Travis John: a song that moved the nation + (free) sheet music

Patrick Kilbane danced a special ballet to Travis John choreographed by Josie Moseley..

He was one of our kids. This song was written on the day he was buried. 

It’s twenty-one years since I wrote this song. Corporal Travis John Bradach-Nall was twenty-one years old when he died (1982-2003). Travis grew up down the hill from our house in northeast Portland and went to the same neighborhood high school our kids attended. I never knew him until he was gone, and then his song made took his place in an indelible impression of his life cut unexpectedly short.

On the day Travis John was buried in Portland , this song came through. Travis was one of the first Oregonians lost to the war and the news of his death reverberated, deeply felt as one of ours..

As family and friends gathered by his graveside in Portland, the words to Travis John in his own voice in the present tense spoke for him on my banjo from the cabin steps on Wallowa Lake in eastern Oregon. The song came out - in, to and from the heart of a Portland kid who loved his life, his mother, his brother, and his large extended family..

The Music to Life Grand Prize at Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas awarded “Travis John” as a song that makes a difference. The award money was donated to the United Nations' Adopt-A-Minefield in Travis John’s name to help decommission bombs buried in fields of war torn countries around the world. Tracy Grammer also recorded Travis John and brought it to audiences everywhere. We made a pact and each sing it at every gig for a few years dedicated to his memory..

If you’re feeling loss or grief, know that we have a song for that too. Travis John is one such tune.