Remove this Banner Ad

Country Music

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

My brother bought me Richard Manuel's biography for Christmas. In Levon's autobiography, The Last Waltz and Barney Hoskin's book he's come across as the most compelling character in The Band and so far this has been a joy to read.
 
So I'm back for another year of country music history - which will no doubt be heavily interrupted from time to time, as it has over the last few years, by travel requirements. I'm kicking off 2026 by journeying back to 1986 - but no pop-country this time, just country music as pure and traditional as it gets - with a super-star artist whose life has had its big ups and downs - band has earned the title "The saviour of country music".

Our next artist burst with a big bang onto the country music world in 1986, with an understated, but very distinctive traditional vocal twang. His debut 1986 album took to the next level the burgeoning neo-traditional sound that Ricky Skaggs (posts # 1,110-1,117), George Strait (# 1,129-1,143) and Reba McEntire (# 1,172-1,179) had already driven to the forefront. His success pointed to the future direction of country music, his influence can't be overstated. He also opened the door for himself to numerous acting roles in movies and TV series. A life-long country purist, his clean-cut and lonesome eighties neo-traditionalism exuded steadfast small-town ethics, in tune with the Reagan era conservatism of that time. However his private life was never the goody-goody image that his music and public persona implied, as we shall see.

Born in 1959, in the small hamlet of Marshville, near Charlotte, North Carolina), Randy Traywick, the second of 6 children, was raised on a turkey farm. His early life and career was hardscrabble. As early as the age of 6, he worked hard on his family’s farm. In his spare time, young Randy listened to his father’s large country music library - “He had quite a collection of 78s - Gene Autry (# 125-126), Roy Rogers (# 154-157), Tex Ritter (# 179-180), Hank (# 205-214) Lefty (# 216-219), and the others". These old country stars shaped young Randy’s musical style and was later pivotal in his leading the movement in bringing hardcore traditional country (even more traditional than the first wave of neo-traditional artists we've already seen, who had retained some pop production values while using traditional country instrumentation) back to Nashville.

By the time Randy turned 10, under the relentless encouragement - or pressure - of his father, he, along with older brother, Ricky, had learned how to play guitar an had participated in numerous events around Marshville to showcase his talent. His father drove them to perform at events ranging from various club dinners (service clubs and lodges being a big thing last century), to fiddler festivals and private parties. He bought both Randy and Ricky instruments and ensured they attended music lessons. However, their father was a stern, exacting taskmaster - "Daddy expected us to win. He was tough on us, too, yelling at us if we hit a wrong note. If I didn't sing a song just right, Daddy often made me start over from the beginning".

Randy's relationship with his own father was complicated. Harold Traywick was abusive when he drank, but he also instilled a love for music. Randy's mother, on the other hand, "... was a saint ..." and sometimes bore the brunt of her husband's darker impulses - for, although sober most of the time, he was a binge drinker - and whenever he drank, he was prone to nastiness and violence. Randy recalled that when he was 10, his father "... got drunk and started beating on Mama". So Randy sprang into action - "... I took up for her, jumped on him, and pulled him off her...". Immediately after, Randy ran out of the family home, his father giving chase with a raised gun. Randy hid in a nearby cornfield "... for two days trembling with trepidation — with no food or water ..." until he was sure his father was sober again.

So throughout their childhood, Randy and Ricky, also known as The Traywick Brothers, were pushed by their domineering, alcoholic father to be singing stars. This parental pressure contributed in great part to Randy’s rebellious teenage years. Even pre- teen, both Randy and his brother, Ricky, had turned to drugs and alcohol.
Despite being well-known child musicians around Marshville, they weren't so busy as to stay out of trouble. Their teen years were fully wayward. In his autobiography, Randy described himself and his brother Ricky as "juvenile delinquents". In addition to getting into scuffles with local toughs, Travis struck out on his own, hanging out with an older crowd -"I was smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol by the time I was 10 years old. Not long after that I was using marijuana regularly". His teen years were, in this sense, similar to Merle Haggard and David Alan Coe.

Randy routinely skipped school and amassed such a poor report card, he dropped out for good after 8th grade. Another thing he amassed? A hefty rap sheet. Among the future star's youthful hijinks were charges for breaking and entering (for breaking into the town's church and throwing a wild beer party in it), public drunkenness, driving under the influence and attempting to elude police. That last one is related to teen Travis' habit of driving "... too fast and too recklessly..." He rolled his first truck, a '65 Chevy, 3 separate times and totalled 2 trucks, a couple of other cars, and even a horse and buggy - the horse survived. The buggy did not.

Big brother Ricky was arrested for his involvement in a car chase and when he was 14, Randy, having left school, left his family, heading to the (relatively) big city of Charlotte, where he worked in construction. There, he was also arrested for several misdemeanour crimes, including breaking and entering and assault. But despite his rebellious side, Randy continued to sing and play at events around Charlotte and an opportunity to become the lead singer at a nightclub in town soon presented itself.

In 1977, a young and ambitious 17 y.o. Randy Traywick auditioned for a talent competition at a Charlotte nightclub, offering $100 cash and a recording session. The contest consisted of 8 semi-final audition rounds held weekly. There, he fatefully met the club's owner and one of the judges, Mary Elizabeth "Lib" Hatcher, then aged 33. Lib noticed the talent Randy possessed, later saying - “When Randy started singing that night I dropped the papers I was holding and thought, ‘This is something special". Their friendship blossomed - very quickly and deeply. But Randy, having already lived a tumultuous life of booze, drugs and crime as well as music, even after Lib offered him the chance to perform at her Charlotte "Country City USA" nightclub, continued his criminal activity and was facing a 5 year prison sentence for breaking into a convenience store (the sort of crime that might earn a teen a free trip to Dreamland if committed now in Melbourne, and certainly not any actual punishment -but I digress).

Lib successfully persuaded the judge for her to be Randy's legal guardian and to release him into her custody, where he had to follow her rules. He thus moved in with her and her then-husband, Frank. As their relationship rapidly deepened, Lib took on the role of Randy's manager - amongst other things. This led to Lib's husband to deliver his wife an ultimatum - either dump the precocious young criminal Randy, or leave. Lib made a bold decision - she and Randy moved out into their own place. As she later recounted - "I never spoke to the man again. Randy might have given me the courage to leave a bad situation, but Randy did not break up the marriage". Well, that's her story but years later, Randy said they started their sexual relationship about the day the first met, he at age 17, she at 35 (but more on this unusual relationship later, not today).

