It all started back in the late 90’s when Travis Ward, that’s me, was asked to play bass for his pal Doug Martsch’s (Built to Spill) bluesy/rootsy solo album. Anyways, Travis made enough money from the work that he did on "Now You Know" to independently release his own record. BOOM! Now you’ve got "Cobwebs in the Boxcar" by Travis Ward & Junkyard Bandstand. The band toured as much as they could and then went back into the basement and recorded another record. ZAM!!! Now you have "Flowers Don’t Bloom (a spaghetto western)". Again, Travis and his band went back on road playing their country tinged, delta bluesed, psychedelic, swamp shack rags for any one who’d listen. Until……. Tragedy struck! Travis lost his band to real jobs that paid actual money… Suckers!!!

The end of Travis’s story? Hell No! Just the beginning… Travis played a fair number of shows as a solo and as a duo (with wife, Ali) under the name Hillfolk Noir. He also made some cool lo-fi demo style recordings and called them "Attic Reels, Protests, and Nervous Breakdowns". Travis called up his good buddy Mike Waite (El Dopamine, Lowbelly) and invited him to play some swinging stand-up bass. At this point the band seemed to need a drummer… So, Ali picked up an old cocktail kit, and the "Warden" was born. Now just because I’ve mentioned stand-up bass and drums, it doesn’t mean that every Hillfolk Noir show is a full band kinda thing. Some times a show is just Travis sitting on a chair singing old time songs, sometimes it Travis and Mike, sometimes it’s Ali and Travis, sometimes it’s a trio, and sometimes it’s more. You get the idea…

There’s more to it than just Hillfolk Noir. Travis has involved himself in few other projects of note. Did you know that he recorded and edited several hours of Traditional Basque Accordion music for the Idaho Basque Museum? Or recorded original songs and acted in Travis Swartz’s Film "Norman Waiting". Scored Heather Rea (Frozen River, Spirit Award for best producer, and 2 Oscar Nominations) and Russell Friedenberg’s film "IBID". This Film took Travis and Hillfolk Noir to SXSW in Austin. A grand ol' time.

It was about this time that Hillfolk Noir recorded "Diggin Songs". 17 songs about digging holes! The album was a little more dark and rock & rollish than the previous efforts. This was largely do to the electric guitar playing of Sam Merrick (Leaving Trains, Nymphs).

Recently Travis has been working on collaboration with TMP Choreographer, Trey McIntyre. With this project, Travis meets each dancer in the company writes and records a piece representing the 1^st impression of the dancer, and Trey creates a video of the dancer set to the music. It’s kinda like a magazine subscription; you pay 50 bucks and get a new DVD with the song and video every month.

Hillfolk Noir has also appeared on several compilations; "Somefolk" was used for the Emeritus Records comp "Boise, Id.", "The Great Grizzly Bear Scare" was used for Tender Loving Empire Records comp "Friends and Friends of Friends", and "A Round We Sing" was used for the Visual Arts Collective’s "Rotating Tongues comp".

Currently Hillfolk Noir is playing as a small combo and planning to record a folky acoustic record up in a North Idaho cabin. One Microphone straight to tape. Thanks for reading. Travis