In anticipation of the Feb. 23 release of True Devotion, I’ll be looking back at the extensive catalog of one of indie music’s most celebrated strummers, Rocky Votolato. I realize that I’m taking a roundabout way through his archives of inspired-folk, but this arrangement is how the singer/songwriter was introduced to me.  There are uncertain starting points and lots of back-tracking, but as an avid fan, I’ll try my best to recite it from memory.

mp3: Without Eyes Still Seeing
Listen to “Without Eyes Still Seeing” from Burning My Travels Clean

Gaining an early following for his frenzied, punk compositions with his brother Cody (a founding member of The Blood Brothers) in Seattle’s beloved Waxwing, Rocky Votolato’s forray into solo work began subtly and quietly. After yearning to resurrect his musical roots, Votolato channeled the influences he had gained in his formative years spent on a Texas ranch. Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard . . . before his years as an underground indie-darling in Seattle, Rocky Votolato had grown up on the clicks-and-pops of country western and folk albums in the Union’s biggest territory.  What would emerge would be an indie-rock career that, through little marketing and tons of word-of-mouth, would become a blessed life of strumming and passionate prose.

Released in 2002, Burning My Travels Clean was the fourth in a line of roughly-sketched demos/full-lengths put together by the young journeyman.  Travels is, at best, a sketch of what Rocky Votolato would mature into as an artist, while, at the same time, some of his most potent and moving work. Experimenting with solo piano compositions, steel guitars, fiddles, and stripped-down, minimal percussions, the singer/songwriter weaves tales of love, marriage, and sorting out the happy mediums in a blue-collar life.

At times, Votolato hides behind a subdued, quivering voice that is begging at the folk experiment he is conducting.  These are not the confident vocals that we would hear in later releases, but the youthful ambiguity in Burning My Travels Clean is inevitably what makes the album so effective.  Tracks like “Don’t Walk Out On Me” become the perfect measuring stick for an aspiring wordsmith, as it begs at the possibilities.  It doesn’t take an educated listener to hear the emphasis put on lyrics that crack through the song’s unsure vocal lines . . . “I should be singing by now to earn my keep/I guess my throat just can’t carry the weight”.

Simply put, Burning My Travels Clean is an honest interpretation of youth.  A footnote for that unsure period between angst and clarity, Burning My Travels Clean finds a young musician honing his craft as he embarks on marriage, a career, and his absolute passion for music.  This collection is ultimately a prelude to the journeyman that Rocky Votolato would become on other albums, but is essential to the complete storyline.  An ode to a working-class upbringing, Burning My Travels Clean is what would establish Rocky Votolato as a modern homage to every folk strummer before him.

• Rocky Votolato Official Site
• Barsuk Records
• PLEASE!  Support Rocky Votolato on
• Buy Burning My Travels Clean on vinyl from VinylCollective
  

While you're here, check out:

1. Discography: Rocky Votolato – “Suicide Medicine”
2. Album Review: Rocky Votolato – “True Devotion”
3. New Artist: PJ Bond
4. The Swell Season's Strict Joy is a fantastic labor of love lost
5. [Album Review] Blitzen Trapper – “Furr” (2008)