Travis Denning has a new album Roads That Go Nowhere out today. He stopped by The Bobby Bones Show to perform his new song "Add Her To The List" and play some iconic guitar riffs.
There's an urban legend that Denning showed up to Nashville with $10,000 and if he spent it all he would go back home. The story is true, Denning was 3 weeks from turning 21 when he moved to Nashville. He had saved up money from playing gigs and shows in Georgia, so that when he moved to town he could solely focus on songwriting without having to get a second job even if it meant some penny pinching. His first goal was to get a publishing deal within that first year. He managed to get a deal at the very end of that year in November of 2014, so he fortunately didn't have to get a job or move back home. At the time of getting his publishing deal, Denning admitted he maybe had $2,000 left in his bank account.
Songwriting has held such an important role for Denning in his career, and that has continued into creating his own music. It's been nearly 2 years since Denning's last project, and this latest music is technically considered his debut album. He knew he wanted the album to have 15 songs and they had cut 11 songs, with 3 more picked out. When he was looking for the last song to add his two producers shared "Add Her To The List," a song they co-wrote. Denning admitted he was roped in to the song by the second line. Despite writing the majority of the songs on his new project, Denning shared that being on the songwriting side once in his career, he wanted to ensure he helped out other songwriters who were trying to get artists to believe in their songs. He made a vow that if he ever got a record deal then the best song would make the record, it didn't matter if he was one of the writers.
When speaking on writing music, Denning admitted some of the best vulnerable moments have come from him being in songwriting rooms with people he didn't know. He's never gotten emotional in one of those writes, but he did cry when he heard his demo for the first time because it took him back to being a kid and his dream of making a living playing music.
Denning has some connections in the industry some fans may not know. He wrote Devil Don't Know on Morgan Wallen's new album, and he has a collaboration with HARDY called "Southern Rock." Denning wrote this song 8 years ago about how he grew up, how he was raised, and where he came from. It was a special song for him already, but thought it would go to the next level with someone else. That's when he texted HARDY to be on the song, and "in true fashion" HARDY responded the next day saying he's in. Denning is out on the road with HARDY for the QUIT Tour, where they plan to perform their collaboration during some of the nights.
While in studio, Denning performed his new song from the album "Add Her To The List," watch below!