Travis Roberts – Rebel Rose (CD)
Product Details
Travis Roberts carries on a Texas tradition of songwriters who lived the material before they wrote it, drawing from a lineage that runs through Townes Van Zandt and the hard-luck poets of the Lone Star state. Rebel Rose arrives as a true debut in the oldest sense, earned rather than cultivated, with Roberts and The Willing Few bringing the same urgency to tape that they built night after night on the road.
If anyone knows how to roll with the punches, it’s Travis Roberts. At 24, the Texas
songwriter has already battled addiction, buried friends, and been so broke he couldn’t
put a roof over his head. Hell, he even joined an underground fight club just to pay for
studio time.
“Whoever won the fights took home the lion’s share of the money,” he explains, “but
even if you lost, you made something. I lost a lot, but I got what I needed out of it.”
It should be no surprise, then, that Roberts comes out swinging on his blistering debut,
Rebel Rose. Recorded with Roberts’ longtime live band, The Willing Few, the album
fuses earnest country storytelling with rowdy rock and roll energy as it blurs the lines
between roots, punk, folk, and power pop. The writing is raw and visceral here, built on
gritty portraits of working-class underdogs just trying to get by, and the performances
are nothing short of explosive, propelled by a relentless rhythm section, searing guitars,
and infectious melodic hooks. The result is an exhilarating album that defies easy
categorization, an alternately bruising and triumphant reflection on growing up, getting
clean, and giving it your all from an artist who’s taken more than his fair share of hits.
Every fighter knows, it doesn’t matter how many times you get knocked down. All that
matters is how many times you get back up
Tracklist
Side A
Side B
UPC: 607396658824
Label: New West Records
Release Date: 8.1.25
Format: CD