• home
  • about
    • bio
    • cuts
    • lyrics
    • blog
  • store
    • killin' uncle buzzy
  • tour
  • contact

Travis Meadows

  • home
  • about
    • bio
    • cuts
    • lyrics
    • blog
  • store
    • killin' uncle buzzy
  • tour
  • contact

nsai goes behind-the-song(s)

Read and watch the interview with NSAI - Behind-the-Song: What We Aint Got

Read and watch the interview with NSAI - Behind-the-Song: What We Aint Got

Read and watch the interview with NSAI - Behind-the-Song: Riser

Read and watch the interview with NSAI - Behind-the-Song: Riser

From Travis

Peas & Greens - New Year's Day 2016 

Peas and greens, 

I'm not a superstitious man, but my granddaddy was. My grandmother used to laugh at him because he would stop in the middle of the road - traffic be damned, and negotiate another route around a black cat crossing. He wouldn't walk under a ladder period. If he spilled salt he'd throw a pinch over his left shoulder. Yeah, she laughed at him, but he lived longer than her. Superstition? 

All the grandkids called my grandmother, Nuna. I thinks it's German, but nobody knows for sure where it came from. I called my grandmother Mama because she was the only mama I knew growing up. She used to make black eyed peas and collard greens every New Year's Day. The whole house smelled like three generations of southern grit rising from two pots. Both of these dishes had to have pork in it, not only for flavor but for luck. She would say, “If you get some of the pork on your plate it is extra luck,” so she would always tear a piece off and put it in with my peas. I guess Mama was was hedging the bet for her baby. She would always do it real sneaky, like neither me nor God could see her. She would giggle when she did it. I'd always give it to my faithful little dog Ginger… Another adopted stray (like me). It was our secret, she was the only person that knew all of mine. 

After I moved out of the house and on with my life, I lost that tradition. Sometimes  a year or three would go by without greens or black eyed peas on the new year. Maybe I'd pass a restaurant in my travels that was serving them or dining with friends that had kept the tradition. That would bring back memories for a minute or two, luck or not. These last few years I've been cooking greens and peas and I honestly don't know why. Like I said, I'm not a very superstitious man. Maybe it's for the memories that seem to rush further away with every year that passes. Maybe it's my way of trying to hold on to them as tightly and with the same conviction I let go of them when I ran away from Mississippi. I tried to outrun myself and my past - neither one worked. 

So here I am… About to eat black eyed peas, greens and cornbread. It's gonna be a holy moment. I won't talk much. I'll quietly chew and ponder while trying to remember what it was I was running from so many years ago. If I have a moment of clarity, I'll write it down; but I have a feeling it will be as simple as a meal with someone you love. It's always the simple things. 

May you find peace in this new year and pork in your peas. And if your past haunts you more than heals you, may you remember that hope finds its way up like a blade of grass finds its way through firmly formed concrete or bitter winter dirt.  Sometimes it takes a while, a concerted and sweaty effort, but it comes. When it finds you, let it hold you as long as it wants to. If it lets go - remember as long as you’re breathing, it comes back around just like Christmas and the promise of a new year... Cornbread's done.

- Travis

01/01/2016

  • Share

in songwriter, nashville, riser, happy new years, mississippi

Christmas 

Christmas is my favorite time of year. I love everything about it. 
The sites, the sounds, the lights and the fights over parking parking spaces.
The food - dear Lord, the food! I love going shopping too.
I’ll get a cart, just walk around and watch the people.
Daddies holding hands with their sons, looking for mom. 
Old people sitting on benches, talking about the good ole days. 
Lonely people getting out in crowds so they can be around other people. 
I love the smiles and greetings in checkout lines. It’s funny to watch people stumble over words, trying to find a holiday greeting that is politically correct. Nobody knows what to say anymore, but we try because most of us are happy to be alive. 

I still say "Merry Christmas" and I don’t worry too much about the correct holiday greeting. I’m happy it just comes out. I’ve always said that... To me that’s the greeting. That is what we used to say in my house and in my neighborhood. That’s who we were and that's who I am. Ive been Tiny Tim and I’ve been Scrooge. I've been a wild-eyed believer in Santa Clause and Baby Jesus and I’ve also been so drunk I don’t remember Christmas at all. This year I’m just grateful. I’ve had a heck of a year: Eric Church, Dierks Bentely, Jake Owen and more have recorded my songs. I’ve played more shows than I ever have; bars, treatment centers and houses all over America... I’m preparing for an even better year in 2015. 

Looking back I realize how many truly incredible people I have in my life. Surrounded by people that love me and believe in me, it feels amazing. It was not that long ago that I almost lost it all - you almost lost me. May you find love in your house and peace in your heart. May you be as lucky as I am to have someone to teach you how to drink your coffee, black.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year! Enjoy a gift from me to you... Download "Black" below.

With warmest regard,

Travis

12/21/2014

  • Share

in Travis

Behind The Song: "Good Intentions" 

When I was drinking I always had good intentions. I never meant to hurt anyone... I had a good heart and a bad filter on the way that I viewed life. When your wired crooked like me, sometimes it's a good idea to have some good friends you trust and are wired crooked like you.

I thought it was a good idea to drive drunk. I thought it was a good idea come about 3am to make a run across town and find some cocaine and never thought twice about it. If someone handed me a pill, I wouldn't even ask what it was; I'd just take it and see what it would do because I love surprises. I attended a small group in rehab and my counselor talked about good intentions. It was life changing to hear how badly you can hurt people and still have good intentions. "Officer, I didn't meant o hit the mailbox with my car, my intentions were to go home." This is one of the most painful songs I've ever written and almost every word of it is true.

The only part that is not exactly true is the line about missing my baby's birthday. I never missed his birthday. My daddy called me one year - it was April 23rd. He asked me if anything special was going on today. I told him, "No. Nothing special today, Dad." He played it cool, but I knew that he had forgotten that my birthday is on May 23rd... I guess he had good intentions too.


Good Intentions
Written by Barry Dean & Travis Meadows

There's a letter on the dresser without a postage stamp
Collecting dust with all that other junk
I've got a list of friends to call, let'em know I give a damn
Among the other thing I still ain't done
But I - I've got good intentions.

There's a wife I need to thank for for letting me leave whenI did
And not tellin' all the secrets she could tell
Give her a thousand bucks to help support my kids
She'll probably smile and tell me "go to Hell"
But I - I've got good intentions.

Im a guilty man excusing my behavior
I crash and burn when I can't find a savior
And saying that I'm sorry ain't gone help this time around
I fall down, too many times to mention
- With good intentions.

There's a baseball in the closet, it's still in the box
I meant to send it off the 23rd
I missed my babies birthday, got drunk and just forgot
His mamma said he never said a word
But I - I've got good intentions.

That vodka in the freezer, I need pour it out
I'm gonna take swallow and and pour it down the drain
Gonna call my buddy Roger, ask for his help again
Before I kill my self or go insane
Me and my - good intentions.

Im a guilty man excusing my behavior
I crash and burn when I can't find a savior
And saying that I'm sorry ain't gone help this time around
I fall down, too many times to mention
- With good intentions.

I've broke a lot of promises, dodged a lot of stones
I swear I can't find one rock low enough for me to throw
Cuz I - I've got good intentions.

12/18/2014

  • Share

in Behind The Song

 
home | about | tour | store | contact

© 2021 Travis Meadows • BMI • BMG • Blaster Records • All Rights Reserved
  • Log out