Lib soon divorced her husband and Randy, finally curbing his proclivity to crime under Lib's stern supervision, had to work at various odd jobs while pursuing his singing dream, mostly at Lib's Charlotte nightclub. In 1981, 38 y.o. Lib and 21 y.o. Randy, took the major step of moving to Nashville - for in addition to being the centre of the country music scene and the Grand Ole Opry, it had a good number of important honky tonks and clubs where young wanna be's performed, hoping to be "discovered". But they still travelled back to Charlotte on weekends to tend to business at Lib's Country City USA nightclub, which by that point had relocated to a larger building. In 1982, Lib landed the job of managing the Nashville Palace nightclub. This allowed Randy the main slot for the all-important weekend shows - and also a mandatory spot for cooking and dishwashing duties through weekdays. He also changed his stage name to "Randy Ray", as he and Lib thought the name easier to pronounce than "Traywick".

While Randy Ray performed at the Nashville Palace, he hawked and promoted his songs to every recording label in town. However, no one gave Randy a shot. For 5 years, he was turned down by every label on Music Row for being “too country” - for as we've seen in this history, in the early 1980's, the "Urban Cowboy" era, country music’s decision makers were deeply invested in marketing pop-flavoured records. But Randy's upbringing was nothing but hardcore country - “We were turned down more than once by every label in town. But I’m kind of one to believe if you work at something long enough and keep believing, sooner or later it will happen.”

The hard work finally paid off - a Warner talent scout heard Randy Ray at the Nashville Palace and signed him in 1985. However, defying expectations, his first single, 'On The Other Hand', failed to become a hit, struggling to # 67. But even as this pure country ballad quietly died in the charts, changes were afoot and tastes were rapidly changing, as Ricky Skaggs (# 1,110-1,117), George Strait (# 1,129-1,143) and Reba McEntire (1,172-1,179) led the charge back to a more traditional country sound. Meanwhile, Warner execs (wisely) disliked the name "Randy Ray", thinking it sounded too Hicksville. At their suggestion, "Randy Ray" was re-branded to "Randy Travis" (so now you know who I've been writing about!), in honour of the finger-picking pioneer, Merle Travis (# 184-186), one of Travis' musical heroes. Merle Travis had passed away in 1983, 2 years before Randy Travis finally achieved mainstream success with the new moniker.

Sure enough, with his new stage name, Travis' second single, '1982', released in December 1985, did much better, making its way into the Top 10 in early 1986. A testament to his ability to weave heartfelt narratives that resonate across the boundaries of time and personal experience, '1982' was a significant milestone in his career, reaching # 6, launching his status as a defining voice of the latter 1980's. The song's narrator recalls a time when his former lover was all his, back in the year 1982. The original title was '1962'. However, Travis said he didn't feel comfortable singing about a love he lost when he was only a little over 2 years old! He and producer Kyle Lehning revised the lyric to refer to 1982, being more believable because it was only 3 years prior to the recording.

Through this track we hear a 25 y.o. young artist already in tune with the emotional complexities and timeless stories that would become hallmarks of Travis' career. Starting with the pedal steel - an instrument heard all too rarely over the past 5 years in country music - Travis cuts in with his deep nasal whine and twang , a mix of strength, booze and woebegone, blew through the blur - by way of a bullfrog. And even before Travis cuts in - that steel kick off is a banger -


Following the success of '1982', Travis was booked as an opening act for Barbara Mandrell (# 1,052-1,055) and T. G. Sheppard (# 977-978), leading to both Travis and Hatcher quitting the Palace. The song's success also led to him performing on the Grand Ole Opry for the first time in March 1986. He was also awarded the ACM Top New Male Vocalist. This was followed by further opening act gigs throughout early 1986 from California to Georgia. Lib and Travis bought a former bread truck which they converted to a tour bus, in addition to hiring a 5 piece backing band.

After the success of '1982' in early 1986, Warner Bros. noted that Travis' first 1985 single, 'On The Other Hand' was now also getting increased radio listener demand. They also thought Travis didn't yet have another song recorded strong enough to be a single. They wisely reissued 'On the Other Hand', despite it fizzling when first released in mid-1985, right afterward in April 1986 - and it showed how important timing and marketing are to a hit record. An easier name to remember plus a warmup Top 10 hit in the bank set the stage for the Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz penned 'On the Other Hand' to be Travis’ first smash, earning him his first # 1 single in both the U.S. and Canada and a slew of awards. He was also inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in April, just a month after his first appearing there, on the back of this song.

The importance of 'On the Other Hand' at establishing Travis as a bona fide superstar and the new leader of the New Traditionalist movement cannot be overstated. The song finds a bloke tethering the lines of going all-in in his extra-marital affair and staying committed to his marriage vows - as reminded by a “... golden band...”. The song itself is flawless. It was originally intended for Dan Seals and it’s easy to imagine Seals having a gentle hit with it. But his version wouldn’t have had the pathos of the Travis cut. Seals did well with hits about embracing life at home because there’s no doubt that’s where he wanted to be. Travis, however, sounds like a man who is really strongly tempted to slip off the wedding band, and him choosing not to do so is what gives the record its emotional heft. You get the feeling this isn’t just a random come on at a bar for a quick fling, and that the big personal growth moment is him saying “no” and going back home to his wife.

Then again, dig even deeper (as I like to do for a song this good) and even as Travis calls off the budding relationship, the song, despite its best intentions, is hardly the best defense of fidelity. The lyrics suggest Travis’ divided heart is still with his lover, whom he credits with reviving his joie de vivre, as he tells her in the final verse -
“I’ve got to hand it to you girl / you’re something else ...". This song sadly speaks to so many who have been in this heartbreaking situation in real life - where, no matter what, at least one, and often two hearts, are broken -


Just as 'On The Other Hand' got to the top of the chart in mid-1986, Travis released his first commercial album, "Storms Of Life", and it became a stunning success nationwide, remaining the # 1 album for 8 weeks, and eventually going triple platinum, the first ever country album to do so. The title track, not released as a single, of Travis' 1986 "Storms Of Life" album, penned by Max Barnes and Troy Seals, pushes Travis' gravely baritone to soar in unexpected ways on the singular chorus. Few can serve up regret quite like Travis does on this tune. His vocal evokes the torment of the inevitable ups and downs of the life of a rambling man who hasn't settled down, despite his youth receding into the distant past -
"... An old mail pouch, tobacco sign / Fadin' on the barn / Bringin' back sweet memories of Mama's farm /
When love was just a country girl / that lived on down the road / You know, she almost had me turned around /
But that was years ago / I'd better change my wanderin' ways / I know I've seen my better days ...´ -


