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Randy Travis - Back in the Saddle
Country music’s everyman extraordinaire
comes full circle with Around the Bend, his first
straight-ahead country album in eight years.
Randy Travis shares heartfelt sentiments on his
current state of being, his passion for music
ministry, and the secret behind his indomitable,
life-affirming outlook.
by Jesse Mullins, Jr.
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A conversation with Randy Travis can be something so comfortable,
so disarming, so free-flowing that one might well find oneself forgetting
that this person is a superstar who has sold 21 million
records, who has charted 22 number one hits, and who ranks among
the top 10 selling solo country artists of all time. Part of the reason for that
kind of forgetfulness is Travis’ self-deprecating humor and his ingrained
humility. That, plus the fact that Travis is in everyday life the same downhome,
unspoiled, off-the-farm North Carolinian whose honest, earnest voice
reaches through a song to connect, person to person. Small wonder it was this
artist who, more than any other, revitalized country music two decades ago
by taking it back to its too-long-abandoned traditional roots.
His Storms of Life album and the follow-
up Always and Forever, both of
which became classics, restored pride
among country’s faithful, who had too
long endured Nashville’s pursuit of
“crossover,” mainstream-minded, popflavored
fare—a direction that had
diluted all that makes country
unique.Travis helped change all that.
But being an artist who lives in the present,
Travis directs his remarks to the
here and now. He’s excited about his
new Around the Bend album, his first
album in nearly three years and his first
all-country album since A Man Ain’t
Made of Stone, released eight years ago.
While he has not been in the country studio
for some time, his touring has continued
apace and his job satisfaction has
apparently climbed appreciably, even
for someone as amiable as Travis, given
the way he peppers his remarks with
jokes and happy, gratified observations.
He’s just had a birthday. Same day—
May 4—as his interviewer’s birthday, a
coincidence that came to light in the one
previous conversation between them 13
years ago. A lot has happened since for
Travis, 49, and the birthday has brought
home the fact that age comes for us all.
But he is amused by it.
“If you still feel, as I do, that you are
about age 18, then you still feel like you
should be able to do anything you could
do at 18,” he says. “You can, but it just
doesn’t feel the same the next day.”
As case in point, he tells of how, recently,
he and a few others were gathered for a
horse trading session, and he decided to
get aboard one of his own mares. “She is 14 years old, and a brood mare,
and was trained as a cutter, and, well,
because of her being 14 you just didn’t
think she’d… umm… [laughs]… well, I
swung up on her and she went about two
steps and we went airborne.”
The horse didn’t throw Travis but it
was enough to remind him, later, of what
it is to be 49.
“I sure felt it,” he says. “Didn’t feel
quite right in the low muscles in my
back the next day. She sure bucked
hard! I don’t think I’ve ever seen one
come out of the gate at a rodeo that
bucked any harder.”
Randy and his wife, Lib, keep seven
horses on their place in Santa Fe, N.M.
They’ve lived there 9 years since leaving
Nashville, where they lived for 20.
“I ain’t movin’ again,” Travis says with
a laugh. He loves New Mexico. “They’re
gonna have to burn me out. Or carry me away.
I ain’t leavin’.”
He still travels, though. A lot. Working two
different musical genres—country and
gospel—he does two different kinds of shows.
Plus, there is the film work, which has quietly
consumed a good deal of Travis’ “spare” time.
“Somebody researched it and found out
that I’ve done more than 40 projects, TV and
film-wise,” he says. “I was surprised to hear
that. Because I’ve always done far more music
stuff than acting. There’s no doubt that I’m
mostly performing music, either in the studio
or live performances.”
Travis’ newest film project is a starring
role in The Wager, in which he plays an
actor who has reached the heights of fame but
who finds his faith tested.
Available on DVD, the film is based on a
best-selling book by Bill Myers, and has been
described as a powerful fable of how to live
out faith in today’s world.
Meanwhile, blending his music, his love of
horses, and his commitment to charity
efforts, Travis took part recently in William
Shatner’s Wells Fargo Hollywood Charity
Horse Show, capping the event with a concert.
Held at the Los Angeles Equestrian Center,
the show benefited special needs children
across Los Angeles.
Shatner told AC that Travis is one of his
favorite people. “He’s lean, he’s mean, and
he’s ready to sing. He also rides a horse like a
cowboy—because he is a cowboy. Imagine…a
real live, singing cowboy. He’s magic.”
He’s always had the image of a straight
shooter. Travis says that not long ago someone
“actually made me mad” by asking him if
he “really believed that image was important,
that example was important.”
“I said, ‘Yeah, I take it very seriously and I
think everybody should, be it a ballplayer, an
actor, an actress, a singer, a businessman… I
don’t care what you do.”
The new album, Around the Bend, has songs
that reflect that character-minded bent, but it
explores a wide range of themes and emotions
as well. Travis is excited about the new project,
saying that he and his longtime partner and
producer, Kyle Lehning, and others on the team
spent a year looking for the right material.
Country music critic Tom Roland told AC
that Travis has done a good job over the years
of doing what country traditionally has done,
which is discuss adult issues. “Not what
teenagers would be interested in, or kids, but
adults,” Roland says. “And he is good at finding
songs that are the crux of that. Songs like
‘Forever and Ever, Amen.’ Or ‘On the Other
Hand,’ a song that deals with temptation and
attractiveness and whether or not someone is
to bow to it. These are the kinds of songs you
are not going to hear on a pop station.”
