Travis Swanson Music

Travis Swanson is a guitarist, composer, and educator currently based in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Originally from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, he did his undergraduate studies at Northern Michigan University, and his graduate studies at the University of Michigan where he studied with Miles Okazaki, Andrew Bishop, Ed Sarath, and Robert Hurst. Prior to his graduate degree, Swanson spent his early twenties living in Los Angeles, Austin, and Memphis where he garnered recognition in the blues and R&B world touring extensively around the United States and Europe.

After his graduate studies, Swanson has continued to learn and grow. He recorded an album as part of the Deep Stare entitled ‘Clarity in Chaos’, which featured a number of his compositions, and is currently putting together material for a new album. Swanson is also deeply involved as an educator and has recently taken a position at Western Michigan University as the new guitar instructor.

Swanson’s interests musically range from contemporary classical, to classic country, and jazz. When asked to name his biggest influences he said, “Monk, Trane, Bach, Fugazi, and Hank Williams”. This sort of wide ranging view point led music journalist Tom Hyslop to describe Swanson’s music as, “American Music with Power, Grace, and Authority”. Currently, Swanson is working on a new multiple release project entitled, “Lineage”, which will feature several albums worth of material being released with his trio.

Besides musical pursuits, Swanson is an avid runner, having run numerous trail marathons and ultra-marathons. When he’s not practicing, performing, or running, he loves to spend time with his wife and four-year old daughter.

Lineage

Lineage deals with lineal descent from an ancestor or pedigree. In Biology, it’s defined as a sequence of species each of which is considered to have evolved out of its predecessor. For me, it is dealing with this matter, musically speaking. In 2017, I did a project entitled “When it’s Time To Say Goodbye”, which was, in retrospect, a great opportunity at learning about recording and composing. However, artistically, I was still very raw and in pursuit of developing my own musical language. The development of this language would take several years and some serious introspection. In 2025, I found myself with a collection of compositions that represented the development of this language. Furthermore, it represented the last several years of my life, and how these life experiences have shaped my perspective of music, and more importantly, the phenomenon of existence.

In the past several years, I have explored parts of my musical self that I was
unaware of. From contemplating the early sounds of Hank Williams that I was exposed
to in my Papa’s truck as a child to the heavy sounds of Fugazi, which I first heard as a
four year old being baby sat by my cousin, who happened to be a DJ for public radio at
the time. For the longest time, the music of Coltrane, Bird, and Monk were the
scriptures. However, the more I followed my intuition, the more I found myself traveling
further out of the “tradition” and towards the work of some of our modern music
innovators like Henry Threadgill and Anthony Braxton. It was within this period of
study that all of these disparate styles converged into what I would now call my
musical language. I began studying country singers like Waylon Jennings, John
Conlee, and Lefty Frizell to find new ways of phrasing. I studied the music of
Thelonious Monk and all of its intricacies getting together about half of his
compositions to date. The music of Leo Brouwer, and equally important, his approach
to the guitar and its harmonic secrets were also a major inspiration. As a composer, I
honed my craft and studied the great composers of the modern classical era and note
Bartok, Stravinsky, and Messiaen as influences in this project.

On one hand, there was a lot of technical practice and theoretical implementation. On the other hand, there was this expanding consciousness to music’s existence in the natural world. Often, I find myself immersed in the counter-point of bird calls and the rhythms of swaying trees. Within nature, many compositional ideas emerge. Many of the pieces in the lineage project come from the natural world as source material. Thus, it was logical for me to reach out to someone I consider family for the art work for this project. As I reflected on my art, I began to see the similarities to Michael Letts’ visual art. We both love endurance. He is an avid mountain biker, and we both come from blue collar backgrounds. My family were all stone masons and his were all drywallers. Yet, despite our blue collar Upper Peninsula roots, we both found ourselves enamored with the natural world and abstraction as artists. Not to mention, I spent many formative years playing blues with Mike, who also happens to be one groovy guitar player.

The large scope of this project was directly inspired by my love and passion for ultra trail running. Concepts like topography, distance, and pace became catalysts for musical ideas. Participating in these long distance events, I began to think about how the preparation to run far in the woods could be translated into an “ultra recording” project. For most, the idea of running beyond a marathon seems unthinkable, yet, with consistent training and dedication, you can find yourself crossing the finish line. For this project, Jordan Richards (bass) and I worked on the material every week at our weekly gig at Mammoth Distillery here in Grand Rapids. Once monthly, Joe Miller (drums) would come up from Kalamazoo and we would work through the large book of music. Interestingly enough, this also highlights a connection to Western Michigan University, where both Jordan and Joe studied, and I currently teach. After a few months, we were in a position to lineup on race day and take it one song/one mile at a time with Josh Kaufman at Local Legend Recording Studio. These five albums were recorded over the course of two days with only a few second takes of tunes, and absolutely no edits or overdubs. The idea was to line up and take what the day gave us and hope that our preparation would allow us to make it to the finish line. These recordings are a testament to our musicianship, artistry, and our endurance.

Regardless of the source material, everything comes from something, and thus, has a lineage or line to trace. This project comes from many places, and the result is an artistic freedom that I have dreamed of ever since I embarked on this journey. Lineage will consist of five distinctive albums entitled:

1. Normalization of Deviance
2. Bramble
3. Ludic
4. Traps
5. Papa’s Truck

Each of these albums represents a traceable path for me as a composer, improviser, and human. I’m incredibly proud of what we were able to accomplish, and I sincerely hope you dig “Lineage”.