we are so very fortunate to have use of a home on the island for a week.  So, given that we're anticipating a move this Fall and our bathroom needs some work if we want to put in on the market, and the exterior needs painting-badly, and any smart-thinking person would be saving pennies in anticipation of all the impending flux....we checked out for a week.

We checked out to the most pristine, remote, achingly beautiful island location in the Caribbean. Travis left his Blackberry on our kitchen table.  He left his Blackberry, but he brought his guitar.  (His new carbon fiber guitar from Composite Acoustics that he can talk more about, but I'm told that it can withstand any amount of abuse.)  He wanted to test it out for airline travel, and he reports much success.

So instead of complaining in that tortured artiste (douchebag) way about how nobody understands him, I will instead have another little chunk of the fresh pineapple Travis cut me before he went off on his snorkel adventure and share a little video moment from last night.  The sky was clear, the sun was setting, and Travis brought his guitar to the courtyard to sing....just for the pleasure of it.

(And for those seeking intimate details about the Travis and Shonna dynamic, he's singing our song.  Jimmy Buffett's "Tin Cup Chalice."  It just fits.)  Enjoy!

Next up:  Trav's Water Island Gig at Joe's

For more on Shonna, visit www.shonnahumphrey.com

It is Trav's JOB to perform.  Many people do not consider performance careers as, well, careers.  This mindset is tricky to overcome.  My husband has been performing in public since he was a little boy.  For practical purposes, music is the only job he's consistently maintained.  This is how he earns money to pay our mortgage and buy our groceries.  It's often a fun job, and he loves his job, but it's his JOB. 

Given that performance is his profession, not his hobby, why would I accompany him to work every day?

To compare, I am a writer.  I work in an office.  I also teach.  Would Travis come to my job with me every day?  No, and I would not want him in my classroom.  Likewise, more often than not, he does not want me in the audience.  I completely understand.  To focus and offer the crowd his best performance, he can't be worrying about me:  if I will walk to my car alone, if I am being chatted up by a weird stranger, if I like the volume, if my natural scowl means that his singing is off.

This is how I've earned the nickname "Maris."  I don't mind.  In fact, I kind of like it.  It makes me seem like an enigma, so when I DO come out to a show, I make an entrance.  Instead of being the regular bar hag slumped over an ashtray, I can meet people and keep conversation interesting because everyone I meet is new.  I have energy for the experience.

That all said, Travis knows that if he needs me...any where, any time...I will be cheering in the audience front row, hollering for people to "clap for my husband" as loud as I can.  If allowed, I will stand on the table to get better projection.  (Beth Wagstaff has witnessed this.)

Some people interpret my absence as a lack of support, but that's okay.  These are usually the same people who invite us to parties and say "Have Travis bring his guitar.  It'll be fun."

If he could bring the $15,000 guitar in the short clip below, it would be fun for him, but then he'd just be showing off.  Watch Travis test out this fancy one with the words from Waylon Jennings that sum up his feelings for me.  "Fate should have made you a gentleman's wife."

NEXT UP:  "Have Travis bring his guitar.  It'll be fun."

For more on Shonna, visit www.shonnahumphrey.com

Since Travis is overloaded right now, I offered to write his blog for a little bit.  It's important to maintain an interactive presence, and while we consider ourselves private people, it's also time to open up.

So many people ask me (or Travis) about maintaining a partnership in such a nontraditional format, we thought we'd address it in this blog.  Part Q&A, part funny anecdote, and with luck, an honest look at how to make marriage work.  Marriage to a musician, mostly, but I think it translates to other professions.  We're not experts, but after ten years together, we are happy.

In short, it's hard sometimes.  It's hard for lots of reasons, and the schedule is chief among them.  Most people ask about the ladies, but the schedule is the toughest piece. 

Here's why the ladies (and some men) DON'T matter

Travis sings, so folks can have a good time.  Dancing, drinking, cutting loose with friends...he loves it when the crowd is into his performance.  He loves it, and he earns every second of that adoration.    He earns every second, and if that adoration translates to a little boobie-shaking or thong-flashing, it's cool.  It's cool because there's perspective.  Fans love Trav's music.  I love the man.  Take away Trav's musical talent, and I will still be his wife.  Fans can't always say the same, and Travis knows the difference.  He loves his fans, but they aren't making soup for him when he has the flu, y'know? 

And honestly?  I've got tits and ass, too.  I'm not worried when women pass him hotel keys or offer him sex in the bathroom.  I will be worried when they offer to prepare his taxes.

Here's why the schedule DOES matter

Travis works at night.  I work during the day.  This means that Wednesday through Saturday nights, Travis works.  Sometimes, Monday and Tuesday nights, too.  This opposite schedule can get lonely, and it's important...no, critical...that the spouse of a musician be comfortable with a ton of solo downtime.

(Travis just left for work now, while I'm typing up this blog post.  I'll be headed to bed in about twenty minutes.  We crossed paths for an hour of overlap.)

The schedule is also the reason Travis does not work on Sundays.  Many people think it's because we're religious.  We're not, at least not in the traditional sense.  We're practical.  We need a day to connect, to see each other, to synch up schedules, and to sit on our couch doing nothing with our dog stretched between us.  It's the one day where we prioritize ourselves as a couple.  It's our family time.

If I can offer one piece of advice, it is to pick a day for yourselves and make it a priority.  Knowing I am a priority for my husband makes all the difference.  In a business filled with younger, prettier versions of myself who all want a piece of my man for a couple hours, it takes stamina and perspective to see it honestly for the reality we've created.

NEXT UP:  "I bet you come to all his shows."

For more on Shonna, feel free to visit www.shonnahumphrey.com.

Exciting news - my new solo release, "Dirty Beautiful World", is being mixed and mastered this week. Johnny Hiland, the producer and multi-instrumentalist of my newest project, is mixing as I write this with Micheal "Bear" Clair, and then those fellas are taking it over to Grammy Award winner, Richard Dodd for mastering. It will take some time to get the duplication done, but within a couple of months it should be ready for release - cool stuff!

Travis

Many thanks to the dear and lovely Shonna Leigh for that wonderful intro into the blogoshpere, and welcome to my new and much improved (thanks again Shonna!) internet home - let me know what you think!

Travis