Heya all!
This is a song about the area of the world that I live in. The tune is from Cash’s 1964 album titled “Bitter Tears”. The entire album is about the plight of various Native American tribes across the United States.
I hope that you all like it, and as always, any feedback is helpful!
Travis
Your performance is becoming better and better. Your singing is less forced, more tuneful and more dynamic. The accompaniment was very good also. Very enjoyable, very powerful song.
Brian
Thank you very much @beejay56 !! I think that a lot of it is just having more miles on the guitar, and more practice singing and playing at the same time. I’ve had a lot of gigs lately, and the way think of it is that it’s a 3-4 hour practice session that is constantly allowing me to consolidate.
I’m taking the month of March off from gigging, but I’ll attach my last gig flyer for perspective. They are getting to be pretty sharp 
What a cool song Travis.
I have lived with, known and had good friends who are American Indian a good part of my life since living in Arizona as a kid. I even dated a couple. I can say with 100% fact, the plight that most native families who live on the res still live with everyday, goes completely unnoticed by most of the country. The current issues they are faced with are completely washed over in our education system. On a different note, when I was in the Tucson Boys Chorus we sang the song ‘The Ballad of Ira Hayes’ from that same release as the song you sang, respect is still given by some 
. Rant over.
Thank you for posting that wonderful Johnny Cash song. You did it justice with great guitar playing and excellent vocals.
You know I have really enjoyed you videos and art over the last year since I have started playing. Great work getting on it and performing, it is inspiring. I also really like your flyer and I also like your logo. Its very pro. Well made and well thought out.
Ádééhániih
Ádaa Áhááyá
Remember yourself
Take care of yourself
Wow, thank you @Ontime !! Your words mean a lot.
“The Ballad of Ira Hayes” is a fantastic song, like you said, off the same album “Bitter Tears”. If you look behind me on my videos, it’s one of the albums that I rotate in to display behind me. It’s actually my only mainstay.
The song is about the place I live, so I identify with it very much. Johnny Cash was such a great storyteller, so much so that I think there are only a few people in the conversation with him when it comes to all time writing.
I debated whether to keep posting in this forum. I wish I had time to watch everybody else’s posts more than I do, but I squeeze them in here and there. What I hope that I can do is show that I’m an intermediate guitar player who has established a second career path gigging in my local area, and I love it! I still have a ton to learn. I’m still getting better every day. But I’m living my dream and I’m lucky!
Keep rockin 
Hello Travis,
is this really your voice? It is brilliant!
Great performance. I dont know why, but somehow… it gave me flashbacks when I was playing Fallout 4 or Fallout 76 (video game). 
loved it!
I am so glad you do 
Thank you @Carreta !! It’s really my voice.
I have been singing for quite a while, but I never took it seriously until I picked up a guitar in May of 2020.
About a year into my guitar journey, I was playing in my garage in front of a couple friends, and they all told me “you can’t just sit in your garage and play. Get out there—go figure it out”. So I did.
I started working on acquiring equipment, and I had my first gig in April of 2022–not even 2 years into my guitar journey, from scratch.
I learned a lot really fast, most importantly that I love performing in front of people. Here we are, 3 years later, and I’m playing out almost every weekend (often times saying no), and making pretty good money doing it. I have been fortunate that my radius has grown, my local following is getting larger, and my gear collection is improving. I’m often playing with other musicians, and they all want to start a band with me.
I’m working towards having a part time band for bigger shows, but my main goal right now is writing more. I want to cut an album by the end of 2025!
Thanks @ToshS !! I figured that you would like this one. This song is about the land that I live on, the air I breathe and the water I drink. It means a lot to me.
I’m not as active here as I’d like to be @Ontime , but I have a demanding day job (I teach high school history), 3 kids at home, a wife to please once in a while, a long list of hobbies (I like to golf, hunt, fish, shoot guns, blow stuff up) and music has become almost a 2nd full time job in some ways. I’m still trying to figure out how to balance all of this! Ha!
Great song and performance!
Thank you @andyPlays !!
Here is another that I just recorded 
I’ve never heard this next song sung by a guy so the transcribing process was really cool! I worked on this for a few days but here is my product