'Diggin' Up Bones', written by Paul Overstreet, Al Gore, and Nat Stuckey was released in 1986 as the 3rd single from his epochal debut "Storms Of Life" album. It peaked at # 1 in both the U.S. and Canada. Comparisons could be made to George Strait's 2006 hit 'Give It Away' (post # 1,139). Both songs rely on an easy tempo to hide the tension, but Travis' hit is from the perspective of the scorned - a theme similar to Patsy Cline's 'She's Got You' (# 388)

It's not often that the term "exhumin'" appears in a country song, which is what sets this Travis hit apart. Instead of drowning his sorrows in a bar, the forlorn guy decides to go “diggin’ up bones” to relive some bittersweet memories. There was hardly another singer on the planet in 1986 that could’ve made 'Diggin’ Up Bones' work this well. It’s a dark and borderline creepy song on paper, with “exhumin'” in the chorus and a protagonist who handles his ex-wife’s skimpy nightie as he haunts their “recent broken home”. But with Travis singing it, it becomes a song about the soul-crushing side of heartbreak and divorce. His pain is seemingly palpable as he laments -
“I went through the jewellery / and found our wedding rings / Put mine on my finger / And gave yours a fling...”
“... I’m resurrectin’ memories / of a love that’s dead and gone / Tonight I’m sittin’ alone, diggin’ up bones" -

On a lighter side, Travis has observed that loads of very young children have been fans of 'Diggin Up Bones - but for very different reasons than adults - they take the "diggin' up bones" bit literally and don't really understand the rest.

'No Place Like Home', another written by Paul Overstreet was released in late 1986 as the 4th and final single from the "Storms of Life" album. The slow ballad, uses the famous phrase - and even the melody - from the 1843 operatic classic, 'Home Sweet Home' (not to be confused with the 1985 Motley Crew rock anthem hit with the same title) and further popularised by Judy Garland as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz. This reached #2 in the U.S. and went all the way to # 1 in Canada in early 1987. It's a fine song, with some country heartbreak thrown in (as you would expect). But despite it's chart success, it hasn't made the cut here, as I limited the song selection from the album to 5 and I've preferred the 2 songs not released as singles from the "Storms of Life" that I included in today's lot - such as the next selection. But you may well check out 'No Place Like Home' on Spotify or YouTube.

'There'll Always Be A Honkytonk Somewhere', penned by Steve Clarke and Johnny MacCrae, is just a great honky tonk song. No matter how the world will change, Travis is certain “... there’ll always be a honky tonk with a jukebox in the corner...” - and so far this has proven correct (and long may it be so). The twang effect is real strong with this one - playful, hopeful, and an easily fun singalong. This is the perfect type of song for those Texan dancehalls and for traditional country honky tonks everywhere. Like so many other honky tonk drinking songs, this makes for a great sing-along song -
"... There'll always be a honky tonk with a jukebox in the corner /
And someone crying in their beer and one old hanger-oner /
And a lady looking lonely from a losing love affair /
Yeah, there'll always be a honky tonk somewhere ..." -


Travis' debut album is far more influential than many realise. "Storms of Life" produced two # 1's, a # 2 and a # 6. But beyond that, it's back to basics throwback country sound had a profound impact. KRTY radio programmer Julie Stevens said - "I wouldn't just say "Storms of Life" changed country music. I'd say it also saved country music." The vice president of music programming for CBS Radio Tim Roberts called it - "... one of the most important and impactful country albums of all time." The neo-traditional movement skyrocketed after Travis' success and helped curb, if not cease, the urban cowboy pop-country movement started in c1980. It's hardcore country sound, dropping altogether the pop elements still lurking in the neo-traditional movement up to then, also spoke to the future, paving the way for Garth Brooks and the Class of '89.

"Storms of Life" went on to sell more than 3 million copies and winning both the CMA and ACM Album of the Year for 1986. Travis also won the Grammy for Best Song, as well as the CMA and ACM award for the 1986 Song of the Year for 'On The Other Hand'.

The success of Randy Travis' hard-core country sound saw him being hailed by country music traditionalists such as George Jones as the "saviour of country music", a tag that has stuck with him. And tomorrow will, of course, bring more - starting with what has become his signature tune, as his commercial success reached even greater heights.
 
Last edited:

Log in to remove this Banner Ad

As we saw yesterday, Randy Travis started 1986 as a little known performer, having just recently changed his stage
name from "Randy Ray", with just one low selling single and no albums to his credit. He ended 1986 being inducted as a member of the Grand Ole Opry, on the back of having the years biggest selling album and biggest selling single, already contending with George Strait as the de-facto leader of the neo-traditional movement - George ruling in Texas with his distinctive Texan country sound, while Travis ruled East of the Mississippi (though in truth, there was plenty of crossover support for both).

Travis' debut album, "Storms of Life", was a watershed moment for the New Traditionalist movement which had been gaining momentum for a couple of years since the initial breakthrough album of Ricky Skaggs, then the leadership taken up by George Strait. But by the end of 1986, Travis had quickly became a household country name, the first country
artist ever to go multi-platinum with a debut album. During the late 1980s, he was largely credited with successfully transforming country music away from contemporary pop influences back to its traditional, twangy roots, thus opening
the genre to other up-and-coming artists who brought old country back to Nashville.

With his instant classic "Storms of Life" album and its 1987 follow-up, "Always & Forever", Travis proved a traditional country singer could sell multi-platinum albums without even a hint of crossover pop elements to his music. The entire ethos of the nineties boom can be traced to that “a-ha!” moment on Music Row where crossing over to pop appeal, as it was in the early to mid eighties, was now viewed with contempt and disdain for many years following Travis becoming the genre’s biggest star with nothing but pure country.

After "Storms Of Life" became the first country album - let alone a debut album - to go multi-platinum, Travis’ follow-up album, 1987's "Always & Forever" album was an even bigger smash, the album that undeniably cemented his position as one of country music's leading lights. The album scored four # 1 singles in both the U.S. and Canada, buoyed by the mega-hit 'Forever and Ever, Amen'. "Always and Forever", named the CMA Album of the Year, stayed at #1 on the album chart for a remarkable 43 weeks, on its way to selling an incredible 5 million copies. Travis’s next 5 albums all achieved platinum sales status. With that, on with the music with the first single from the album.

