Smart, emotional songcraft…Stonesy country-blues…Hawaiian ukulele and steel soundscapes…mystical prog-folk: Travels with Charley inhabits a musical niche you’re unlikely to have come across before. But it’s a natural process: any time multi-instrumentalist Doug Cox and songwriter Steve Mitchell sit down to write and play music together, Travels with Charley is what happens.
Originally a trio with two critically-acclaimed CDs under their belt—Uncle Herb’s Amusements (1993) and 1995’s even more musically adventurous Red Rome Beauty—Vancouver Island-based Travels With Charley were 1990s folk festival darlings with a devoted following until succumbing to various internal struggles and disbanding halfway through the decade.
Mitchell joined the Juno Award-winning The Paperboys on bass and guitar, eventually surfacing in Nashville as a country songwriter. Meanwhile, Cox flourished, winning a Juno Award, a Grammy nomination, and CD of the Year mentions from both Downbeat and Acoustic Guitar magazines.
Reunited on a John Prine tribute show in 2024, Cox and Mitchell jammed for the first time since 1996. The consensus? Magic.
Then, at a Victoria, BC duo show in early 2026, Cox delighted a room full of long-time fans with his spontaneous announcement that, after 30 years of dormancy, the two men had decided to revive the TwC brand.
Inspired, the duo repaired to Cox’s home studio, where the songs from new CD The Journey began to arrive—Cox’s gloriously loose country duet “The Sun Sometimes Shines”; “The Journey,” a prog-folk Cox rumination on the bonds of family; the deep storytelling of “Metal Parts,” and the quirky Hawaiian-influenced “Yellow Flower” and “On the Islands.”
In late July of 2026, Cox and Mitchell revealed their poignant new songs—in a triumphant pair of sets at the Cowichan Valley’s Islands Folk Festival.
Going into 2027, it’s patently clear that Travels With Charley has reaffirmed itself as the Canadian musical treasure it’s always been.
Cheers,
Doug Cox
Musical Creator/Producer
https://www.dougcox.org
My Music
www.dougcox.bandcamp.com
Booking Online Lessons
https://dougcoxmusic.simplybook.me/v2/#book
Concert & Theatre Producer:
www.regiertheatre.com