A Traveller’s Tale: out of love for the acoustic sound of guitar and double bass, Aron Raams and Eric van der Westen started to work as a duo in 2012. Inspired by the blues, country & rock of the 70’s they started an ongoing process of writing original material.
When they started, all they wanted to do was make beautiful, honest and sincere music. The duo’s open and melancholy acoustic sound brings the best of blues, folk, country, rock and jazz together. They write all their original material together, and, whenever required, add material to special arrangements of covers they want to play while always on the lookout for new things and ways of telling their musical story. Considering where they come from and where they’re heading it’s not hard to imagine where the group’s name comes from. Like life, music is a travelling experience that has impact on every new step you take. That principle is the most common denominator for the duo’s music. The duo takes you on a musical journey that covers many different images and emotions. A Traveller’s Tale tells a story that relates to all of us. It’s happy and sad, groovy and lazy, good and bad, winning and losing etc.; in a unique sincere musical way.
The first album tells the epic story of Alvin, a man who is born in a small mining town called Gold Hill in Colorado USA , somewhere in the 1940’s. Leaving the dirt roads and loneliness in his early twenties he heads for Las Vegas to try his luck as a salesman for the Hoover Company. He enrolls the big city life and everything that comes with it. Meeting his future wife while in the army in Italy, asking her to marry him while the city is drenched in rain. In the end, while reminiscing about the past, he still knows the exact day & time she agreed and with that basically ruined both their lives…
The second album “J.J.” reveals the story of the life of Jean Jacques; a New Orleans born descendant of French and Irish settlers. Born in the beginning of the 20th century, the album tells numerous short stories that give an insight in the way J.J. lived his life. His journey through the American countryside, along large impressive cities, the in war-drawn Europe of his French father, to the land of unlimited possibilities and broken dreams.
“J.J.” is music that tells the tale of the ongoing quest for existential harmony in a life full of setbacks. A healthy dose of nostalgia covered in desolate impressions but with a big smile at what is coming. Besides the music of J.J. Cale, Tom Waits and Johnny Cash, the band was inspired by the cinematic road trips in stories as “Blue Highways” by William Least Heat-Moon and “Paris, Texas” by Wim Wenders.
The core of A Traveller’s Tale is the duo of Aron Raams and Eric van der Westen and added instruments help to change the musical dimensions. For their 2nd album, the duo invited trumpeter Angelo Verploegen to join as a special guest, and singer Kim Hoorweg, who appears as a guest on two songs: “On The Road Again” and “The Traveller”. The lyrical qualities of all players are featured on the new album “J.J.”.
www.ericvanderwesten.com
www.aronraams.nl
Albums by A Traveller’s Tale are for sale in our webstore
A Traveller’s Tale – What I Was Saying (Official Video)
Follow A Traveller’s Tale @ Spotify