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Subject: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 10 May 09 - 04:16 PM I have just learned that Travis Edmonson passed away quietly in Phoenix, Arizona, the evening of May 9th after a long and difficult illness. Bud (the late Bud Dashiell) & Travis were never, strictly speaking, folk singers. They were consummate entertainers who sang folk music, Mexican and other Latin American songs and played classical guitars. Travis' love of Mexican traditional music, especially the beautiful "Bolero" form, was responsible for its introduction to wider audiences in the U.S. for the first time. In the late 1950's and early 1960's, they were one of the hotter acts in show business, appearing widely on television and in clubs across the country. Travis also had been one of the "Gateway Singers" in the late 1950's and had a long career as a solo artist. He always had time to share a song, a story or guitar tips with fans. If you have the chance, there are some YouTube examples of his work. His CD's are available on line. If you aren't familiar with Travis, take a listen some time. He was beloved in his home state of Arizona and will be missed by many of us who were privileged to see and hear him. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis From: Art Thieme Date: 11 May 09 - 12:34 AM Thanks TJ. I did get to see the two of them----back around 1959 I think---at Chicago's folk club/bar called The Gate Of Horn. They were quite good doing their own created musical niche. Rest in peace. Art Thieme |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis From: open mike Date: 11 May 09 - 01:06 AM Other threads which mention the musician and his partner Bud. http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=117061 http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=117452 |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 20 From: Genie Date: 11 May 09 - 01:50 AM Another good one gone too soon. RIP, Travis. G |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Little Robyn Date: 11 May 09 - 03:44 AM Sorry to hear that. Now is the time to sing his song: I'm finally leavin' After all One more word I don't wanna holler down the hall Everybody leaves something when they go away When I'm gone here's what I hope will stay.... The rest is on this thread. Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 11 May 09 - 11:21 AM I think I'll listen to my B & T collection today as I go about my chores. They were my most favorite singing duo. And they put on one hell of a good show. Not unexpected, owing to the news of the last few weeks, but sad none-the-less. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Arkie Date: 11 May 09 - 02:04 PM I did enjoy Bud and Travis and have one of their lps which I will need to dig out since I have my turntable hooked up again. They could also always get me to TV set whenever they were on. Travis did leave some wonderful music with which we can remember him. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Art Thieme Date: 11 May 09 - 05:50 PM Today I got this email from my old friend, Mike Sideman, in San Diego. (Mike is the retired lawyer I've mentioned in other threads talking about the time he and I did a Woody-like, Kerouacian cross-country trip in 1962; it included going to Mexico City by bus from El Paso/Juarez. Mike wrote: Art----I took two anthropology courses taught by Travis's brother, Munro, at Tulane.He was one of the most amazing intellects that I have ever encountered in my life. I was proud to get an A from him both semesters. Munro was fluent in Russian, Chinese, Spanish, and a bunch of other languages. He would often talk of his youth; he and Travis grew up on the Mexican border in Arizona and they were influenced greatly by the cultural interplay. Munro became an anthropologist and Travis a musician as a result of this experience. I figured some might like to know read old recollection... Art |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Art Thieme Date: 11 May 09 - 06:44 PM I think the name is spelled EDMUNDSON! Which is it? Art |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: NOMADMan Date: 11 May 09 - 08:46 PM According to the liner notes on the LPs and CDs I have, it's Edmonson. This is sad. The end of an era. Bud and Travis were favorites of mine way back in the early 60s. Everything they did was just so precise. A level of artistry matched by few of their contemporaries. Regards, John |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Mary Katherine Date: 12 May 09 - 12:27 AM http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-travis-edmonson12-2009may12,0,6106526.story |
