Travis Denning is getting ready to release his new six-song EP, MIGHT AS WELL BE ME, on Friday (August 5th). The project is crafted for the stage with all of the Georgia native’s hard-charging energy and mischief-making signatures intact, but it also captures an artist maturing.
“There’s some honest songs in there, some reflective songs on where I’m at in my life, and then there’s some absolute rockers,” says Travis. “There’s some songs that I wanna play live and I want people to go ‘Dang! They brought it on that one.’”
IT MIGHT AS WELL BE ME will include the previously released tracks “Buy A Girl A Drink” and “She’s On It,” a thoughtful track that contemplates a mistake that can’t be fixed. On “Don’t Give a Truck,” Denning’s playful personality doesn’t just lead the party, it helps drop some heartfelt wisdom with a pure country turn of phrase. With the nostalgia-tinged “River Named Mississippi,” Travis is in all new territory. “Red Round Here,” is a rollicking roadhouse banger and the serene “If You Need Anything Down Here” finds him pledging undying support to a fallen friend.
The title for the EP came from the barn-burning “Red Round Here,” which Travis felt summed up the whole collection of songs. He co-wrote the track with Chris LaCorte and Hardy.
“There’s a lot of cool things about this song that somebody’s gotta drive the bus, and somebody’s gotta do these things, somebody’s gotta be the president. Of all things in this world, everybody’s gotta do something and if I gotta do something I would like for it to be to start the party, and that’s on stage, in real life, and that’s definitely on this record so that’s why I made it this first song,” says Travis. “I named the EP ‘Might As Well Be Me,’ which is really the pay-off of the chorus — ‘somebody’s gotta keep it red round here and it might as well be me.’ I just thought that sentence felt so much bigger than just the hook of this song and back to why I cut these songs, it was like I might as well just do exactly what I wanna do and don’t worry about anything else and it felt like a great way to sum up all the songs on it.”
MIGHT AS WELL BE ME Official Tracklist:
- Red Round Here
- River Named Mississippi
- Buy A Girl A Drink
- Don’t Give A Truck
- She’s On It
- If You Need Anything Down Here
Audio / Travis Denning talks about his new EP, Red Round Here.
DownloadTravis Denning (what he learned when making this EP) OC: … true to you. :22
“There’s some honest songs in there, some reflective songs on where I’m at in my life, and then there’s some absolute rockers. There’s some songs that I wanna play live and I want people to go ‘Dang! They brought it on that one.’ That’s what I really learned; ignore everything else, get in the studio with people you love, and just make music that is true to you.”
Audio / Travis Denning kicks off his new EP with a barn-burner of a song, “Red Round Here.”
DownloadTravis Denning (Red Round Here) OC: …songs on it. 1:11
“I wrote this song with Chris LaCorte and Hardy, and Hardy is very much affluent in the redneck-ology, so I knew when I had this title, I wanted to write it with him. He absolutely brought it. I knew the second we wrote it, I wanted to cut it because it made me want to drink a beer. There’s a lot of cool things about this song that somebody’s gotta drive the bus, and somebody’s gotta do these things, somebody’s gotta be the president. Of all things in this world, everybody’s gotta do something and if I gotta do something I would like for it to be to start the party, and that’s on stage, in real life, and that’s definitely on this record so that’s why I made it this first song. I named the EP ‘Might As Well Be Me,’ which is really the pay-off of the chorus — ‘somebody’s gotta keep it red round here and it might as well be me.’ I just thought that sentence felt so much bigger than just the hook of this song and back to why I cut these songs, it was like I might as well just do exactly what I wanna do and don’t worry about anything else and it felt like a great way to sum up all the songs on it.”
