Travers Chandler & Avery County!

   After two years of hard touring, Travers Chandler and Avery County stand ready to take their place in the bluegrass world as interpreters and progenitors of all that is old school in the music. Striving to please both the hardened traditionalist and to leave a footprint in the younger generation’s new acoustic scene, this band has begun to command attention.

   The group came together in 2009 with the intent of preserving the legacies of bluegrass music's lost heroes, while bringing these sounds to new audiences. Members have garnered much acclaim and IBMA accolades after stints with The James King Band, Danny Paisley and The Southern Grass, The Country Gentlemen, Spring Creek, Dave Evans, Karl Shiflett and The Big Country Show and numerous others prior to this conglomeration. They are now busily creating new music while delightfully hanging on to influences of the past.

   Theirs is a raw, real sound- baptized in tradition and hardened in the honky tonks. The stage show is explosive, energetic and centered around Chandler's dynamic mandolin playing along with his soaring, soulful vocals and the driving bass playing, gutsy singing and songwriting of Jessica Smith. They are young, passionate and full of energy. Their show is an intelligent presentation of classic bluegrass and country music that can draw in both young and old. Playing from the heart and what seems to feed the crowd at the moment, the group can be five songs into a live set before the audience even knows what hit them. 
   
   They have already graced the stage at several major festivals including The International Bluegrass Music Museum’s ROMP, The Durango Bluegrass Meltdown, Pickin' in the Pasture, O.A.T.S., Lil’ John's Mountain Music Festival, and have made numerous radio and television appearances including PBS' Song of the Mountains, and many appearances on historic WPAQ in Mt Airy, NC, leaving audiences buzzing everywhere they go.

   2011 was a landmark year for TC +AC finding them on prestigious stages all over the country, garnering chart success with their sophomore release “State of Depression”, and surprising everyone by appearing in the semi-final nominations for IBMA "Emerging Artist of The Year."