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Subject: Obit: Travis Edmundsen (May 9, 2009 From: Stringsinger Date: 12 May 09 - 02:30 PM Trav of Bud and Travis is gone. Please supply details (for those of you who knew him). I've had good memories of Bud and Travis since I used to jam with them at the Gate of Horn in Chicago. They were fine singers and musicians and great entertainers. Trav really knew Hispanic music. He was an anthro major at U. of Arizona (I think.) He taught me the Cuban Guajira beat on the guitar. Bud and Trav made Hispanic music popular to the folk crowd. They presented it faithfully and musically. Last time I talked to Trav he said something about "burning a bean, together". Not sure what that was but it may have been about coffee (?) Frank |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 20 From: Stringsinger Date: 12 May 09 - 02:39 PM Just saw this post and realized that mine was redundant. Here's what I said on it. Subject: Obit: Travis Edmundsen (May 9, 2009 From: Stringsinger - PM Date: 12 May 09 - 02:30 PM Trav of Bud and Travis is gone. Please supply details (for those of you who knew him). I've had good memories of Bud and Travis since I used to jam with them at the Gate of Horn in Chicago. They were fine singers and musicians and great entertainers. Trav really knew Hispanic music. He was an anthro major at U. of Arizona (I think.) He taught me the Cuban Guajira beat on the guitar. Bud and Trav made Hispanic music popular to the folk crowd. They presented it faithfully and musically. Last time I talked to Trav he said something about "burning a bean, together". Not sure what that was but it may have been about coffee (?) Also, they were folk singers in a way because they introduced many songs to audiences that would not have heard them otherwise. They were folk singers in that they knew a lot about the material they sang having researched it pretty carefully and did their homework. Does this make them folksingers? I think so because they sang folk songs. They got flack from Alan Lomax because of the way they presented them. Is Pete Seeger a folk singer? Is Joan Baez a folk singer? TJ, not sure we are on the same page here. Many of the UK performers are coming to folk material second-hand but they attempt to do it in a "traditional" manner. Are they folk singers? Trav will be missed because he was an empathic musician, knowledgeable and entertaining, informative and knew the music he played from the inside out. Adios Amigo. Pancho (aka Frank) Frank |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 12 May 09 - 02:53 PM The L.A. Times obit was pretty sparse and pathetic. Talk about your time compression regarding his life and career. Think I'll try a Tucson paper. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: John on the Sunset Coast Date: 12 May 09 - 03:02 PM Here is a much fuller and more satisfactory obituary for Travis in the Arizona Daily Star: www.azstarnet.com/sn/hourlyupdate/292432.php |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Desert Dancer Date: 12 May 09 - 09:36 PM refresh for Stringsinger |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Mary Katherine Date: 13 May 09 - 08:25 AM Travis Edmonson's son Steve posted this note to another public forum: Date: Tues, May 12 2009 6:46 pm I want to thank everyone who has sent me their condolences on the passing of my father, Travis Edmonson. Travis was quite an amazing man. His passing was not unexpected, as he had been quite ill for some time. While I was in Memphis for the BMA Awards, I was in constant contact with the hospital. When I arrived in San Francisco, I called his wife at the hospital and was told that he was expected to pass very soon. I had her hold the phone to his ear, and even though he was in a non-responsive state, I talked to him for a while, saying my good-byes. I received a call less than an hour later with the news that he had passed. Travis' musical virtuosity has been well documented. His rendition of "Malagueña Salerosa" in particular, never failed to raise the hair on my neck. His knowledge of Latin American music (particularly the traditional Spanish language "Folk" songs from around the world, and music of the "Epocha de Oro," of the 1930's and early 1940's in México) was unequaled. His music was very popular in México and Latin America, and he continues to have many fans on both sides of the Río Grande to this day. Travis, and my mother, Jo Ann Bryant (who managed the famous Hungry i nightclub,) were in San Francisco for the whole "Beat" thing, and were always involved in "left-of-center" politics. Travis wrote the anti-war song, "If I Were Free," for Peter, Paul & Mary, as well as many other songs that were recorded by groups like The Kingston Trio. I have included a link to the L.A. Times Obituary, as well as links to a couple of his fan-sites for those of you who want to learn more about him. It would be impossible to encapsulate his amazing life in such a small space, but the information in the obit is fairly accurate. There are so many stories from his past, but many are not exactly G-rated. There was the wild side of Travis, so there are many stories that I can't share. One involves Suzanne Pleshette and a bathtub full of Dom Perignon. You get the idea. There was