Randy Travis

Albuquerque Journal (NM)
August 23, 2009
Section: Arts
Page: F3
Travis won't stray from his roots
Singer is country through and through, not about to change
Author: Aurelio Sanchez Journal Staff Writer

Randy Travis
learned early from the great ones at the Grand Ole Opry that talking to an audience
just makes it a lot more fun for everybody.
"I remember watching people like Little Jimmy Dickens and Johnny Russell from the
Grand Ole Opry, and those two guys connected with an audience like no one I've ever
seen," Travis said. "It was like they were taking people on a trip. I like that approach."
The award-winning "oldschool" country star will perform today at Santa Ana Star Center
in Rio Rancho to help celebrate 92.3 KRST's 30th birthday.
Travis was definitely country before country was cool. Travis paid his dues, never
gave up and took his signature backwoods baritone sound to heights he says he never
expected. He's produced a bevy of top-rated albums in both country and gospel, including
16 No. 1 hits atop the Country Charts.
Randy Bruce Traywick, as he was named at birth, is the second of six children born
in North Carolina to a father who bred horses and turkeys and a mother who worked
in a textile factory.
He was performing on stage with a brother by the time he was 10. But then Randy became
a hell raiser and beer drinker, and quit school in the ninth grade. He looked well
on his way to singing about the Folsom Prison blues, or worse, when he saw the light.
It was the spotlight at the Country Club USA in Charlotte, N.C., where he entered
and won a talent show. The nightclub was owned by Lib Hatcher, who gave him a job
singing. They married years later, and are still married.
As he paid his dues, Travis spurned country pop, at the height of John Travolta "Urban
Cowboy" mania, staying true to the country traditions of personal heroes like George
Jones, Merle Haggard and Lefty Frizzell.
"I wouldn't sing any other way, and I wouldn't want to," he said.
When prompted, Travis vaguely remembered a performance in the summer of 1986, at
Albuquerque's Caravan East, when he charmed the audience. He talked and laughed with
the audience like they were long-lost kin, and he took endless requests on beery
napkins well into the night.
A firm believer that learning keeps you young, Travis learned to act. He's appeared
in several television shows and movies, and he has plans to do more.
"I'm also going to keep recording and performing county and gospel music," he said.
"It seems like I've got enough to do."
If you go
WHAT: Randy Travis
WHEN: 6 tonight
WHERE: Santa Ana Star Center, 3001 Civic Center, Rio Rancho
HOW MUCH: Tickets are $30, $43, and $49, plus applicable fees, available at the Santa
Ana Star Center box office, online at www. santaanastarcenter.com or by phone at
888-694-4849
"Old-school" country singer Randy Travis
will perform tonight at Santa Ana Star Center in Rio Rancho.