Music Travel Love (also known as MTL) is a Canadian brother duo comprised of Bob and Clint Moffatt. The two have made it their mission to travel the globe while performing awesome covers and original songs in incredible spaces — their YouTube videos have gone viral, garnering over 50 total million views and over 755K subscribers on YouTube. They are currently living in Nashville, where they’ve re-established their careers as songwriters, something you’ll here on their original album coming out next spring.
I got the chance to talk to them about what its like working with your sibling, what made them want to return to Nashville to re-establish their careers as songwriters, what goes into choosing a song to cover and so much more. Keep reading to see what they had to say!
You guys are brothers who’ve always been making music together. But what made you guys want to come together and start pursuing a professional music career as a duo?
Like you said, we’ve been making music together for a long time so for us we’ve just stayed on this journey together. There are other passions we have but we’ve always enjoyed working together.
Kind of going off of that, what is it like working with your sibling? Do you guys ever have moments where you’re completely over it because you get on each other’s nerves or is it for the most part all love?
For sure, we have our moments where we’ve seen too much of each other [laughs]. But as we’ve gotten older, our differences seem to become less of a thing. We still have them but we’ve gotten better at understanding each other and allowing them to happen and come to a resolution.
Who are some of your musical influences, both personally and as a duo?
Wow, there are so many that have influenced us. Our family has had a huge impact personally and musically. In terms of artists, [we like] Bryan Adams, Tom Petty, The Eagles, John Mayer, George Strait and so many more.
You guys are now living in Nashville where you reestablished your careers as songwriters and took on the new name of Music Travel Love. First off, where did the name Music Travel Love come from?
Music Travel Love is a passion project for Clint and I. It’s everything that we love put together. For us it’s a creative outlet that allows us to do what we want to do without having to wait for the industry to ok our music. We just put it out there and let our fans hear it. It’s been very cool to watch it grow.
Second, what made you guys want to return to Nashville to re-establish your careers as songwriters?
We really wanted to focus on our songwriting. To be a really great songwriter, you need to be where the best in the world are and Nashville has some of the best. It’s a craft just like anything else so we wanted to surround ourselves with writers that were better than us and learn from them. It’s been a wonderful experience.
Let’s talk about your latest single, a cover of “Baby, Now That I’ve Found You”. Why did you guys pick this song?
We like to choose songs that we grew up with that have influenced us over the years. We were living in Nashville and that song was on the radio at the time. [We’ve] always loved Alison Krauss’s version of that song.
In general, what goes into choosing which song you record next? Do you pick based on what’s popular, what works best for your musical style, or a combination of things?
Definitely not what is popular at the time. For us, it’s about doing things that have influenced us. There is some modern music that certainly has had an impact such as Ed Sheeran, but in general, we’re going to choose stuff that has influenced us.
You guys always film your covers in these incredible spaces. How do you choose where to film them? Do you try to match songs with the vibe of the place you’re recording in?
Yes, that is such an awesome part of the experience. We usually have locations planned ahead of time but more often than not we are making adjustments based on how many people are around or the weather. So we might really want a certain place but end up driving somewhere else or hiking somewhere off the beaten path to find a spot.
Are there any covers coming out in the foreseeable future? Any particular song you’ve been itching to cover?
Yes, we’re actually heading to Asia this week and gone for a month. We’ll be making 12 videos while we’re there and have some really cool songs coming out. Songs from The Eagles, Chicago, Diamond Rio to Johnny Cash.
Are you guys working on any original music? If so, what type/genre of music are you working on? When can fans expect to hear it?
Yes, we will be putting out an original album early next year. Probably around March or April. This new trip will all be covers as the project is called Covering The World.
Lastly, we’re called Talk Nerdy With Us because we all have an inner nerd so what is something that you’re currently nerding out about
We nerd out about everything really, audio gear to YouTube analytics. We also nerd out about the process of singing and songwriting. There is so much that goes into really becoming good at something and we’re always learning new things, reshaping what we’ve learned and sometimes coming back around to things we were doing years ago. It’s a nonstop process and it’s exciting to know that there is still so much to learn just in the field of music.
For more information, make sure you visit Music Travel Love’s website or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.