Essex Chanel releases 250th song, offers entire catalog for free through 2010

Posted by Frank

Travis Lee Wiggins & friends (photo: Melody Van Wagner)

Over the past couple of years we've occasionally written about Travis Lee Wiggins, a locally-based, multi-talented artist who is pretty much a music-making machine. Since starting Essex Chanel in 2005, Travis has released 11 LPs under that moniker, in addition to other concept-based projects such as a collection of 42 love songs and 67 songs meant to be used in car commercials. And Essex Chanel is only one out of a handful of his projects. Considering most musicians are lucky to release 12 songs every few years, that's pretty impressive. This month Travis is celebrating the release of Essex Chanel's 250th song, "The Good Times," which he is offering for free download here:

MP3: Essex Chanel - "The Good Times"

The track is upbeat, toe-tappin' folk pop that's a good example of Essex Chanel's emphasis on melody, playfulness and orchestration. Travis says it's the first Essex Chanel track to use saxophone, clarinet and tuba, for which he solicited the help of some fellow musicians.

If you want to hear more, the entire gargantuan Essex Chanel catalog is currently available for free download. Hurry up, though, because it'll only be free through the rest of 2010.