Is there a greater quintessential Randy Travis song than 'Forever And Ever, Amen'? Another #1 Travis hit co-written by Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet, this has truly stood the test of time, with many artists and countless wedding singers still covering it live (just as the video depicting a very 1980's wedding suggests). 'Forever and Ever, Amen' has endured to become the most well-known of Travis' tune because it's a simple yet classic love song. The hit's songwriters, Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet, cleverly employ the title and hook to punctuate an everlasting romance.

'Forever and Ever, Amen' was an obvious hit right out of the gate. They even filmed the video around a wedding, knowing this would be an instant wedding standard - and nearly 40 years later, it still is. It has a singalong chorus, It’s clever, funny and heartfelt, all while showcasing pure country instrumentation and one of the finest country voices ever put down on tape. Still young at age 27 and less than 12 months since he found fame with his debut album, Travis was already in full command of his talent.

While most love songs naturally focus on the physical attractions between two people, this song takes the deeper long term view, declaring - “They say time takes its toll on a body / Makes a young girls brown hair turn gray / Honey I don’t care I ain’t in love with your hair / And if it all fell out well I’d love you anyway”. Such a message of non-superficial love is rather noteworthy all on its own. So, the fact this song touches people on an even deeper level is even more profound. Since one of the most obvious outward effects of cancer radiation treatment is the loss of hair, this song has also become an unofficial anthem that has greatly touched people who have lost their hair after being stricken by cancer, along with their families. Many have leaned on this song to get them through a tough, vulnerable time in their lives.

It's a classic due to its ability to be one of the sweetest love songs without being too syrupy - is a fine balance that most songs aren’t able to achieve. It is a song of commitment and love that avoids eliciting an “Oh great - not another love song” feeling that often accompanies songs of its nature. Such a feat is quite impressive in a genre so replete with love songs. It is simple on the surface, with a gentle comic humour in the verses, but has reached far beyond its initial assumed impact -
"... They say time can play tricks on a memory / Make people forget things they knew /
Well, it's easy to see, it's happenin' to me / I've already forgotten every woman but you ..." -

As well as being a standard for wedding singers pretty much everywhere, it has also been covered by many artists, more recently in 2020 by Josh Turner on his "Country State of Mind" album, with Travis featured on the track. The song was also covered by Ronan Keating and Shania Twain in 2021 on Keating's "Twenty Twenty" album.

'Forever And Ever, Amen' won the Grammy for Best Song at the 30th Annual Grammy Awards in 1988. It also claimed Song of the Year honours from both the ACM and the CMA - Travis' second song in consecutive years to achieve these honours after 'On The Other Hand' in 1987.

But it wasn’t the quality of the record in and of itself that made 'Forever and Ever, Amen' such a dramatic turning point for the country music industry. It was the song that pushed Travis’ "Always & Forever" set to multiplatinum sales without any crossover airplay. With this record, Nashville execs finally woke up and realised they could keep everything within their control – country artist signed to a country label singing country songs from Nashville publishing houses while backed by accomplished Nashville studio musicians – and they could keep all of the money in town. No need to work with the pop divisions in New York City or LA to modify -or "popify" - a song to suit multiple formats - we’ll keep everything down home here in Nashville now, thank you very much.

This is why, after Travis smashed the charts, crossover was now now presented as a cardinal sin and why everyone from Garth Brooks to Trisha Yearwood publicly disavowed what little crossover airplay they received. It was the 1980's crossover era that killed country music, you see, and we can’t risk that again. So we can thank Randy Travis for the decade that followed, and for making room for a bumper crop of platinum plus country artists who made a healthy living singing great songs written by Nashville publishing houses and played by Nashville pickers. No more interference from the corporate heavyweights in. Ew York City and L.A. - until the 21st century dark age arrived.

'I Won't Need You Anymore', the second single from "Always & Forever" hasn't lingered in same way as 'Forever and Ever', but it’s not because of any shortcoming of the song itself. It’s a lovely traditional ballad about loving someone always and forever, even if hell freezes over. Written by Max D. Barnes and Troy Seals, it was originally recorded by George Jones on his 1981 "Still the Same Ole Me" album. Travis' version topped the chart in 1987, becoming his 4th # 1 single in the U.S. and his 5th # 1 in Canada.

'I Won't Need You Anymore' is, on its own, pretty darn good. But in the shadow of Travis' signature 'Forever and Ever, Amen', it languishes. It would be like Martina McBride following 'Independence Day' with another domestic abuse song or Garth Brooks singing about another dive bar after 'Friends in Low Places'. When you’ve just released the classic platonic ideal wedding song of wedding songs, it’s inevitable that any lesser effort in comparison won't stick around as long. If, say, Ricky Van Shelton, with his vocal chops, had released this instead, it might have gotten its proper day in the sun. Even so, it still was another Travis chart topper in its day. And, as I said, it's worth a listen -


Maybe letting the great state of Texas know that their new music god, George Strait, isn't the only one that can make contemporary hits out of traditional Texan western swing, Travis' 3rd single 'Too Gone Too Long', was as traditional Western swing as you could get - and in 1988 it delivered Travis' 5th # 1 hit and his 6th in Canada. It's relentlessly efficient, with an entire operatic retelling of a broken relationship being captured in under 2.30 minutes. All 3 elements of a classic country record come together to make it happen. It starts with the song, penned by Gene Pistilli, which features clever turns of phrase that make his dismissal of a returning lover that much more cutting -
“... You wanted to roam / now you’re paying the bills / You’re an old rolling stone / who rolled over the hill ...".

