TRANSKRIP 🔗
WEBVTT
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:09.839
It's show with everyone's special tomorrow night out at the adult center face for the release date for this.
00:00:14.160 --> 00:00:17.519
It's out release celebration tomorrow night adult setup.
00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.480
Joining me is Travis's father, Jerry with Cathy.
00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:23.199
Jerry, how are you?
00:00:23.600 --> 00:00:24.719
I'm good today, Harry.
00:00:25.120 --> 00:00:26.640
Thank you for chatting about this.
00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:31.679
This is a project that clearly uh comes from the heart that you've been working on for a bit.
00:00:31.760 --> 00:00:38.159
And for people that aren't familiar, can you tell me a little bit about uh your son Travis and also where this album came from?
00:00:38.240 --> 00:00:40.880
Because this was was essentially almost completed by him.
00:00:41.200 --> 00:01:13.359
We uh Travis was a you know an aspiring singer-songwriter uh who had been having uh a bit of success, uh most tangibly in the form of uh having co-written some songs with Andy Falco of the infamous String Dusters, uh one of which was included on their Grammy winning Laws of Gravity album, and then also the one that was the title track of their subsequent album, Toward the Fray, which was nominated for Bluegrass Album of the Year, uh in the year that it was released.
00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:25.439
And so uh the pandemic had you know taken uh a bit of an axe to some of uh those things, it really slowed a lot of stuff down in people's careers.
00:01:26.079 --> 00:01:46.719
And uh we were just about to, you know, put things back together, get into the studio and record these songs, and we had a very, you know, a really successful performance at the Fiddling Folk Festival in Satocket, uh opening up for the uh iconic folk singer Chris Smither.
00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:53.680
And uh we were all very excited and ready to get going, and then we lost Travis four days later.
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:54.159
Wow.
00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:02.480
My my condolences, and and it's been interesting to see you rebuild on this the story and the music over the past few years with the famous Dr.
00:02:02.640 --> 00:02:03.359
Scanlon band.
00:02:03.519 --> 00:02:06.560
I know you're performing tomorrow night at the Bolton Center.
00:02:06.719 --> 00:02:13.759
When you you think about Travis as a songwriter, what's kind of the first thing that comes to your mind about his his voice and his really unique storytelling?
00:02:14.080 --> 00:02:15.680
Yeah, and I think that that was it.
00:02:15.759 --> 00:02:20.240
It was uh he he found people uh very interesting.
00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:29.840
He had a large capacity for empathy, and uh he loved songwriters who who were able to do that in their writing.
00:02:29.919 --> 00:02:41.039
Well, there it was, you know, going from you know Jackson Brown through John Hyatt and Rodney Crowell and all great Americana writers to Leonard Cohen and and so on.
00:02:41.280 --> 00:02:47.199
And uh I think that his writing really reflects all of those influences in some way.
00:02:47.520 --> 00:02:51.280
Well, he grew up watching you perform, if I'm not mistaken, and listening to folk music.
00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.879
How how early did you know that he had he had such talent?
00:02:56.319 --> 00:03:02.960
Uh well, you know, of course, all fathers uh you know think that their kids are are exceptional or whatever.
00:03:03.120 --> 00:03:08.800
But uh the funny story was that uh I had a guitar laying on my bed.
00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:24.159
Uh he was maybe two and a half, maybe three years old, and he strummed the open strings in a particular rhythm, and he said, uh, Dad, that's that's from the Don Henley song.
00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:30.879
And uh and I realized that it was the precise rhythm of the introduction to a song called The Last Worthless Evening.
00:03:31.039 --> 00:03:36.319
Oh wow on uh on Don Hanley's um you know uh End of the Innocence album.
00:03:36.560 --> 00:03:38.960
And you know, he's just like, You're kidding me.
00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:45.520
And I began to realize that he had that kind of ear for detail and he was that attentive to that sort of thing.
