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In-Studio Performance + Interview

Thursday, 3:30 PM CT

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The Dan Patrick Show
New York, NY

Thursday, 8.2 - after 9:00 AM CT

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Talking about "Underdogs" and great song titles...

[WATCH THE FULL INTERVIEW HERE]

Travis Meadows, First Cigarette 

Here is the way 50-something Nashville folk-country singer Travis Meadows describes himself: “An orphan who turned into a preacher. A preacher who turned into a songwriter. A songwriter that turned into a drunk. A drunk that is learning to be a human being.” He’s a “your favorite artist’s favorite artist” craftsman in the Chris Stapleton mode; the cover of his breakout album has the elegantly grizzled-badass vibe of a Southern Tom Waits. The songs follow suit, sung in a…

'Sideways' by Travis Meadows

Travis Meadows has quite the back story, having lost a leg at 14, served in the Christian mission field, cycled through recovery programs and hustled on Music Row to get his songs recorded by the likes of Eric Church and Dierks Bentley. When he gets around to releasing his own stuff, it has the battered, visceral power of a survivor's testimony.

(READ THE FULL ARTICLE ON NPR HERE)

70. Travis Meadows, 'First Cigarette'

All year long, Robin Hilton and I get to pick the music featured on All Songs Considered, but one of our very favorite shows is this one: our listener poll results. So, on this episode we count down the top 10 as voted by you. We also have a list with the top 100 albums at the bottom of the page, and hope it turns you on to music you may have missed in 2017. (It did for us). 

Often, our annual listener poll ends up constructing some type of narrative about the music…

20. Travis Meadows, 'First Cigarette' 

"When you're young, you don't think about getting old," sings Travis Meadows on "McDowell Road," a moment on First Cigarette that's about taking stock of how quickly life passes us by, and how delicate each breath is. Meadows would know – he's fought addiction, overcome illness and pulled himself out of desolation to become one of country's most treasured songwriting weapons (called in by Eric Church and Dierks Bentley to give their albums a potent punch). Meadows…

Bobby Bones sits down with Travis Meadows to speak about the new record "First Cigarette," songwriting and hard living.
Listen to the BobbyCast online or on the iHeart Radio app - LISTEN

UPROXX BEST ALBUM
41. Travis Meadows, 'First Cigarette'

(READ FULL ARTICLE ON UPROXX: BEST ALBUMS 2017)

Travis Meadows is a brand new old country stunner that everybody in Nashville has been talking about since his debut album, Killin’ Uncle Buzzy, began making the rounds among heavy-hitters back in 2011. A lo-fi, homespun revised collection of his journals and notes from a final, successful stint in rehab, Meadows followed that searing record up with another lowkey EP, Old Ghost & Unfinished Business in…

Well, it was in the very beginning. Sadly, I did not even know that MusiCares existed. I lived in a bubble — my drinkin' bubble. And when I came to the point when I said, "I need help," and just started telling everybody, "Get me outta here. What do I do?" There were some people that were somehow connected to MusiCares, and they are the ones that put me in treatment that very first time. 

It's all a blur. All I remember is making that call, and I remember that MusiCares came up, and my [former] wife said…

'I Take The Long Way Going Everywhere': Travis Meadows On Learning To Be Human Again
Interview with Scott Simon - LISTEN HERE

Let's talk about the title track, "First Cigarette." You sing, "I am a little more content with who I am than who I was." Tell me about the contentment part in your life: What are you feeling now that's different? 

Just to give you an example — I hate even going down this road, but for you I will. I would wake up in the morning, and the first thing that I would do is go to the…

It's said a critical rule of recovery from addiction is learning to be self-honest. Sometimes to the point of discomfort. Travis Meadows knows this feeling well. "I've always struggled with fear," says the Mississippi-raised singer-songwriter who lost his right leg to cancer at age 14; was in and out of rehab four times before finally getting sober in 2010; saw his girlfriend recently get diagnosed with breast cancer and his three-legged dog Larry, who appears on the cover of his new album, go missing. He's…

The new album is finally here... Available everywhere!

Please feel free to download on iTunes, stream on Spotify or purchase a CD hard copy right here on the website.
Below you will find what everyone is saying about the highly-anticipated album...

"Meadows also played and sang simultaneously, instead of overdubbing. That enhances the raw emotion in his lyrics, making them connect with unusual potency through first and second takes on tunes that reverberate with emotion, positivity and, perhaps above all…

Travis Meadows may be the most resilient member of the entire Nashville music community. He has battled cancer, addiction, family deaths and more, yet somehow managed to never give up. His heart-wrenching and raw first country album, Killin’ Uncle Buzzy, was released in 2011, after Meadows reached the darkest phase of his life, and amidst several stints in rehab. Meadows has since returned with his highly anticipated third album, First Cigarette, which is set for release October 13 via Blaster Records…

To say Travis Meadows has had a hard life is an understatement. In fact, he’s had about four of them. At 52, Meadows has ultimately reached his final form: A country songwriter on the verge of a huge breakout, but the years it took to get him to the debut of his stunning new album, First Cigarette were brutally dark. 

Technically his third country album, this record is the first one where Meadows has really been able to work on the songs with two other professionals, he wrote and recorded this collection…

Click HERE to read Rolling Stone Country's peek of the new record... "First Cigarette" Available 10/13

There are honest country-music songwriters in Nashville, and then there's Travis Meadows, a writer who can't help but shine a light on his darkest flaws and ugliest demons. Since releasing his painfully autobiographical chronicle of his four stints in rehab, Killin' Uncle Buzzy, in 2011, the Mississippi native has become a favorite collaborator of Eric Church and Charlie Worsham, and had his songs…

Dierks Bentley Explains Why New Single 'Riser' Is a 'Once In a Career' Song

Co-written by Nashville aces Travis Meadows and Steve Moakler, “Riser” was sent to Bentley by his executive producer, Arturo Buenahora, amid a swirl of vulnerability: He was mourning the 2012 passing of his father, Leon, and soon he’d learn that his wife, Cassidy, was pregnant with their son, Knox. He didn’t simply relate to lyrics like “The hard times put the shine into the diamond/I won’t let that keep us in the ground” -- he was…

Congratulations to Travis and Jake Owen on their recent success with What We Ain't Got! It has received quite an applause from country radio and listeners around the world. 

"Owen had been gushing about this bare-bones ballad written by addiction survivor Travis Meadows since before he ever cut it. Its pull-no-punches message appealed to the Florida native, who was worried about being pigeonholed as the carefree "Beachin'" guy, thanks to a string of summery hits. Owen all but smashed that fear with "What…

Nashville's Most Badass Songwriter Travis Meadows Shares Tragic Life Stories 

The artist who conquered cancer and addiction, and made friends with Eric Church and Jake Owen, has penned some of country's most stinging songs...

Bolstered by the second chance afforded him by Killin' Uncle Buzzy, Meadows was in a better, but no less creative, mental state when he recorded its follow-up, last year's Old Ghosts & Unfinished Business. A collection of optimistic songs like the letter to his son "Wide Open" and…