travis shane brandon Fan This Flame CD

A Troubadour For All SeasonsTravis asked me to write some old-fashioned liner notes for his brand new CD. I’ve dashed to the computer keyboard just as I’m listening to the disc for the very first time. I had to. By the third tune I began to realize that my old friend has made a wonderful collection here. The political urgency and melodic power of That River Never Bends grabbed me right away. I was literally moved to tears by the brooding melancholy of Wounded Love. The infectious lilt of Blue Jean Movie Dream reminded me of the affectionate sincerity of American Pie.I first met Travis Brandon during a period of my own life I call ”The Displaced Years.” My longstanding psych, prog-rock band Christmas had broken up so I hit the road in search of truth and new inspiration. I met Travis almost immediately in Toronto. Down in the east end lakefront area, called appropriately “The Beaches,” some coffee houses had proliferated. There was a cool, little scene happening round that time – 1976 I think. People like Dan Hill were hanging around singing and writing. Suddenly into that milieu came this guy from America with guitar and harmonica who was REALLY on the road. The rest of us were still pretty safe – only a few miles from home, but Travis was truly out on the Dylan / Kerouac edge. He had already jumped. Without a net. I admired him to no end for his courage…and, well…his unflinching ability to translate his own pain and insight instantly and communicate it in melodic song. When you listen to Out on that Highway you’ll know what I mean. Has ANYBODY more pointedly articulated exactly what went on for a whole generation? I mean – lately? It seems the real ones are either burned out, hiding or sold out. Travis is still doing it. Painfully, honestly and fearlessly. Travis tells his stories, our stories, without artifice, without poetic obscurity. You’re not going to have to guess what he’s trying to tell you. He wants you to understand – immediately. You’ll know where he was, who he met, what he experienced, who HE was listening to and what he felt about it all. One of the things that’s most powerful about Travis’ new project is that it unquestionably blows out of the water most of the pretensions attached to recent “productions.” I honestly would not have thought that one guy (for the most part) with just one acoustic guitar and harmonica could grab me like this again. It’s Alright Now will probably be my own personal traveling anthem for the next few years. I thought my own new CD would be a lone document basically saying that nothing’s really changed. We had Nixon and a war nobody understood – now we’ve got Bush and the same diabolical scenario. Now I hear what Travis has written and I don’t feel so alone. Young people are confused, angry and I believe about to rise up again in the name of truth and justice. Travis is a singer for you. I’m certainly blessed and glad to call him a compadre.I wish Travis success with this brilliant and achingly heartfelt new project. He deserves it.Welcome to the real deal.Bob BrydenBurlington, OntarioApril, 2007