Played and recorded entirely by himself in his apartment during the pandemic, Trout Steak Revival’s Travis McNamara explores more indie and electric territory on his lush and experimental debut solo release, Moon Calendar (due out March 10th).
Trout Steak Revival’s win at the 2015 Telluride Bluegrass Festival – a lineage including Chris Thile, Greensky Bluegrass, and The Lil Smokies – launched them into an odyssey of national touring, playing alongside artists like Brandi Carlile, Billy Strings, and Emmylou Harris. When the pandemic struck and McNamara’s touring life ground to a halt, he turned to self-recording as a salve against great fear and uncertainty. A group of other waylaid Denver songwriters met online each month – the Beaver Moon Songwriting Club – and helped each other keep moving.
Moon Calendar represents McNamara’s exploration into a more electric and experimental form of his folk writing; a moving pastiche of layered recordings inspired by the sounds of Adrianne Lenker, Bon Iver, The Books, Jason Isbell, and Denver’s own Nat Tate and Nathaniel Rateliff. No fewer than 16 instruments appear on the record, all played by McNamara himself. As always, he makes generous use of his most dynamic themes: expansiveness and adventure, balanced with isolation and freedom, and of course the perennial search for love.
Today Glide is excited to premiere the standout tune “So Far Gone,” which finds McNamara venturing away from his folk and bluegrass side to more of an Americana sound. Poignant songwriting, bright harmonies and hopeful tones give the song a sense of discovery and new horizons. It’s easy to hear the influences of the aforementioned artists in McNamara’s lyrics and vocal delivery, and he nods to his bluegrass roots with the creative use of a banjo to give the song a sense of lonesome and rustic beauty.
McNamara describes the inspiration behind the song:
“This song came to me deep in the pandemic, when I was feeling really locked in and alone. I had a longing for adventure; for expansiveness; for breaking out. I can still feel that energy in it. I played all of the instruments on it (and on the whole record), so the process was kind of similar to oil painting – layers and layers. The banjo and vocal were tracked live, and then I listened back and recorded acoustic guitars, the upright bass, the fuzzy telecasters, drums, shakers, accordion…you name it. It was a very fun experiment.”
WATCH:
