From his mega hit, “After A Few,” to his new collaboration with HARDY, “Southern Rock,” Travis Denning is a name that has become more common on the radio. He’s sharing with us today about how he feels being a newlywed and those comparisons to Keith Urban. This singer, songwriter and guitarist also comments on what it’s like touring with his good buddy, HARDY, and fishing with his famous father in law, John Michael Montgomery. You can catch Travis Denning Friday night in Charlotte at PNC Pavilion on the HARDY Quit!! Tour. Get the rest of his tour schedule, venues and how you can purchase tickets at the end of this article.
Catch Travis Denning On The HARDY Quit!! Tour
EPR: You’re going to be in Charlotte on Friday night. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your tour you’re currently doing with HARDY?
Travis: Yeah, it’s been awesome. It’s the Quit!! Tour. It’s kind of a little bit more rock leaning, you know, promoting his upcoming rock album. And it’s just been nuts. We’ve had two weekends so far. Everything’s just been packed and so great. It’s just been a fun crowd for us because I think my shows always landed pretty high energy or a little bit more heavier hitting. HARDY’s is that times a million, so we’re kind of right in our wheelhouse. It’s just good to tour with somebody I consider a good friend, which is kind of the first time I’ve really ever done that. This is kind of like the first tour where it’s like, “Oh, yeah, I’m touring with this guy and his wife and then my wife and we’re just good friends and stuff.” The vibes have been top tier so far.
EPR: You have a song with him, “Southern Rock.” Is there any chance we might get to see you guys perform that together on the tour?
Travis: Absolutely. We’ve been doing it in his set every night and it’s a special moment. I’m really thankful that he carved out a spot in his set for me. It’s been really fun.
EPR: That’s awesome. You were talking about your wives being buddies. And you’re a newlywed. How’s that working out for you so far?
Travis: It’s been great. We are a year in. May 20th was our one year anniversary. It’s just been super fun. It’s been a good ride so far.
EPR: Congratulations. I had read in another interview that she likes to read a lot and that you buy her books. Has she gotten you into reading any?
Travis: No, no, I need to though. I need to start expanding my lack of intelligence a little bit more. I am more of a movie guy. I could almost watch a movie a day. She’s definitely more of a book a week kind of person.
EPR: My husband and I are similar in that I read a lot and he likes to watch movies. So a lot of times we’ll watch the movie to the book I read so maybe that’s something you guys could do.
Travis: That’s something that we do, too. If there’s something where I’m like, “You’ve got to watch this,” and there’s a book like, ‘Lord of the Rings,’ and she’s like, “Well, I really want to to read, ‘Lord of the Rings’.” I was like, “Well, you better start now.” So she read, “Fellowship.” She’s like, “I love it.” Then she read, “Two Towers,” and she was like, “That was really good. It was a little difficult to read,” which all Tolkien books are. I mean, it’s just a lot of information. And she started reading, “Return of the King,” and she said, “Screw it. We can just watch the movie. I can’t get this down.”
EPR: I like to have the entire collection of a book set before I read it. I hadn’t read Harry Potter, so I got all of the books last year and read them. And he watched all the movies with me. So it’s pretty fun to do that.
Travis: Absolutely.
Guitar Heroes and Keith Urban Comparisons
EPR: A lot of stuff online talks about how you are “guitar forward” and some articles I have read have even compared you to being the next Keith Urban. How do you feel about those comparisons?
Travis: It’s pretty nuts. That’s somebody that was pretty much a hero of mine and still is. I mean, I think he’s done it the right way, which is his way. I was having a conversation with someone recently about this, about guitar playing and things, and they were asking my opinion on Keith Urban. I was like, I love Keith Urban because he plays guitar like Keith Urban. He’s never played like anybody else. He’s found his thing. That’s kind of what I’ve always strived to do. I hope that there’s a moment where people hear me play guitar and they’re like, “That’s Travis playing,” because all the guitar players I looked up to were identifiable by their playing. Derek Trucks, Duane Allman, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Jimi Hendrix – you knew who those people were within two notes. And Keith Urban, of course. I love it. I think it’s really sweet. I don’t have as cool of an accent, unfortunately. But the southern accent will have to do.
EPR: When you go to perform in Australia, they probably do think you have a really cool accent, right?
Travis: For sure. I’ve yet to do that, so hopefully real soon.
EPR: So do you consider yourself more of a guitarist or more of a singer? How do you view yourself?
Travis: That’s a really great question. I hope I’m a really balanced mix of all three things, guitar player, singer and songwriter. I hope that I’m perceived as a songwriter. I think that’s my true love. Hopefully the guitar playing is the cherry on top. If the song is really good, and it’s produced well, you can get away with not being a good singer sometimes. Not that I consider myself a bad singer, but definitely no Paul Rogers over here. I hope that when people think of me, they think, “He writes really good songs.” I think that’s the core of country music, and that’s the ultimate compliment.
EPR: You have a lot of big names who have recorded your songs like Jason Aldean and Morgan Wallen. Do you think you would have been happy if you had just focused solely on songwriting and not become a performer yourself?