Travis could’ve delivered that line spitting nails, but his brilliance as a singer wouldn’t allow for such an approach. (It’s worth noting that he was this good just 2 albums in to his career) The song is about a man who found love after he’s gotten his heart broken. But, with the healing power of time, Travis is so over her, he’s barely suppressing a smirk while he’s singing. That second element of his vocal delivery is perfectly supported by the third element of success here - the musicianship. This song glides along with its Western swing arrangement and it even sounds like the instruments are trying to hold back a laugh, too. They’re loving every second of this. It’s country music executed at the highest level by all involved -


Now for a first. By now in this history, you may have concluded that Travis, for all his other qualities, was no songwriter. And if you did so conclude, here comes the song to prove you wrong (though it's certainly true that up until now, he had relied on some Nashville master songwriters for all his hits and continued to do so for most). But Travis had, in fact, written 'I Told You So' back in 1982 and recorded it that same year with the intent of signing with Curb Records to release it. However, the label never signed him. He later included it on his 1983 nom-commercial album "Randy Ray Live at the Nashville Palace" under his former stage name. The song was also offered to Lee Greenwood, who declined to record it. Barbara Mandrell did record it but never released it. Darrell Clanton also recorded it as the B-side of his 1985 single 'I Forgot That I Don't Live Here Anymore'. Finally, Travis re-recorded it for his "Always & Forever" and it was released in 1988 as the album's 4th and final single. This became his first self- penned song to chart, and it charted all the way to become his 6th U.S. # 1 and his 7th in Canada.

'I Told You So' is as intelligent as something from Bob Dylan and emotionally naked as something from Hank Williams, delivered by a vocalist who can rightfully be mentioned in the same breath as George Jones (as we shall see later) and Merle Haggard, whose distinctive vocal style certainly had an influence on Travis. An entire romantic epic plays out solely in his imagination, as he struggles with the wide range of outcomes that ultimately justify his fear-driven state of indecision. It’s a portrait of a tortured mind that is frighteningly aware that their tortured state is entirely self-inflicted. This is top class songwriting from someone who wasn't noted for it. Is Randy Travis, for all of his accolades, actually underrated? I’m starting to wonder -

Another Travis song that has endured, in 2007, 'I Told You So' song was covered by Carrie Underwood on her "Carnival Ride" album. Her version was released in February 2009 and was re-recorded and re-released in March as a duet with Travis. Underwood's and Travis' duet peaked at # 2 in 2009.

Travis toured across the U.S. in 1988, including a spot on the Marlboro Country Music Tour in Madison Square Garden, which also featured Alabama, the Judds, and George Strait. That same year he released his third Warner album. Following up "Always & Forever" with its unprecedented 43 week run at #1 on the Albums chart and sales of more than 5 million copies, must have been a daunting task. 1988’s "Old 8x10" was Travis’ attempt to recreate the magic, and though it is another ripping album, it just misses the mark of equaling its predecessor’s artistic and commercial success. "Always & Forever" had set such a high standard that it was essentially highly unlikely to expect any follow-up to match it - but Travis gave it a real good shot with "Old 8x10".

Like "Always & Forever", "Old 8x10" was produced by Kyle Lehning and spawned 4 singles, of which 3 got all the way to the #1 spot. First up was the laid-back 'Honky Tonk Moon', written by Dennis O'Rourke, released in 1988. It became Travis' 7th (and 5th consecutive) # 1 hit in the U.S and his 8th consecutive # 1 in Canada. Travis, after releasing two pretty much perfect traditional country albums, was seemingly boxed in more than any other artist, his market expecting nothing other than pure country. So his experimentation on the "Old 8x10" album is within those constraints, starting a trend of Travis pushing sonic and thematic boundaries with his lead singles and saving the big conventional country radio hit for the second release.

'Honky Tonk Moon' is not so much a traditional country song as it is a mood. The lyrics paint a pretty picture, but it’s the musicianship that dominates, taking influence from the Western traditions that once made up half of the genre’s name, harkening back to the days to the trail songs of the singing cowboys like Gene Audrey (post # 125-126) and Roy Rogers (# 154-157) that were part of Travis' childhood musical upbringing from his dad's record collection. Travis leans into his throwback image, resurrecting sounds that are traditional but more distinctive when compared to the wave of Travis peers and imitators that were borrowing heavily from "Storms of Life" and "Always & Forever" albums. Travis rises to the challenge as a vocalist here too, sounding relaxed and at ease, bending and stretching his notes in the chorus until he’s on the brink of a yodel -
"... Breaking up the pool balls, chalking up the cues / Jukebox pumping softly, lazy summer blues
Honky tonk moon keeps shining on my baby and me ..."


There is more to come from Randy Travis' "Old 8x10" album, but you will have to wait a day. Meanwhile, Travis was collecting dozens of music awards, some major one's mentioned above for 'Forever And Ever, Amen, but also including the CMA’s Horizon Award for 1986 and Male Vocalist of the Year award for 1987 and 1988, the ACM’s Male Vocalist of the Year for 1986 and 1987) and Grammys for Best Vocal Performance, Male, for 1987 and 1988.
 
Last edited:
Today we start by briefly mentioning a few that played a key role in Randy Travis' success. Nearly all of Travis' albums were produced or co-produced by Kyle Lehning, and feature frequent co-writing credits from leading Nashville based songwriters, in particular Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz and also Skip Ewing. Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, who collaborated together for a number of Travis' biggest hits, were both Nashville luminaries with a long pedigree of country hits, including songs by Kenny Roger's, The Judds, Alabama and Keith Whitley in the 1980s. As a songwriter, one may compare Travis with George Strait - both dabbled in but neither were prolific in their songwriting. Strait mainly relied on just one songwriter, Dean Dillon, for most of his biggest hits.

We left off yesterday in 1988 with the first single from Travis' "Old 8x10" album, the western trail sound of 'Honky Tonk Moon'. Following 'Honky Tonk Moon' to the top of the charts was the slightly fluffy 'Deeper Than The Holler', yet another Travis hit penned by Don Schlitz and Paul Overstreet, who cleverly employ simile to capture the breadth and depth of the persona’s love. It became Travis' 6th consecutive #1 hit, and his 8th overall - and his 9th consecutive # 1 in Canada, in 1988.

Taking a joking swipe to modern love songs, with their often hyperbolic or outright ridiculous similes or metaphors, Travis brings it back to the country and the hills - with a definite southern flavour. 'Deeper Than the Holler' positions country life as a striking contrast to city life - still typical of country songs today. But we hear so many of these songs that choose bland generic similes like the ocean, stars or mountains - the obvious, unimaginative similes or metaphors most reach for when trying to capture the scale of unconditional love. We can laugh here with recognition about how salty the ocean is - copping a mouthful or more while being dumped by a big wave ain't that nice.