the ethno-musicologist side of Travis. He spent a good deal of his life researching and performing Folk and traditional music from Europe and the U.S. as well as from Latin America. As Erik Darling of The Weavers said of Travis and his musical partner, Bud Dashiell, "Bud and Travis were the best. No one of their ilk could even touch them. When they got on stage and did their thing, there was nothing like it. Wonderful!" Bob Shane, founding member of the Kingston Trio, was in college when he first saw Travis perform in San Francisco. He has often said that Travis is his musical idol. His interest in history wasn't confined to music. Travis accompanied his brother Colin traveling the mountains of México, living with and studying theYaquí Indians in the 1940's, which eventually led to the publishing of the first Yaquí-English dictionary. This all took place decades before the Carlos Casteneda books. Travis is still a "fariseo," or acolyte in the Yaquí religion, and the tribe has honored him many times in the past. By the time Travis came along, many of the musical compositions of early African-American musicians had already been listed as PD (public domain), and Travis fought hard to get royalties paid to the heirs of famous Americans like Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly.) I have spent most of my life as a Blues musician, and I'm sure that this stems from my early exposure through Travis to Blues musicians who had crossed-over to the coffee-house circuit of the late 50's/early 60's. I can remember traveling with them and having many of them (like Josh White, Lightnin' Hopkins and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee) perform in my living room. Travis had friends in just about every genre of music. Through Travis, I met many Jazz musicians, from Roland Kirk to Jon Hendriks; Latin musicians, like the famous Latin composer, Lalo Guerrero, The Clancy Brothers (from Ireland,) and many more! There will be a public memorial for Travis in Tucson soon, and I will post that information when the details are ironed out. Again, thanks to all of you for your kind notes of condolence. Steve Edmonson edmoblues@comcast.net The Jackie Payne-Steve Edmonson Band http://www.payne-edmonson.com http://www.myspace.com/jpseb http://deltagrooveproductions.com/music/artists/jackie_payne/main.html Bud & Travis Website (created and maintained by a fan here in the U.S.): http://www.budandtravis.com/index_new.shtml Travis' Website (created and maintained by a fan in Ireland.): http://www.travisedmonson.com/ Travis' LA Times Obit: http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-travis-edmonson12-2009may12,0,6106526.story |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Desert Dancer Date: 14 May 09 - 10:58 AM The New York Times: Travis Edmonson, Influential Folk Singer, Dies at 76 By BRUCE WEBER Published: May 14, 2009 Travis Edmonson, who brought a Mexican flavor to the fertile San Francisco folk music scene of the 1950s and who, with the duo Bud and Travis, influenced Bay Area groups that lasted longer and became better known, died Saturday in Mesa, Ariz. He was 76. The cause was heart failure, said Mike Bartlett, a friend and family spokesman. Mr. Edmonson had an aneurysm and a stroke in 1982 that curtailed his performing career and had been in declining health recently, Mr. Bartlett said. A witty and mischievous man with an irrepressibly arch style of stage patter, Mr. Edmonson was a gifted natural singer, with a bell-clear, versatile tenor capable of romantic crooning, cowboy yodeling and folksy, up-tempo harmonizing. Along with comedians like Lenny Bruce and Mort Sahl, and musicians like the Kingston Trio, Lou Gottlieb of the Limeliters and the Smothers Brothers, Mr. Edmonson was among those who made San Francisco generally and two nightclubs particularly (the hungry i and the Purple Onion) a rebellious center of Eisenhower-era hip culture. With Mr. Gottlieb, he was a member of the Gateway Singers, a seminal quartet. In 1958, Mr. Edmonson and another guitarist and singer, Bud Dashiell, formed the duo Bud and Travis. Over the next seven years they recorded eight albums and played innumerable concerts and club dates, and their musical virtuosity and seemingly effortless comedic teamwork — not to mention their telegenic looks — earned them appearances on television variety shows and even comedy series like "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet." In a tight-knit music scene, Bud and Travis shared stages, a gift for potent harmonizing and even individual songs with the Limeliters, the Kingston Trio and the Smothers Brothers; according to Mr. Bartlett, Mr. Edmonson claimed to have lived in the same house with Tom and Dick Smothers in San Francisco at one point, and to have been their landlord. In performance, what distinguished Bud and Travis more than anything was Mr. Edmonson's passion for mariachi and the other Mexican musical traditions that he had absorbed as a boy in