“Dark Americana,” is how the daughter of Muscle Shoals' royalty describes the ghostly, unflinching, sometimes gritty tales that separate her 10-song RAZOR WIRE collection from the mainstream. The title song –reprised as an acoustic “bonus” at CD’s end -- is evidence of how this daughter of Shoals' tunesmith and icon, Walt Aldridge uses her stark poetic soul to visit life’s dark corners. The song is a lust-and-melancholy retelling of the day she took her wedding ring to a pawn shop and then “was sitting around in a bar with a guy I met there. It’s 100 percent real.” While in some ways the song -- the arms and bed of the barfly is eventual salve for love lost -- is reminiscent of classic country standards about marital heartache and sexual healing, it demonstrates the raw musical texture and lyrics flavoring her entire album.
HANNAH ALDRIDGE, 26, is steeped in the music both of Nashville and Muscle Shoals, the two cities where she was raised as her father -- a Muscle Shoals legend as well as a much-honored Nashville songwriter, musician and producer – plied his craft. Her musical youth was spent being trained to be a classical pianist. She didn’t begin writing songs until, as a 21-year-old sound-engineering student at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, TN she took a songwriting class as an elective. “I literally thought we were going to learn how to write songs,” she says. After discovering students were expected already to have written songs, she turned to her dad for help. “I found out it really wasn’t that hard: It’s just saying things that are true and making them rhyme,” says the young woman who began her performing career at Nashville’s most famous singer-songwriter venue, The Bluebird Café, after she was among students chosen to represent MTSU in a showcase. “It was so wild: I had gotten picked out of all those people who wanted to be songwriters.” She sang her entire three-song catalog that night. Two years later, Hannah signed a publishing deal after her song “Lonesome” was featured on the “Hart of Dixie” television series. “That song has been a launching pad for me,” she says.
There is stark contradiction between the “real” and loving Hannah and the hard-loved, almost-fictitious character she becomes when writing songs trekking through life’s darkly carnal sides. The real Hannah, a striking 5-foot-11 blonde, smiles frequently, affably when discussing her music and her life. The mention of her son, sparks a generous gleam in her deep green eyes. “My character is someone who will kill somebody, get high. This person is an outlaw and is also somebody that understands the difference between good and bad. My character is someone who says ‘this is not right, but I’m doing it anyway.’…I would never ride a motorcycle, but you know she would," says Hannah, putting a fingertip on the cheek of the hard blonde in the cover photo..
In the end, the album is where the “dark” Hannah and the sweetly profound young mother mingle. “This album is about learning to be a grownup, learning to face the world alone. It’s about being brave enough to look people in the eye and just say ‘This is who I am -- imperfections and all.’”
And that’s just what she does. And the listener is the beneficiary.
Singer songwriter TRAVIS MEADOWS is an artist to the core, but his is not a story about music. It is a story about life; a story about religion and family; a story about addiction; a story about survival, sobriety and freedom, with music as the narrator.
His song “I’m A Riser”, recently recorded by country superstar Dierks Bentley, says it all… “I’m a riser… I’m a get up off the ground, don’t run and hide-er, Pushing comes to shove, hey I’m a fighter, When darkness comes to town, I’m a lighter, A get out alive-er, Of the fire… Survivor.”
Growing up in Jackson, Mississippi where “Hell ain’t half that hot… you could fry eggs on the parking lot”… he remembers his life as being filled with loss very early on. His first memory was of his brother drowning… then his parents divorced… At fourteen he was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer in his ankle that ultimately cost him his leg, “It was really sexy going through puberty and chemo at the same time,” but that was the least of his hurdles. Travis laid the foundation for his music career while making the rounds at local bars and clubs, performing with legendary Blues players such as Sam Myers (Anson Funderburg and the Rockets) and Fingers Taylor (Jimmy Buffett). He also laid the foundation for a drug and alcohol problem that would haunt him for years… His original high came at 11 from stealing his grandmother’s Valium… then at 24 with a “God experience” that led him to the world of Christian music, trading one addiction for another, “When I was getting high, I wanted everybody to get high too…on drugs, on alcohol, on Jesus…” He went on to tour the world as a Christian rock artist, spreading “The Word” across the globe the only way he knew how, through music. However, he found that “the truth will set you free, but eventually it’ll piss you off.” He arrived in Nashville and learned the hard way about fame and fortune… “I came to town to make a difference, I had a story to tell, I told it loud, but my opinion didn’t go over so well, waiting for offers, they never came, the Davidson County Police know my name… if dumb makes you famous, then I can’t complain, the Davidson Country Police know my name.”
Even in the midst of his self-destruction, his talent prevailed. He received a 2001 ASCAP Christian Music Award, had eight Top 20 singles in the Contemporary Christian genre and landed a staff writer deal with Scott Gunter at Universal Music Publishing Group in 2005, writing with celebrated writers and artists from Nashville to London and garnering cuts by Lynard Skynyrd, Lee Ann Womack and Jake Owen as well as numerous #1 singles and five RIAA Gold Records with Australian artist Adam Brand; however, the spiral of addiction continued.
Well-known among songwriter circles in Nashville, Travis is an unforgettable performer… He is an open wound, the rawness of his words and his vocals pulling you into his world… a Mississippi childhood learning to drink his coffee black in dives off the highway, his battles with cancer, alcohol, drugs, God and demons, and all the characters along the way… “We got prize-winning fried chicken from a run-down shack, Uncle Daddy cookin’ meth in a tub out back, Rachel drinks liquor from a coffee cup so the neighbors don’t know that she drinks too much, Gretchen’s got a Camel burning from her lip, nobody knows whose baby’s ridin’ on her hip…” “Old Ghosts & Unfinished Business” is the continuation of his journey of recovery and survival that began almost three years ago.
“If you want to listen to Travis songs be prepared for them to resonate with raw emotion. They have honesty, a viewpoint you wouldn't have expected and every once in a while a bit of humor. If you want to hear the same things over and over turn on the radio. If you want to listen to songs that will be food for your soul, that cause you to have to hit repeat then you should listen to “Old Ghosts & Unfinished Business”. Joe Galante, former Chairman, Sony Music Nashville.
Now signed to Kobalt Music Publishing, his songs have recently been recorded by Ronnie Dunn, Dierks Bentley, Levi Lowery, Blackberry Smoke, Carly Pearce and Peter Fox of Go West among others. The debut single off his new EP, “Unfinished Business”, launches April 23rd as an ITunes Exclusive, followed by the record, “Old Ghosts & Unfinished Business” later this summer. Travis describes his life as “one big exhale” now… no big plans… just glad to be alive… “Breathe, breathe, fill your lungs with better air… reach, reach cause you know it’s waiting there… I’ve found letting go of what you’re holdin’, leaves your heart and arms a little more wide open”… Travis Meadows is wide open.
LISA CARVER is one of the most respected and revered writers in Nashville. A lot of that has to due with the fact that not only can she write a hit for other artists, but she also writes absolutely astonishing songs from her heart and soul with not even the slightest nod to commercial viability. But that is what makes an artist an artist. Lisa Carver has harnessed and mastered the power of crafting a song that can hold an audience in awe with only a smoky sultry voice and an acoustic guitar.
Disillusioned with the formulaic norm on the commercial Nashville music scene, Carver was happy working and writing on the fringes while honing her songwriting craft.
Over the years, Carver has developed an enormous respect and deep gratitude for the experiences that being a writer in Nashville has brought her. “To sit in a room with writers like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Jonathan Long and Don Schlitz, has made a tremendous impact on my artistic path,” reflects Carver. Adding, “Every day is another chance to get up and possibly write my own ‘Sunday Morning Coming Down.’”
Carver is a storyteller who breathes life in and out of the characters that inhabit her songs of love, heartache, longing, cheating and murder. She is one of the lucky ones getting to earn a living writing songs on Nashville’s famed Music Row. Carver has had songs cut by Jewel, Julie Roberts, Shelly Fairchild, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Tanya Tucker and Willie Nelson, as well as Sugarland’s “Everyday America.”
“I want to write a song that feels to me like To Kill a Mockingbird must have felt to Harper Lee; one that says it all,” says Carver.
This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.
We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here
The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?
