Trailand Eltzroth is no stranger to the artist’s life on the road. Born to a singer-songwriter and a dance teacher, Trailand grew up traveling around the country with his parents as they showcased their art. From churches to college campuses, the Eltzroths served the Church with performances and workshops on Christian artistry. It was this environment that engendered Trailand’s love for songwriting and community.
“In a simple way to put it, I was like an unfocused youth, and I think music really grounded me,” he shared. “It was the thing that I grasped onto.”
The family settled in Mississippi, which Trailand now calls home with his wife and daughter. Looking back, he considers his college experiences at Belhaven University and The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, in Cardiff, Wales as the catalyst for his direction into music.
In Cardiff, his own songwriting voice began to take shape. “I was writing for orchestras, choirs, and all these ensembles, but I was never writing for myself,” he expressed. “I had lost touch with being the creator. I would hand it off to someone else and they would do it. Something became at odds with me inside of me because the way I fell in love with music was me creating on my instrument, on the guitar.”
Trailand began writing songs, finding his desire to play music surpassing his academic purpose. With original music came original lyrics, revealing a new dimension by which to communicate and connect with an audience.
“I was exposed to artists that would talk about their songs before or after [the show] in artistic ways. They would tell a story and then play something. I learned that I just want to communicate in that way with an audience…to have a shared story.”
Behind the Porchlight
Trailand played his first show on the Porchlight network in December 2022, resonating with the personal atmosphere house shows cultivate.
“I’m loving Porchlight because it provides the audience and hosts the same page going into this,” he explained. “Sometimes when I play a church, bar, college, or restaurant, they haven’t had experience listening or coming into the mindset of, ‘Hey, I like this music, but I also am ready to receive a gift.’ It’s curated. And so I think Porchlight has done that very well. There’s a common understanding, a culture of sharing and receiving, being created.”
Today, Trailand does music full-time. His days are spent teaching in Mississippi, playing shows across the country, and recording in his studio. It’s a full plate, but he’s loving it. “To be able to have my instrument in my hands every day is a blessing a lot of people don’t get to have,” Trailand added, “so I’m grateful for that.”
When asked about a notable Porchlight show, Trailand pointed to this past summer’s concert hosted by pastor Garrett Soucy in rural Maine. The show took place at a community center and was a collaborative effort by local churches to bring their communities together.
“I think some of them had to have traveled to get there,” Trailand recalled. “The pastors are connected, but the people feel so distant. To see them pull together…the sense of community and fellowship I saw up there…It was such a good experience for me as an artist. They laughed at all my jokes and sang along. Afterward, they stacked like ten picnic tables in a long line and we just ate, drank, and had fun way into the night.”
Under the Porchlight
The Eltzroths also belong to the Porchlight host network, having welcomed in other artists such as Kevin Schlereth, J. Lind, and Sam Robbins to their city home in the Jackson metropolitan area. They’ve chosen to keep their living room layout flexible to accommodate hosting opportunities. “We basically have a dedicated house concert venue, as well as hosting for anything,” he described. According to Trailand, hosting is a special opportunity to bond as a family.
“When I’m the artist, I receive so much when I’m performing. One of my favorite parts is just hanging out afterward and getting to know people, seeing how they connected to what I created. But I’m never able to switch off, in a way, because I always feel like I’m in performance mode when I’m creating…So when I’m hosting, I just love it, because, in my opinion, there’s like no pressure on me. I just curate the space. I invite people, and then I just get to sit back and enjoy the art and be involved with all the conversations afterward about it. I love doing it as a family, with my wife and my daughter…all together. I love that side of it.”
Trailand noted the opportunity to interact and inquire with other artists as having a benefit to his own creative energy. “Selfishly, I try to invite artists that I want to meet, especially people that are a little more experienced in some areas. I’m like, yeah, come stay at my house and have breakfast so I can just ask all the questions.”
For Trailand, performing and hosting are harmonized expressions of a two-fold core vocation.
“I want to do two things: I want to write music that’s for Christians and I want to write music that’s for non-Christians,” Trailand affirmed. “I write it in a way that I hope all of them reflect on it and find that I can shepherd them through my lyrics toward some beauty and truth. For Christians, that can be some literal analogies, and for non-Christians, I hope they’re at least thinking about something and contemplating. My faith is why I write, honestly, because I feel like I’ve been given a gift. I’ve seen creation around me, and so I respond. I create and I hope to give a gift onwards.”
“And I think that’s an extension of what we try to do in our home,” he continued. “I mostly invite neighbors and people that I feel like don’t get exposed to this kind of music or the intimacy created at a house concert. We have an interesting thing here in the South: everyone goes to church pretty much but not everyone’s a Christian. Our hope as a family is to create something where they like, ‘I’ve never seen something like this, I’ve never been able to experience talking to the artist afterwards, hearing what they’re sharing in their hearts’…being able to sit in that and not feel like I’ve just received something and can’t also respond. That’s our hope with our hosting.”
Following the Porchlight
This spring, Trailand and his family are back on the road and headed toward the West Coast. In July, he’ll make his festival debut at Audiofeed in Illinois, perform a second time at Garrett Soucy’s in Maine, and perform a string of repeat Porchlight shows, escorting him back down the East Coast. “It’s really encouraging and I’m excited to see the hosts again. My family wasn’t with me last time I played, so I’m excited for them to meet my family.”
Contact Trailand Elztroth: www.trailandeltzroth.com
Book a Porchlight House Concert with Trailand: app.porchlight.art/artists/trailand-eltzroth
Looking for more stories about Porchlight artists who also host? Check out this story about The Local Hang-Ups.