'Deeper Than the Holler' is an invitation to the unique beauty of the American South. Many damn yankee folk up north still don’t know what is a holler (typically a long, straight but very narrow steep-sided Appalachian mini-valley) and have never heard a whip-poor-will (the whip-poor-will's sound is referred to in the opening line of the greatest country song of all time - Hank Williams 1949 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' - "Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will / he sounds too blue to fly ..." - post # 214). We can infer there are probably some drawbacks to going deep into a holler and the sound of a whip-poor-will might be annoying sometimes, but when trying to capture the scale of affection in a new romance, what better for a southern poet to point to?

And yes, 'Deeper Than the Holler' is southern poetry, pure and simple, a brief canopy of rural Southern allusions. The song uses various down-home similes to describe the feeling of true love. This is why Randy Travis was the perfect emissary for the country genre during this period of time. He not only produced country music that was executed at the same levels of excellence of his leading pop and R&B contemporaries, but his music also reflected a humility and genuine curiosity about the world beyond his own experiences. In turn, this created a curiosity about country music from discerning listeners who had not previously listened to traditional country -


'Is It Still Over', co-written by Ken Bell and Larry Henley, was released in early 1989 as the 3rd single from Travis' "Old 8x10" album. The single was his 9th as well as his 7th consecutive U.S. # 1 hit and 10th consecutive in Canada. Here, Travis reuses the 'Too Gone Too Long' formula seen yesterday, revisiting the groove of the earlier hit, leading again to exemplary instrumentation and a solid vocal performance from Travis. The opening line sets the scene of man who would be infuriating if it wasn't for the obvious humour -
“Being without you has turned out to be so inconvenient ...”.
And he comically remains totally self absorbed and in denial -
“... Is it still over? / Are we still through? / Since my phone still ain’t ringin’ / I assume it still ain’t you...” -


Up to this point, beginning with the re-release of 'On The Other Hand', all of Travis' singles had reached #1, with the exception of 'There’s No Place Like Home' which peaked at #2 - but still reached # 1 in Canada. This winning streak was finally interrupted by the 4th single from the "Old 8x10" album, 'Promises', which Travis co-wrote with John Lindley. It was originally released in 1987 as the B-side of 'Forever and Ever, Amen'. A marked stark departure from all his previous singles, featuring only Travis' voice and a single acoustic guitar, it reached #17 in early 1989.

Some saw this as the beginning of the end of Travis' reign at the top of the charts (wrongly, as it turned out), but in actuality, records like this one have always been a hard sell with radio and the fact it was played at all is testament to the tremendous star power Travis wielded at the time. Another factor hampering it's success was that most fans had already purchased it, being the 'Forever and Ever' B-side. Radio friendly it was not, but some music critics far more refined than me (yeah - I know that ain't really saying much for 'em) rate 'Promises' as amongst Travis' best song-writing. However, it probably needed more than just an acoustic guitar to lift it and the lyrics, honest as they are, don't offer any relief or a way out of a sad situation -


Another song from the "Old 8x10" album that wasn't released as a single and also just missed making the cut here was 'Written In Stone', written (on paper, not stone) by Don Schlitz. Travis was always an expert with a Don Schlitz tune. He was attracted to representing love that was made to last - like a stone carving. Simple yet devastating with the knowing wisdom that nothing, no matter how good, lasts forever. You might check it out on YouTube or Spotify.

"Old 8 x 10" sold 2 million units, less than either "Storms of Life" or "Always & Forever". However, in the pre-Garth Brooks era, sales of 5 million were virtually unheard of in country music, so it probably wasn’t realistic to expect Travis to maintain that level of success. By the turn of the decade, Travis had a shelf full of awards and millions of album sales under his belt, as well as a long string of chart-topping hits. He previewed his fourth studio set, "No Holdin’ Back", with a cover of the Brook Benton R&B classic, 'It’s Just a Matter of Time', which topped the charts in 1989. Travis achieved his 10th U.S. # 1 - and his 11th in Canada with his last single released in the 1980's.

'It's Just A Matter Of Time' was an ambitious move on the part of Travis to launch his "No Holdin’ Back" album with a doo-wop flavoured cover of an R&B standard written by Brook Benton, Clyde Otis and Belford Hendricks. The original recording by Benton topped the R&B chart in 1959 and crossed over to peak at # 3 on the pop chart, the first in a string of hits for Brook Benton that ran through to 1970. Interestingly, Travis was the third country artist to put his spin on this - and thanks to his version, he now "owns" this song.

The song found a second life as a country song, with major hit recordings by 3 country artists during the 1970s and 1980s, two of which went all the way to # 1. The first was by Sonny James, who took it to # 1 in 1970 (post # 477). In 1985, Glen Campbell recorded his version and released it as a single, which peaked at # 7. The Benton original places the vocal front and center, and James and Campbell didn't stray too far from that approach.

Travis, on the other hand, goes full deluxe 'Lost in the Fifties' Ronnie Milsap (# 737) mode here - and I love it, despite it being the least traditional country track he recorded. Produced by celebrated rock/pop producer, Richard Perry, it features synthesiser and strings, plus booming doo-wop style backing vocals courtesy of Perry himself and a fine performance by Travis, exploring the lower reaches of his vocal range. The production and sonic elements of this song take us listeners back in time to the yesteryears of country music, where the likes of Eddy Arnold, The Everly Brothers, Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves dominated the airwaves. While it stays true to Travis’ signature country-centred baritone - with a few bars of full-on bass as an added extra - it also blends some familiar arrangements synonymous with the pioneering Nashville sound - seen as pop back in the day (# 354 & 404) but by 1990 regarded nostalgically as "classic country". This is one bluesy version -


For the album's second single, the label remixed a Hugh Prestwood song that would ultimately become the longest running chart-topper that Randy Travis has had to date. 'Hard Rock Bottom Of Your Heart' is a damn near perfect country record. Impeccably produced, it (shockingly for Travis) incorporates elements of 1970's pop and rock, but without veering from its country core, and Travis sings the fire out of it. In 1990, it earned Travis his 11th U.S. # 1 and 12th in Canada.

The importance of his delivery of this song cannot be overstated. The narrator here is an absolute rat, painting his spouse as being a cold-hearted shrew, unwilling to forgive, while he’s doing everything he can to “... roll up his sleeves and repair...” their broken home. Your heart - almost - breaks for him as he laments - “... I feel like a stone you have picked up and thrown / to the hard rock bottom of your heart...”.

