Travis Charbeneau's
- Pages:
- Journalism
- The Editorial Page - current & archived bylines/essays
Fiction
Days of May is a novel published in 2005. This link will take you to Amazon.com:
- Music:
- "Man of Steel" - MP3s from Man of Steel CD, featuring lap steel guitar & some vocals
- "Pieces of Mind" - MP3s from Pieces of Mind CD,
- featuring all-electronic instrumentals
Background:
Travis Charbeneau is a writer and musician living in Richmond, Virginia.
Working primarily as an essayist, Travis has written for Alternet and Copley News Service and appeared independently in Utne Reader, Newsday, Esquire Magazine, In These Times, The Detroit News, Keyboard Magazine, The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and many other periodicals. His essay "My Story" won a 1985 PEN award. New and already-published work can be found at the Editorial Page.
Travis started playing guitar in 1962 at the age of 17 and has worked in music ever since. Early experience included garage bands of every description and several road bands working out of Miami. He began freelancing in 1973 as an engineer and commercial producer at a number of Miami recording studios, including Criteria, home of "Hotel California," "Derek and the Dominos," Bee Gees disco era, etc.
In 1980 Charbeneau contracted severe arthritis which put an end to his guitar work. By 1986 he was able to enjoy some liberation through the advent of midi, computers and synths, and proceeded to compose and record seven album's worth of instrumental music, mostly 3- to 5-minute tunes in nearly every genre except hip hop and techno. He worked up ballads, classical pieces, jazz, Latin, hard rock, etc., and in 2000 released a compilation CD of these instrumentals, "Pieces of Mind", whose 22 tracks are downloadable at that link.
Then, in 1993 Travis re-encountered a Hawaiian guitar his Grandfather had made in the mid-'50s, did a bit of upgrading, and started learning the lap steel. From 2001-2002 he was the lap steel player for "The Shiners," an alt.country band out of Richmond, VA. He worked with Ben Jordan from 2003-2006, and he still plays out. He also continues working in his home studio producing his own work. The 2004 "Man of Steel" compilation is one result, with some of its tracks posted at that link.
