Cover photo by Steven I Wolf © 2012
Sometimes, nicknames can completely miss their intended mark.
In the National Basketball Association, calling the team from Utah the “Jazz” has always seemed way out in left field. Likewise, when one thinks of Los Angeles, the number of lakes in the city is usually not the first thing that pops to mind.
Other times, however, nicknames can be right on the mark.
Take Chicago blues diva Nellie “Tiger” Travis for instance.
If there was ever a more perfect moniker than “Tiger” for the red-hotblues-woman, then water is not wet.
Over the course of six well-received albums, along with appearances all over the globe, Nellie “Tiger” Travis has certainly managed to earn her stripes.
But then again, witnessing someone storm the stage with all the power and intensity of a cage full of hungry felines that have just been fed dinner is bound to leave a lasting impression.
Call it cat power times ten.
“It was during the time I was playing at the Kingston Mines (legendary Chicago blues venue) and I said one night, ‘You know, everyone’s got a nickname, but I’m just plain ‘ole Nellie Travis. We need to come up with me a name.’ And it was me and my cousin Carl and a couple of other people sitting there, so we just started shouting out names,” Travis said. “And I said, ‘How about “Angel” Travis?’ They quickly said that did not fit me – but I truly am an angel in disguise – so we went through a few more names and then my cousin said, ‘I got it! Tiger!’ And instantly that was it. We all agreed. The rest is history – and I started using it the next day.”
Not only did “Tiger” fit Nellie Travis like a hand in glove – style and personality-wise – but with a wee bit of re-arranging, started by taking the first letter of each of her three names, you end up with TNT.
And as those who have been exposed to the explosive performances of Nellie “Tiger” Travis can vouch for – when she hits the stage, she is one hot package of dynamite, one that is likely to go off at the drop of a hat and blow your head clean off.
Although blessed with the voice of an angel, Travis does have more than just a little streak of spunk and feistiness in her – belayed by songs such as “Ain’t Gonna raise No Grown Ass Man” and “Before You Grab This Tiger By The Tail.”
“Well, in some cases they (her songs) do reflect my personality. Some of them are based on my experiences and some are not,” she said. “But when the hoarseness and the growling comes out, that’s really me. Not so much in a mean way, but in a way that I really intend to belt this song out. That I intend to come on with it, whatever it takes. And when that growl comes out, that means you done reached way, way down to grab that.”
Not all of Travis’ tunes are manifestos – or warnings for men to mind their Ps and Qs.
A couple of Travis’ latest offerings are centered around the late, great Koko Taylor, including “There’s a Queen in Me.”
“Every time I do that song I get a great reaction from it,” she said. “It’s really just an expression to let people know that there really is a queen in me, as in the queen of Ms. Koko Taylor. And I actually wrote that song before Koko passed.”
Another of Travis’ newer tunes -“Koko (Queen of the Blues)” deals more specifically with the impact that Taylor had on her life.
“That one I wrote two days after she passed. The day she passed away, I was scheduled to finish my album in Texas, but I somehow found the time to write that song and then record that song – all in a day’s time,” she said.
More than just an idol or a musical mentor to her, Travis experienced Taylor’s legendary kindness and warmth far away from the bright lights of the bandstand.
“She was really like a mother to me. What happened was, I came here (Chicago) in ’92 and in January of ’98 I was performing at a banquet hall that Koko had and my mother was there videotaping me,” Travis said. “And my mother dropped dead at my feet and Koko took me on as one of her own after that. We had a very personal relationship. I used to tell her all that the time that she reminded me so much of my grandmother – the way she batted her eyes, her conversation – just her whole demeanor. She was very wise and I really clung to her. She was really a mother figure to me.”
Just like a host of other Chicago greats before her, Travis was born and raised in Mississippi before eventually making her way up to Illinois.
Die-hard fans of the blues will recognize Travis’ hometown of Mound Bayou, Mississippi as an important location in the history of music. It was, after all, a place that the King of the Delta Blues – Charley Patton – along with Sir Lattimore Brown and Henry “Son” Simms, once called home.
As such an integral place in the world of the blues, Mound Bayou was recently honored with the placement of a Mississippi Blues Trail Marker along the city’s historic downtown walking trail.
As one would expect, Travis was humbled by the honor bestowed upon her former hometown.
According to the local newspaper, Travis said before attending the marker’s unveiling, “I am speechless. I am proud of Mound Bayou and very thankful.”
Called the “Jewel of the Delta,” Mound Bayou is historically an all-black town and has been that way for over 125 years. The town also has maintained a strong connection with the church throughout those years.
“My grandmother, who raised me, was an evangelist, so I grew up in the church, doing gospel,” she said. “My uncles were ministers and were in gospel groups. I did a little bit of R&B there in Mound Bayou, but I did not do any blues, because blues were not allowed in my home. We were strictly church and Sunday school.”
Singing has always been a part of the fabric of Travis’ life –going back to her youthful days in Bolivar County, Mississippi – but a career in music was not the path that Nellie Travis intended to follow.
“Growing up, I knew I could sing, but believe it or not, I wanted to be a beauty queen. I did competitions and won the finals in the Miss Teen pageant,” she said. “And in Mississippi, I was the queen of my school in 1979. But in my early 20s, I decided that what I really wanted to do was to sing.”