Only one problem - he’s entirely in the wrong. He’s the one who cheated. He’s the one who broke their home. He isn’t entitled to – or worthy of – forgiveness, as he’s placing the burden of rebuilding love and trust on the person who had nothing to do with breaking them in the first place. But try – just try – to hold it against him while the song is playing. It’s difficult. He’s so heartfelt in his performance, he gets you to take the wrong side. That’s a damn fine country song and singer, right there -
"... We can't just block it out / We've got to talk it out / Until our hearts get back in touch /
I need your love, I miss it / I can't go on like this / it hurts too much ..." -

Did you notice the unusual rhythm harmonica beat in the final section of the track?

I haven't finished with Travis' "No Holdin’ Back" album. But once again, I have to hold over an album's next (and final single) until tomorrow. Also keep in mind, today we passed 1989, with Travis' career still steaming ahead - "No Holding's Back" being another double platinum selling over, spawning 3 more # hits.

But 1989 also spawned the famous "class of '89" of young singer-songwriters, inspired by the revival of traditional country that the success of Randy Travis had turbo-charged, that were to change the course of country music - and lead to the commercial diminishment or even demise, of so many of the 1980's era artists, as we have now seen with a number of artists recently covered. So how will Travis fare with this revolution? Stay tuned.
 
Last edited:
In 1989, at age 29, Randy Travis was at the peak of his career, with a run of record selling albums (pun totally unintended) and a dozen # 1 singles, all achieved since 1986. But his superstardom had led to a tidal wave of competitors as rival record labels rushed to sign young traditional country singers. Travis had this brief period in the early nineties where he was still a youngish act in his early 30's, but seemed like an elder statesman of the genre at the same time, as a wave of even younger acts walked through the doors he kicked open.

The "class of '89, led by Garth Brooks and Clint Black, changed the country music landscape (just like grunge rock was soon to cut a swathe through mainstream rock), making redundant the 1980's pop-country sound once and for all - and, as we've seen in the history, popular 1980's artists like Mickey Gilley, T.G. Sheppard, Johnny Lee, Barbara Mandrell, Earl Conley and the like found themselves out of the charts - indeed, just having been popular in the 1980's was enough to have you branded as out of date.

However a few did survive the big clean-up - the neo-traditionalists (post # 1,105) such as George Strait (# 1,129-1,143), Reba McEntire (# 1,172-1,179) and, of course, Randy Travis, who were now respected for making country music country again. Johnny Cash (# 338-345) also returned from his 1980's obscurity. So 1990 finds Travis still in favour, still going as strong as ever. With that, let's get back to the music.

The third and last single, from Travis' "No Holdin’ Back" album, ‘He Walked On Water’, peaked at #2 in the U.S. but went one better in Canada, his 13th Canadian # 1. It's a tender tribute to a great-grandfather and childhood hero, written by Allen Shamblin with great attention to detail. Country music can boast of some fantastic “ode to grandpa” (or in this case, great grandpa) songs - 'Grandpa (Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days)' by the Judds remains the gold standard and Kenny Chesney’s 'Grandpa Told Me So' is criminally underrated. Travis' 'He Walked On Water' is an earlier version of the latter approach to celebrating a family patriarch.

Kudos to the songwriter, Allen Shamblin, for capturing something universal while writing about something so specific to one child’s memory. His great-grandfather was the inspiration behind the song. He had been a cowboy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and had told stories about this lifestyle to a young Shamblin. When Travis heard the song, he chose to record it because it reminded him of his own grandfather.

What makes 'He Walked On Water' work so well is that it captures how a young child idolises – and idealises – an older family member. Despite being able to see the withering effects of age, they seem at once all-knowing and immortal - never mind the mouth full of missing teeth. One of the reasons there’s often such a strong bond between a small child and a grandparent or great grandparent - they both have the free time to amuse each other. Their stories of their younger heroics still ring true. But for me, the clincher is this verse right here -
"... Then he tied a cord to the end of a mop / And said, “son, here’s a pony, keep her at a trot” /
And I’d ride in circles while he laughed a lot / Then I’d flop down beside him ..." -


Despite "No Holdin’ Back" producing 3 # 1 hits and double platinum, Travis opted to move on to a new studio album project instead of releasing a 4th single. A labor of love, "Heroes & Friends" featured duets with contemporary and classic country artists. The lead single, 'A Few Ole Country Boys', was a collaboration with the legendary traditional country vocalist, George Jones (#405-412) that went to # 8 in the U.S. and # 4 in Canada in late 1990. Here we have two greats with so much in common teamed up - one at the zenith, the other in the tail-end of a great, if oft-time tumultuous career, but having enjoyed an unexpected 1980's career revival after the release of his classic 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' (# 409).

The single was significant because it made Jones the only country artist in history to have a Top 10 song in 5 consecutive decades. Travis has cited Jones as a primary influence and the song reflects this, alluding to the younger singer's troubled past and how he drew inspiration from Jones. George was equally complimentary and in his 1995 memoir I Lived to Tell It All, singled out Travis for praise while lamenting how country radio had turned its back on older country artists - "... If Randy Travis had come to town last month, he probably wouldn't have gotten a record deal. He's too good and too original...And he doesn't wear a cowboy hat or pimple cream. Today's labels are looking for pretty boys and girls..."

By the end of the mutual admiration honkey tonker, both are clearly having fun, with Travis parodying Jones' idiosyncratic phrasing and George doing the same back to Travis, as each tries to out-twang the other -


The second "Heroes & Friends" single release was the title track - a song which establishes the theme of the album but, ironically, was the one song that doesn’t feature a duet partner. Another Travis collaboration with songwriting icon, Don Schlitz, 'Heroes and Friends' sounds perhaps quaint and a little dated in comparison to the other traditional country hits dominating in 1991 and it "only" reached # 3 in the U.S. (but was # 1 in Canada). However it touches on timeless themes and it's exquisitely performed and produced. An honest testament of that transition from childhood to adulthood for men and those who stick by their sides for that journey. It's filled with familiarity and honest life lessons, a touching tribute to the importance of role models and the need for reliable mates -
“... Your Heroes will help you find good in yourself / your friends won’t forsake you for somebody else /
They’ll both stand beside you through thick and through thin / and that’s how it goes with heroes and friends...” -


Released in 1991, Travis' 6th studio album, "High Lonesome", was his first album not to reach #1 and his last platinum selling release. But if his commercial fortunes were finally starting to wane , this album is now regarded as something of an artistic triumph. His voice is in great shape and he seemed to have undergone an artistic rejuvenation, co-writing half the songs. The consistent quality of the material was the best he had since his "Storms Of Life".