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"Imagine..a real, live, singing cowboy. He's magic."
-William Shatner |
Roland is impressed with Travis’
commitment to gospel, too. “The gospel work
he has done in the last few years has been
pretty good,” Roland says. “He’s won some
Grammies for it. One of the albums was fairly
surprising because they had not intended to
do more than one gospel album, and after
they’d done it and it did well and they decided
to do another one, they didn’t just say, ‘Well,
here is the B list that we didn’t do on the last
album.’ No, instead they chose to do an album
that had a theme to it. The theme was black
gospel music—work by people like Rosetta
Tharpe and Mahalia Jackson. Now, a lot of people
who would come to gospel from another
genre, like country, might think, ‘Well, here is
an audience I can tap into’ and yet they might
not be willing to do the work, but he has made a
commitment to it. He told me a few years ago
he is about playing churches. It wasn’t that long
ago that he was selling 10,000 tickets at a time.
So that says that that is where his heart is."
Travis says that what he wants to do is alternate
Christian and country records. “I really
like to do both of them,” he says. “I really enjoy
doing gospel performances—music ministry, as they call it. You get some amazing comments
from people about some of the
gospel songs, like ‘Raise Him Up.’ But
with my country records, it has been the
same [enjoyment]. ‘Forever and Ever,
Amen’ has been used in no telling how
many weddings.”
Josh Turner, whose velvety baritone
summons to mind Travis’ own, cites
Travis as a major influence. “He taught
me what ‘keeping it country’ means,”
Turner says. “He will always be my hero
because of his humility, humor, talent,
and heart.”
Deborah Evans Price, a Nashvillebased
correspondent for Billboard,
Country Weekly, and other media outlets,
has known Travis for about 25 years. She
says that what has consistently
impressed her is the way that success
has not changed him.
“He’s a very nice guy with one of the
best voices ever in country music,” Price
says. “He’s a great example of the fact
that talent is timeless. I think a few years
ago people might have been ready to
count him out because he was having a
lull in his career. And then he came back
with ‘Three Wooden Crosses,’ which
won the Grammy award, the CMA
Award, the Gospel Music Association’s
Dove award, and just swept everything.
That reminded people in this industry of
the power of a great artist and a great
song. It’s always just one song away.”
His newest single, “Faith in You,” is
already out, and Travis says that “if that
one works,” then the next single from
Around the Bend will be “Dig Two
Graves,” which Travis calls “a great
piece of writing.”
Meanwhile, Martha Williamson, a
friend of Travis’ and the executive producer
and main writer for television’s
Touched by an Angel, is penning a script
based on the “Three Wooden Crosses”
song. The Travis magic is spreading
once again, and its practitioner is enjoying
each day with unflagging optimism.
Not every performer out there has
that going for him. Travis has seen the
signs in others.
“When you’ve ceased to have fun
doing it, it really shows, and it’s sad. I
won’t give any names, but I’ve seen it in
live shows and I’ve heard it on albums
and it’s like, ‘It’s time to go home, boys,’ ”
he says. “I don’t know how else to put
it—but it’s just time to go to the house.”
Won’t be any going to the house soon
for this feeling-18-years-old boy. “I’m
having fun,” he says. It shows.
Tracking Travis |
May 4, 1958—Randy Travis is born in
Marshville, N.C.
1982—Travis moves to Nashville with
his manager Lib Hatcher. Hatcher gets a
job at the Nashville Palace nightclub,
where Travis finds work as a dishwasher.
Occasionally he performs with the band.
1995—Releases debut single, “On The
Other Hand.”
Oct. 10, 1986—Receives first Gold
album, for his debut, Storms of Life.
Oct. 13,1986—The Country Music
Association confers on Travis its
Horizon Award, a recognition of young
talent in country music.
1986—Travis became a member of
the Grand Ole Opry.
Feb. 10,1987—Travis’ first album,
Storms of Life, is certified platinum.
April 5, 1987—Travis wins Album of
the Year at the Academy of Country
Music Awards for Storms of Life.
July 14, 1987—The Always & Forever
album is certified gold and platinum
simultaneously.
Oct. 12, 1987—Travis is named the
CMA’s Male Vocalist of the Year and his
song “Forever and Ever, Amen” is
named Single of the Year. |
March 2, 1988—Receives the
Grammy award for Best Country Male
Vocal Performance for his album
Always and Forever.
March 1989—Receives the Grammy
award for Best Country Male Vocal
Performance for his album Old 8x10.
January 22, 1990—Takes home three
trophies at the American Music Awards.
May 31, 1991—Randy marries his
manager, Lib Hatcher, in Maui, Hawaii.
May 14, 1999—Travis is inducted into
the North Carolina Hall of Fame as
Governor Jim Hunt proclaims Randy
Travis Day in the state.
Sept. 29,2004—Receives a star in
the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
April 5, 2006—Takes home the
Gospel Music Association Dove award
for Country Album for Glory Train.
July 15, 2008—Warner Brothers
releases his album Around the Bend. |
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