And sing she did.
Although once again; singing the blues may not exactly have been her first intent when she finally chose to make a living with her voice.
“I truly got my first taste of the blues in Chicago, at Lee’s Unleaded,” said Travis. “Because in ’87, I moved to California and was doing mostly Top 40 and R&B. My mother was living here in Chicago and I had come up to visit her when she was sick. And then I ended up moving here in ’92 and the first time I really heard the blues was at Lee’s Unleaded Blues with Buddy Scott. And before long, I was going over there to sit in with Buddy and the Ribtips.”
Sitting in with groups is one thing, but to make it on your own in a place like Chicago – a place filled to the brim with all manners of other performers looking to do just the same thing – can be both daunting and intimidating.
But that was not the case for this “Tiger.”
“Never once was I intimidated. And the reason for that was probably because when I had moved to L.A. (before relocating to Chicago) there were so many great singers there. And I didn’t understand why a bunch of them didn’t have (recording) contracts,” she said. “So when I came to Chicago, there was no intimidation. There were a lot of sticks and stones thrown at me, because when I got here, I really took the city by storm. I started singing at all the shows – performing with people like Tyrone Davis – and even though I didn’t get paid a lot, it was getting me out and getting me exposure. But I really didn’t know anybody at that point in time. Within about five years, I was on just about every flyer and every show that was going on around town.”
Not bad for someone who really didn’t know a whole lot about the genre before her arrival in Chicago.
“No, I really didn’t know anything about the blues. But I had heard that this place was the capital of the Blues and there were so many clubs and places to play, so I decided that was what I wanted to do,” said Travis. “At the time, it seemed like an open market to me. And it was. I got right in and started playing at the Kingston Mines. But I have not yet reached the peak that I would like to reach. But it is right around the corner.”
A definite high-point for Travis occurred not in the Windy City, but of all places, in Japan – back in 2000. It was there that she first shared the stage with Buddy Guy and was left with a memory that she will certainly never forget.
“It was awesome. The feeling that I had in Japan was like I was Tina Turner; and I was wearing a Tina Turner dress. When I came out on stage, the people were bowing to me – oh, my God! – and there was about 6,500 people in the audience, which was the largest crowd I had played to at that time,” she said. “And when I came out, it was totally unbelievable. And to make things even more special, little did I know at the time, but my husband would later end up playing drums for Buddy Guy. But those people in Japan showed me so much love – they acted like I was Janet Jackson or something.”
In addition to her prowess as not only a fantastic singer and eye-catching performer, Travis has also crafted a knack for penning some memorable songs.
But her talents don’t end there; she’s also an accomplished actress.
“Last December I did a T-Mobile commercial – it was a 100 ladies in pick dresses. And it was supposed to just air on the internet,” Travis said. “But two days after they posted it, they had over two million hits, so it went to television. And so last year, I got to see myself on TV right before the Super Bowl. It was awesome.”
Travis has also graced the theatre stage in “The Lust of a Man” and “I Was There When the Blues Was Red Hot.”
“Acting is part of my life, too. And it’s something I would no doubt like to get more involved in,” she said.
Recently, Travis turned up on her old buddy Guitar Mikey’s new album – Out of the Box (Earwig Records).
“During my Kingston Mine days, Mikey lived in Chicago and that’s when I met him. And we got to be pretty close. After time had went by, he contacted me and said he had moved to Clarksdale (Mississippi), which is not far from my hometown down there” she said. “So every time I go back home to Mississippi, I go by his house and have dinner. So when he was working on his new album, I would go by when I was in town and I ended up on four tracks. And he had some gigs lined up in Clarksdale and I ended up playing with him at a festival and also at Ground Zero, Morgan Freeman’s club.”
Travis is under no illusions about replacing Koko Taylor as the Queen of Chicago Blues in the hearts of blues lovers. She would never dare forget about all that Taylor meant to her or just how beloved Koko Taylor is to those who truly love Chicago blues.
All that Nellie “Tiger” Travis is asking for is the opportunity to be thought of alongside of Koko Taylor when the names of great Chicago blues singers are brought up.
“I see myself not being the next Koko Taylor, but being as huge as she was,” said Travis. “Yes I am in my 50s, but I am a strong believer in my beliefs. And that’s my goal. I look at a lot of the blues legends and it took them awhile before they got really huge, so I’m claiming that position. I’m solid in what I do, I’m content in what I do and I have no insecurities about what I do. Because I know when I hit that stage, it’s a whole new ballgame. I’ll put it like this -there’s a place for everybody and a time for everybody and this is my time.”
Visit Nellie’s website at www.nellietravis.com
Photos by Bob Kieser © 2012 Blues Blast Magazine
Blues Blast Magazine Senior Writer Terry Mullins is a journalist and former record store owner whose personal taste in music is the sonic equivalent of Attention Deficit Disorder. Works by the Bee Gees, Captain Beefheart, Black Sabbath, Earth, Wind & Fire and Willie Nelson share equal space with Muddy Waters, The Staples Singers and R.L. Burnside in his compact disc collection. He’s also been known to spend time hanging out on the street corners of Clarksdale, Miss., eating copious amounts of barbecued delicacies while listening to the wonderful sounds of the blues. His first book, Blues In Modern Days was published in 2014.