00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:48.719
So um, yeah, so that's pretty early on.
00:03:49.039 --> 00:03:52.000
The album out today is from Dublin to Duluth.
00:03:52.159 --> 00:03:54.560
Uh this album was Travis's blueprints.
00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.039
He'd mapped out arrangements, instrumentation for it.
00:03:57.199 --> 00:04:02.240
What was it like trying to honor those instructions from almost from your memory, too?
00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:11.680
Yeah, um well, one of the surprising things was that uh, you know, we never found like a notebook of lyrics.
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:20.959
So um, you know, we luckily we had recording and we had heard the you know, like, you know, rough recordings and we could uh do all of that.
00:04:21.120 --> 00:04:40.399
But for both me and Pete Mancini, who uh we share the lead vocals and uh also with some help from our friend Cassandra House, uh our wonderful friend Cassandra House to take on the challenge of singing the songs because for all of us they belonged to to Travis's voice.
00:04:40.639 --> 00:04:40.959
You know.
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.319
But they you know the rest of it it was it was fun.
00:04:44.480 --> 00:04:46.639
We we all loved working together.
00:04:46.879 --> 00:04:57.360
Um it was challenging because we all loved Travis and all continue to grieve his loss, but um that was the most challenging part was the the vocals.
00:04:57.680 --> 00:04:58.560
I would imagine too.
00:04:58.639 --> 00:05:02.399
I mean the band raised ten thousand dollars to finish the record.
00:05:02.800 --> 00:05:05.680
What did that mean to you uh as a family and as a group?
00:05:05.759 --> 00:05:08.720
Because just such a great support from the from the community.
00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:10.560
It was overwhelming.
00:05:10.720
Load full transcript
--> 00:05:11.680
It really was.
00:05:11.839 --> 00:05:22.000
Um the way that the the community came through for us in that period uh and throughout the last, you know, five years, uh it's just very humbling.
00:05:22.160 --> 00:05:25.439
And it it really taught us what Travis meant to people.
00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:37.600
And one of the most uh you know, just most humbling things is to discover how many people he made time for to help out in some way in their own lives.
00:05:38.079 --> 00:06:00.000
Uh which is, you know, and knowing he had his own struggles and even, you know, the unfortunate circumstances of his passing, but that many people came up to us and said, You have no idea how much he helped me with, you know, through this difficult period after my divorce, or, you know, uh getting out of an abusive marriage or fighting uh, you know, an addiction.
00:06:00.319 --> 00:06:04.560
But it it really is what has buoyed us through these years, you know.
00:06:04.959 --> 00:06:06.160
No, that made that makes a lot of sense.
00:06:06.319 --> 00:06:09.519
You sang lead on, you mentioned with Pete Mancini and and split some of the songs.
00:06:09.759 --> 00:06:15.519
What's it like performing songs that Travis originally intended to sing himself, uh as his father?
00:06:15.680 --> 00:06:17.120
Uh what's that been like for you?
00:06:17.439 --> 00:06:19.680
I always want to do them justice.
00:06:19.839 --> 00:06:26.160
So it is a challenge, but it has also made me kind of step up and uh and get it done.
00:06:26.240 --> 00:06:34.079
You know, it's like uh, well, there's a job to do here, and I'm doing this for him, and I'm doing this to help keep the music alive.
00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:43.360
And I do have to say, you know, uh Pete Mancini does some very fine singing on the record, as does Cassandra House.
00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:49.839
Uh and working with them is also just a joy and and an education.
00:06:50.160 --> 00:06:53.199
I would I would imagine uh everyone in the band knew Travis so well.
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:53.920
It's the famous Dr.
00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:59.839
Scanlon band performing tomorrow night at the Bolton Center in Bayshore for this album release from Dublin to Duluth.
00:06:59.920 --> 00:07:01.839
How did what was it like in the studio?
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.519
Um, I guess the energy and also the decisions you had to make about this record.