Travis: I don’t know. I go back and forth. For me, I think that I’m probably too far in at this point to not always want to scratch that itch as far as the live performing [goes]. I mean, just being on tour and like the camaraderie of that, and just the experiences, that feeling of being on stage, it’s a hard thing not to strive for, and definitely a hard thing to not get addicted to. I love it so much. But I don’t know, I mean, I’ve got so many great friends obviously that are career songwriters. And I think that’s an amazing life in and of itself, I mean walking into a room, starting with an idea, starting with a little guitar thing and melody, whatever it is, starting at this little tiny small thing and it potentially growing into something big – that’s a super special thing. And they do get to sleep in their own beds every night which is kind of nice. I tell you what, my blanket answer here is, if I’m making a living in country music, I’ll be happy in whatever way that looks. I’ll always be happy. I feel like if I’m contributing to country music and I’m somewhat important and needed, then I’ll be happy.
EPR: Since you are a musician, since you’re a singer and you’re a songwriter, you have a variety of avenues where you can be sure that you will be able to make a career in country music.
Travis: I think that’s something about Nashville that’s so great. If you just, first off, be a good person, that goes an insane amount of distance. I think if you just focus on everything and try and be great at all of it – that’s the thing – everyone thinks like, “Well, I’ll be kind of good at all of it.” Nah, you should try to the best of your ability, be the best musician you can, be the best songwriter, best singer, best performer. You know, all those things that go so far down the line. I’ve got so many friends who have had “kind of” careers in all aspects. I’ve got buddies who’ve been artists and they’ve had hits as artists, and then they had hits as songwriters. And then, hell, they worked on the industry side, maybe like ran a label or A&R and produced records. I think music is just supposed to be creative. I think it’s really cool when you see careers like Jon Randall, for instance, who I wrote, “David Ashley Parker,” with – he was an artist, a touring musician. Now he’s a producer and a songwriter. People like Rhett Akins who had one of the biggest hits of the 90s in country music, and now he’s written close to 40 number one songs and produced some records. I think that’s just such a such a cool thing.
EPR: And he produced Thomas Rhett, sooo… *laughs*
Travis: *laughs* Yeah, he literally produced Thomas Rhett. Biologically produced. I wonder what percentage he gets on that, probably not a lot unfortunately.
On Stage With The Marshall Tucker Band
EPR: Probably not. As a kid, you actually got a really cool opportunity that most people don’t. You got to perform on stage with the Marshall Tucker band! Tell us about that.
Travis: My dad’s childhood best friend was a guy named Chris Hicks who played guitar for Marshall Tucker Band and still does today. And we were living in Utah at the time. My parents jobs took them out there for a few years. They were passing through on the Volunteer Jam Tour with Charlie Daniels and The Outlaws. I was 14 and they brought me up there for, “Can’t You See?” And it was my first time really ever setting foot on a stage. Man, it was awesome.
EPR: So were you nervous, or did you just jump right in?
Travis: Nah, I was pretty cool. I wasn’t too worried about it. I mean, I knew the song really well. If I had not known the song, I would have probably been freaking out. But I just got up there and did it. I strummed along. I think I may have played a couple of licks here and there. But for the most part, I just kind of strummed chords.
EPR: You have just come out with what is, technically, your debut album. You’ve been around for a while, but you’ve worked on this album for a while, as well. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about that?
Travis: I’ve worked on this record for pretty much a year. It started out as just cutting some songs and recording – cutting the meat and potatoes of stuff. [We] were just like, “This sounds like a hit. That sounds fun.” But I wasn’t super pointed at like, “Does this feel like an album?” I had cut about seven or eight songs and I was like, “Alright, if I cut four more, I mean, that’s essentially an album.” Then I literally wrote the song, “Roads That Go Nowhere,” shortly thereafter. That was kind of the turning point for me, when I knew that that would be the title track of the record and also kind of the theme. It just made sense. And then after that, I was like, “Well let’s pull together the stories of, ‘Roads That Go Nowhere,” and make this feel like an actual concept, you know, like an actual album. So, my goal was 15 songs. And that’s what we did. And it just came out great. It was a lot of work, but it was really a lot of fun. I never really had a moment where I didn’t enjoy it. The whole process was great.
Crappie Fishing With John Michael Montgomery
EPR: You have a pretty famous father in law [John Michael Montgomery]. Has he given you any good advice for the music industry?
Travis: He’s given me a lot of advice on crappie fishing. The best thing about him is I can bounce stuff off of him and talk about my experiences and what I’m going through, things I’m bitching about, things I’m excited about. What’s just nice to hear is like the validation. A lot of it is what he went through even back then. So there’s kind of a comforting thing just knowing, oh, yeah, that’s how it is and that’s what you do and blah blah blah. The reality is that the machine of the music business hasn’t changed too much. I mean, there’s obviously different ad libs that we’re using now and different nouns and verbs, but for the most part, it’s all kind of the same.
Editor’s Note: Travis pronounces it “croppie” fishing. He says that everyone in Georgia pronounces it “crappie” fishing, but he thinks “croppie” sounds “more elegant.” I’ve heard people in North Carolina say, “crappie,” too. So, I consulted with Dr. Google and I think the way Travis prefers to say it is actually the correct way! He’s also right about “croppie” sounding “more elegant,” too.
EPR: Sometimes just being able to talk to someone who’s been through what you’ve been through is really just all you need, right?
Travis: For sure. Absolutely.