William H. Travis debuts poignant song “Long Ways Down,” plays Ortlieb’s next Friday

With a sound that transcends time and trends, singer-songwriter William H. Travis has unveiled a brand new song entitled “Long Ways Down.” With overtones of the great folk performers of decades passed and a delicate simplicity to his guitar work and vocal delivery, Travis provides us with a suitable extension to his 2013 debut album Port. With an EP due out in September, “Long Ways Down” gives us a morsel of what’s to be expected from a very laid back, quietly confident artist.

Even matter-of-fact lines like “we say, oh, no, don’t,” are doused in feelings, leaving us hanging on to each pained pause between words. At the track’s end, Travis sings “we spend our whole lives makin’ / and all of it is taken / in a blink,” in an attempt to verbalize the anguish of the fragility of life — it only takes a moment to be altered forever.