00:07:05.680 --> 00:07:08.399
I'd imagine you guys knew Travis so well.
00:07:08.480 --> 00:07:11.680
Um, what was it like to kind of make those decisions together?
00:07:12.000 --> 00:07:21.920
Uh it generally went pretty smoothly because I think that uh his vision uh that that's part of the tragedy, I is like his vision was quite clear.
00:07:22.160 --> 00:07:33.279
We had been rehearsing, we had gone out and performed some of the songs, we really had a good sense of what he was liking to bring, you know, what he was looking to bring across.
00:07:33.519 --> 00:07:38.319
So, you
know, it was merely a matter of remaining true to that.
00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.480
And uh for that reason that went fairly smoothly.
00:07:42.639 --> 00:07:43.040
Yeah.
00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:47.199
Uh tell me about the band's name, uh, from I believe from One Flu of the Cuckoo's Nest.
00:07:47.279 --> 00:07:48.240
So where did that come from?
00:07:48.319 --> 00:07:51.360
Uh what was that was so meaningful to Travis about that name?
00:07:51.680 --> 00:08:04.480
Well, uh how it came about was that uh we had been using another name uh that Travis came up with called the Orchard Thieves, you know, in a very early uh incarnation of the band.
00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:08.560
And then we discovered that there was another band using that name.
00:08:08.879 --> 00:08:26.319
And uh Travis, of course, loved the uh the film of One Who of the Cuckoo's Nest and the scene where the inmates of the the mental institution are stealing a boat for the day, and uh Jack Nicholson points to one man and says, Well, Dr.
00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:28.800
Scanlon here, the the famous Dr.
00:08:28.959 --> 00:08:29.759
Scanlon.
00:08:29.920 --> 00:08:34.480
And so very quickly uh we just sort of brainstormed and said, Okay, the famous Dr.
00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:42.559
Scanlon band, which at times gets shortened to just Scanlon, you know, uh, but that's what the origin of it was.
00:08:42.879 --> 00:08:48.559
You've I've talked about in different interviews about how uh the show Saturday night described as kind of an uplifting celebration.
00:08:48.720 --> 00:08:54.399
I'm curious, what do you want the audience to to walk away with after watching the performance and hearing these songs?
00:08:54.720 --> 00:09:02.559
Uh well, first of all, they I want them to be, you know, to enjoy the songs, and I I'm sure that they will.
00:09:02.879 --> 00:09:20.879
And uh I think that if if Travis wanted above all else to accomplish something with his music, it would be to you know to bring people together to make people feel uh less alone in the world and to to foster connection between people.
00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:50.399
And I I think that even his own story uh it it it facilitates that as well insofar as uh we all have lost somebody, we all have lost something, we're all you know, we all have some pain and uh and that we can work with music and being together and kind of ease that burden for each other and have fun at the same time.
00:09:50.639 --> 00:09:54.799
Uh so that's uh it's a tall order, but that's what I would be looking for it to do.
00:09:54.879 --> 00:09:54.960
Yeah.
00:09:55.279 --> 00:09:57.200
Well, Jerry McKevney, thank you very much for your time.
00:09:57.360 --> 00:09:59.039
Parietal Records and the famous Dr.
00:09:59.200 --> 00:10:02.159
Scanlon Band present from Dublin to Duluth by Travis McKevney.
00:10:02.320 --> 00:10:10.000
It's out today, uh, all on the different platforms, and then tomorrow night, Saturday, October 3rd, uh they're performing it live at the Bolton Center in Bait Story.
00:10:10.080 --> 00:10:12.159
You can grip tickets at boltoncenter.org.
00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:13.360
And get all the details.
00:10:13.440 --> 00:10:14.159
Of course, the famous Dr.
00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:15.840
Scanlon Band is on social media.
00:10:16.080 --> 00:10:17.279
Jerry, thank you so much for your time.
00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:18.159
I really appreciate it.
00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:19.360
Hey, thank you.