Travis Charbeneau

I'm a writer and musician who started playing standard guitar at 17. But, in 1980, at age 34 -- just when I was finally getting to "mediocre" -- I got my hands mangled by arthritis. Numerous surgeries later, in 1986, I took up computer music. I wrote a lot of music journalism for Keyboard and all the midi rags that came and went during the original midi boom, and I produced a wide variety of instrumental tunes (some are at my web site, below).I finally took my friend Vince Michael's advice to try the lap steel in '93, looking to get back into real-time playing with real-time human beings. I was with The Shiners in Richmond, VA from 2001-2002 and worked on both their CDs; did a bit of studio work for others. I worked with the outstanding Ben Jordan from maybe late 2003 until 2006. Some of my lap steel work is posted at my site (www.travischarbeneau.com), along with some of my writing.I'm happily married for the last 22 years to the always-lovely Janene, and living in Richmond, VA in the Upper Fan area.