Arizona. Many Latin numbers — "La Bamba," for example — were part of the Bud and Travis repertory, and Mr. Edmonson's own signature song, one that he considered his favorite piece of music, was "Malagueña Salerosa," a folk lamentation with a tinge of both heartbreak and religious supplication. "I idolized him," Bob Shane of the original Kingston Trio said in a telephone interview Tuesday. "He had command of the stage better than anyone I'd ever seen. He had a wonderful feel for whatever music he was singing. And then, of course, he was this straight-looking white guy who sang these beautiful Mexican songs." Travis Jerome Edmonson was born on Sept. 23, 1932, in Long Beach, Calif., but he spent much of his childhood in the Arizona border town of Nogales, where his mother, Lillian, was a teacher, and his father, Everett, a social worker who also ran a grocery. Everyone in the family — Travis had three older brothers — played guitar, and he spent a good part of his young life in Mexican villages, chasing after the sources of the musical sounds that drifted across the border. His parents sent him to high school in Tucson, and he later attended the University of Arizona there, studying anthropology (and also classical guitar, his first formal musical training). He never graduated, but he and a friend, Roger Smith — who would later star in the television series "77 Sunset Strip" and marry Ann-Margret — became locally famous for serenading college girls on behalf of themselves and classmates who would hire them for the purpose. Mr. Edmonson served in the Army in the early 1950s and afterward began his career as a solo act in San Francisco before Mr. Gottlieb invited him to join the Gateway Singers. Playing a gig with them in Los Angeles, he ran into Mr. Dashiell, an Army buddy of his older brother Colin, and their partnership was born. It lasted for seven years, after which Mr. Edmonson continued to perform solo until his stroke in 1982. Mr. Dashiell died in 1989. Married and divorced five times, he is survived by his companion, Rose Marie Heidrick; a son, Steven, who lives near San Francisco; five daughters: Tammy Edmonson of San Francisco, Elizabeth Edmonson of Las Vegas and Ellen Murphy, Erin Kissel and Linda Schneider, all of Tucson; and several grandchildren. "We didn't think of ourselves as folk singers; we were entertainers," Mr. Shane said of the circle of San Francisco performers that he and Mr. Edmonson belonged to. "And all of those early people you could say were influenced by Bud and Travis. Of course you could also say Bud and Travis were influenced by them." |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: Desert Dancer Date: 14 May 09 - 11:02 AM The Arizona Daily Star: Ariz. folk musician Travis Edmonson dies at 76 By Cathalena E. Burch Tucson, Arizona | Published: 05.11.2009 Travis Edmonson's life fits the broader definition of troubadour: strolling minstrel, a bit of a poet and a hopeless romantic. In an entertainment career that spanned the 1950s to early 1980s, the Nogales, Ariz.-raised folk singer lived hard and fast by rules he made and broke, say his friends and colleagues. He cursed like Lenny Bruce, sang like an angel and loved the ladies like Don Juan. "It was like having an uncle, an older brother. He had been there and done that," said longtime friend and fellow musician Gerry Glombecki. "He was such a character." "He had the true heart of a troubadour," said Arizona's official balladeer Dolan Ellis, who befriended Edmonson in the late 1950s. "I have never known a person quite like Travis. I've seen them in movies, but I've never known them." Edmonson, half of the dynamic 1950s-'60s folk duo Bud & Travis, died Sunday from lung cancer. He had been hospitalized since late last year. The cancer diagnosis was the latest in a nearly 30-year string of bad health that started when Edmonson suffered a paralyzing stroke in 1982, said family spokesman and longtime friend Mike Bartlett. Edmonson was born on Sept. 23, 1932, in Long Beach, Calif., where his family had a summer home. He was raised in the family's native Nogales, Ariz., where he attended elementary school and fell in love with mariachi music and Mexican folk songs. In those days, the border between the two Nogaleses was open and folks regularly crossed back and forth. Edmonson would make his way to where the mariachis performed and where he learned to play his guitar in the huapango tradition. "He's always had a Mexican soul. He cut his teeth going across that border with his guitar and singing with the mariachis in the 'entertainment section' of town," Ellis recalled Monday. "That's where his soul really got branded with the Mexican music and the Mexican culture." Edmonson graduated from Tucson High School and attended the University of Arizona, intending to follow his brothers into anthropology. Nearly from day one, though, music derailed his academic career. It started when he and a childhood buddy, Roger Smith, serenaded hundreds of UA sororities