Behind The Lens: Travis Hall
How would you describe your music to a first-time listener?
My music is about love: falling into it, losing it, and hoping for it again. Expect jazzy chords, lush harmonies, rich arrangements, vocals, and lyrics that truly tell a story. I'm also a professional opera tenor, with more than 200 performances with The Atlanta Opera, so there's a fusion of worlds in every song I write. My debut album, HeART Museum, imagines my heart as a gallery where every song is a painting on the wall. What I write about will change as I live and evolve, but one thing stays constant. You will always hear real instruments and living, breathing humans in a room, playing and communing together.
You're celebrating a major career milestone with a trip to the ice cream shop. What's your go-to flavor and why?
Oh, the Frosé Sorbet at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams, without question! It's light, refreshing, and not too sweet. Simply perfect. I tried it once in downtown Decatur and fell in love on the spot. The gods were looking out for me when they made it seasonal, because otherwise I would eat it all year long.
What do you want fans to take away from your music?
Connection. I want my music to put words to the things listeners have felt, are feeling, and will one day feel. I am a songwriter, but my true objective is to write feelings into the tangible world, carrying what lives in my heart into a form someone else can hold.
What about making music makes it fun for you?
To me, songs are like children. They begin as a small piece of something, then grow as you add chords, background vocals, harmonies, and arrangements. Each one develops its own personality, makes its own little mistakes, and takes its own little journey. The fun is allowing them to grow into themselves. If you force a song to become what you want it to be, you risk ruining it. The excitement comes from the challenge of letting each one bloom into itself.
How do you know an idea is worth developing into a song?
I know an idea is worth developing when it stirs something inside of me. It could be small or big, musical or literary. I keep hundreds of voice notes, lists of phrases, and all kinds of logs of inspiration. I usually begin with a melody, sung a cappella. The words are already hidden in the feeling of that melody; I just have to coax them out. Then I sit at the piano and find the chords that express its emotion, write my chord charts, and hire a rhythm section to demo the song with my lead vocal. From there, I arrange the background vocals and build the production around the instrumentation I hear in my head.
When do you decide to shelf an idea that isn't going to work?
Sometimes circumstances decide for me. I write concept albums, so occasionally a song simply doesn't fit the story I'm telling. Other times, the feeling that first inspired the song fades. When that happens, I set it aside, knowing it may find its moment later.
Did you think a song was going to be less successful than it actually became?
Oh yes! A Day is the first song I ever wrote. I started it in 2021, and by 2022 it had completely fallen out of favor with me. I told a dear friend it was boring, and she said, "No! Keep 'A Day.' It's easy listening. So I pulled it back out and reworked it. I rewrote the verse, added a chromatic chord progression under the chorus, an infectious pre-chorus, and an adventurous bridge. It has done more than I ever imagined. The lesson it taught me? Lean not on your own understanding!
What's one lyric you find fans repeating back to you?
"I love ya, I love ya, I love ya!" from "A Day." I think that line captures a universal human experience: loving one another, whether platonically or romantically. It's something we say hoping to hear it mirrored back to us.
You're creating a song for an Olympian. What would you call it and what would it sound like?
I would call the song Simply Olympian. The concept is that sometimes the difference between being great and being greater than the best is simply believing that you can. And I don't mean thinking you can. I mean knowing it so deeply that it's true in your bones, your heart, and your soul. The song would begin quietly, almost like a private conversation with yourself, with piano and voice. Then it would gradually build with rhythm section, strings, horns, and choir as that inner knowing becomes undeniable. It's a song about realizing that greatness can begin with something remarkably simple: knowing who you are and what you're capable of, before anyone else sees it.
If there was a museum dedicated to your life and career, what would fans find in the gift shop? Where can fans connect with you?
Insects, because I used to catch them when I was younger. Coursed fine dining menus, because I love delicious food, plus Publix subs and picnic blankets for my solo dates in the park. Uplifting, encouraging phrases to inspire anyone who reads them, with philosophical lines abounding, because I can sometimes get lost in my imagination! Original sheet music of my songs, scuffed by time, alongside Mozart opera scores and books about doing the personal work. A bald, bearded toy of me that laughs loudly when tickled. A souvenir from Grady Memorial Hospital, where I was born. And a photo album of my family's memories.
Find me on social media at @travishallmusic, and listen to HeART Museum wherever you stream music.
Comments