Ryn Weaver - “Traveling Song” (Official Video)

The beginning of the video for Ryn Weaver’s “Traveling Song” is a clip of her at a live show dedicating the track to her grandpa Max. She says he had a really hard year but made it out to the show that night and she’s so thankful to have him there. While we don’t know the circumstances, the deep vulnerability and emotion is clear, and those feelings permeate this entire video. It’s a song about missing someone you love who is far away, and the video is mostly home-video footage of childhood Ryn that was shot by her grandfather. Though it was the glitchy pop-chirrup of “Octahate” that turned Weaver into something of an internet pop sensation, this song is more Zee Avi than Katy Perry. It’s closer to the sound of her album’s title track, “The Fool,” but strips things back even further. There’s barely any instrumentation here aside from a calm, clean acoustic-guitar and Weaver’s warbly alto. It’s a Ryn Weaver version of a folk song, and she gets into tender minutia like a young Paul Simon. The mini spoken-word monologue that caps off this song reveals just how much her grandfather inspired her; it’s an intimate, lovely tribute that reveals a whole different side of Weaver’s songwriting.