and girls' dormitories, Edmonson wrote in a 1988 article for Folk Era Today magazine. The pair went on to win the Horace Heidt and Ted Mack talent Shows and a UA contest singing Mexican folk music, which emboldened Edmonson to make music his career. Edmonson joined the Gateway Singers of San Francisco and toured and recorded with them for several years before teaming up with Oliver "Bud" Dashiell to form the folk duo Bud & Travis. "Bud & Travis were on a plane with the likes of Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul & Mary," said Tucson musician Frank Ross, who was a fan of Edmonson's music for nearly 40 years before meeting him a few years ago. With Travis's quick wit and the pair's combined guitar prowess and vocal harmonies, they became best-selling recording artists and toured more than 200 dates a year. They also were the first guests on ABC's groundbreaking TV show "Hootenanny," where they made regular appearances. Among their repertoire was a lightening fast acoustic version of "La Bamba," which has been resurrected by various artists throughout the years. "Travis spearheaded bringing Mexican music into the folk era of the '60s. It was thanks to him that we heard of . . . the old Mexican songs," said Ross, who played a folk festival with Edmonson in Phoenix several years ago. "They were very popular in northern Mexico. They did a lot of TV shows and appearances where they were the only ones who had ever (sang Mexican songs in Spanish)," added Tucson folk singer-songwriter Tim Wiedenkeller. Dashiell and Edmonson released several albums but had only one hit single, "The Ballad of the Alamo," in their seven-year partnership from 1958 to 1965. After their tumultuous split, both went on to modest solo careers. Dashiell died of a brain tumor in 1979. Edmonson, defying common logic that said his music career would thrive better in New York or L.A., returned to Tucson. "This is where he wanted to be, where he could get out in the desert and spend the night. Where he could make music about Arizona and try and help people to understand a little bit about this great Southwest of ours," Bartlett said. Edmonson snagged jobs at local clubs and hotels, and quickly became an example for younger musicians. "He was the most talented musician in town," said Glombecki, who was newly arrived from Chicago when he met Edmonson in the early 1970s. "He was by far the most talented musician I ever worked with. He had it all. He was so deep in the Southwestern folk music. It bordered on jazz as far as the mariachi stuff and the chord progressions." "He was a powerful performer," said Ted Ramirez of the Santa Cruz River Band, who first met Edmonson 30 years ago. "Travis had a special way with an audience. He was a very unique and powerful musician. He had a way of connecting with people. . . . He was truly from this place; he knew what it was about. His roots were indigenous in that way. He understood where the balance was with people." Edmonson is survived by his longtime partner Rose Marie Heidrick of Mesa; a son, Steven of San Francisco; five daughters, Ellen Murphy and Erin Kissel, both of Tucson; Elizabeth Edmonson of Vegas; Tammy Edmonson of San Francisco; and Linda Schneider of the Midwest. Services will be private. Bartlett said a public memorial will be scheduled later. |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: GUEST,Bud and Travis Date: 23 May 09 - 11:56 AM Bud and Travis were "Multi-cultural" before the term existed! |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: chantal Date: 26 May 09 - 03:56 PM The memorial service for Travis Edmonson takes place on Thursday, May 28, 2009 in Tucson, Arizona, and an In Memoriam section with tributes, music and photos has been established on his official site where we invite everyone who admired the man and his music to send in their own remarks. There will also be a full report on the memorial service, so do return to travisedmonson.com for that too. Warmest wishes to everyone who kept Travis in their prayers/Good Thoughts during his difficult illness. Chantal, webmaster, http://www.travisedmonson.com |
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Subject: RE: Obit: Travis Edmonson of Bud &Travis (9 May 2009) From: GUEST Date: 05 Oct 11 - 10:19 PM Hi I was a a frend of Travis when he lived in Snowmass @ Aspen , Colo. in 1969, when Snowmass first opened He , his girlfriend Patty & I had great times, he sang @ all the establishments in Snowmas, & Aspen. He would always sing the song about the "Pony", and on a "Cloudy Summer Afternoon", for me , my favorites. Travis was such a nice guy, & treated me nice, I didn't know he was 11yrs older than I, was such fun to be around, I have pics of the 3 us. what happened to Patty? his blond girlfriend? music back then was so special, not like the garbage of today. was just thinking of the raindrop song & decided to get on internet & see where he was. Jan |
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