As Travis was preparing for his "High Lonesome" album, he was on tour with a young opening act who shared his passion for traditional country music. Before long, the budding young artist, by the name of Alan Jackson, was a songwriting partner. The "High Lonesome" album had 3 of their songs, and they would be the only proper singles from the collection, which also included the stopgap single 'Point of Light'.

The tender ballad 'Forever, Together' was co-written by Travis with Alan Jackson. It had previously been released as the B-side to the 1989 single ‘It’s Just a Matter of Time', but it was re-released as the 2nd single from the "High Lonesome" album in early 1991. It became his 12th # 1 hit in the U.S. and 14th # 1 in Canada. Over gentle percussion beats and prominent steel accents, Travis sings of an enduring affection that keeps 2 lovers “forever together” come what may. Singing about being together forever is bound to invite comparisons to 'Forever and Ever, Amen', but the protagonist here didn’t leave behind all his bad habits on the way to the altar - and yet it was his beloved that had to do the heavy lifting to set things back on course -
"I took you for granted / So many years / I gave you no hope / Broken promises and tears /
But when I was down / It was you who was there / To pick up the pieces / and show me you care. ..."

But don’t worry, he’s going to stick around -
"... Forever together / Til’ death do we part / Forsaking all others / I’ll give you my heart /
Through good times and bad times / Wherever we are / Forever together / In each other’s arms ..."

It’s a bit like Tammy Wynette's ´Stand By Your Man' (# 504) - but from the reverse perspective of the man that Tammy was stuck with. She’ll have bad times - and he’ll have good times - like in Waylon Jennings' 'Good Hearted Woman' (# 775). The most charitable reading of the lyric interprets it as a recommitment, a determination to finally live by the vows that were promised some time ago and he's now finally ready to deliver. Here’s hoping, for her sake -


The superstar songwriting collaboration of Alan Jackson and Travis having produced the #1 hit in 'Forever Together' and they repeated the success with the next single from the High Lonesome" album, 'A Better class Of Losers'. Despite it "only" peaking at # 2 in both the U.S. and Canada in late 1991, for my money, this is the best of the 3 hit singles that Jackson and Travis co-wrote, with its preference for downhome living over city sophisticates like the protagonist’s now-ex girlfriend. It’s like an alternative timeline for Garth Brooks 'Friends in Low Places', where the everyday Joe stayed with the high society girlfriend and unfortunately got stuck with eating caviar and having his coffee beans already ground. He's fed up with living the good life and can no longer tolerate the company of his girlfriend's urban friends (I can certainly relate to this). Some of the references are now hilariously dated -
“... I need friends who don’t pay their bills on home computers ...” is very, very 1992. But the sentiment itself works just as well as it ever has and the frustration that the narrator feels is expressed with a sharp wit throughout -
“... I’m tired of you spending every dime I make / to finance this way of life I’ve learned to hate ...”
That’s some damn good songwriting, right there.

Travis' performance earned him the Grammy nomination for Best Male Vocal Performance, his fifth nomination in that category.

So this completes today's quota, leaving off on the eve of 1992. Randy Travis, at age 32 now an elder statesman of traditional country music, had by now chalked up 12 # 1 hits, 3 more just missing at # 2 and 2 others peaking at # 3 in the U.S. - and he charted even better in Canada, with 16 topping the chart, 1 going to # 2 and 1 reaching # 4. His 6 studio albums released since 1986 had set new benchmarks for country music sales. But tomorrow will start with a highly unusual, unforeseen problem - an issue in 1992 that would not (I don't think) be so today.
 
Last edited:
A few days back now, in the Randy Travis introduction, I briefly outlined the start of the business and sexual relationship in 1977 between the 17 y.o. juvenile delinquent Travis and the 35 y.o. married nightclub owner, Lib Hatcher, who managed to keep Travis out of jail by taking him into her home under ner supervision - and soon soon after, divorced her husband. I promised more about this unusual relationship later - so now, as we move into 1991, it's time for an update.

For over a dozen years, Lib and Travis, while obviously open about their business relationship, with Liz being Travis' manager, kept their romantic relationship and the fact they lived together under wraps. This was a strategic, pragmatic decision, as Lib, ever the savvy manager, later explained- "... It seemed easier than to explain everything to every interviewer you talked. He was young, and we wanted to attract that youthful audience. I wanted him to appear available". Keeping the relationship secret also avoided potentially awkward questions about the 18 year age difference between the two, especially in the early years when Travis was still a teenager.

However, as the years went on, with Travis still publicly single and without even ever having a girlfriend or even a short term fling, certain rumours began to circulate that Travis was gay - a perception that was far from conventional and could certainly have been damaging for a country singer back in the 1980's and '90s, with such a large part of the market centred on the bible-belt South and mid-west. And keep in mind that even in the mainstream pop world, in 1991 Elton John had still not came out (though he had declared himself as bi), and nor had Freddie Mercury until he announced he had AIDS.

In 1991, the National Enquirer gossip magazine, which mainly focuses on all the usual Hollywood scandal, unexpectedly reported the rumours that Travis was a homosexual (the term it used). Travis reacted - “I was so mad that I actually thought about going to their office, to confront them in person. I wanted to sue them so bad, but my lawyer talked me out of it. They had the article worded in such a way that it would be hard to sue them, so we just let it drop.” Tabloids joined in, claiming Nashville would not accept an openly gay country performer at the time, which added pressure to the situation.

When the Enquirer explosion hit, Travis, of course, firmly denied the speculation, but in doing so, felt forced to reveal
he and Lib had been a couple for at least 12 years (they were still deliberately vague about when their relationship had actually started) and had actually tied the knot 2 months previous, in May 1991, in an intimate ceremony at one of their
2 Maui (a Hawaiian Island) homes. But news that he’d married his manager, 18 years his senior, and had moved to Maui away from the spotlight, only sharpened the blades of those who care how a singer sleeps. So the couple sparked new controversy, not just because of their secrecy but also due to the 18-year age gap between them. Initially, fans and tabloids still speculated that he was either gay or ill with HIV/AIDs to have moved far away.

By the end of 1991, the gossip had largely died off, his long term relationship and subsequent marriage to Lib was accepted as a fact and it appeared to have no real damage on Travis's popularity and hence, his success continued unabated. But this isn't the last time I'll mention the relationship between Travis and his manager and now wife, Lib. But when I return to it next time, it'll be with a massive impact on Travis' personal and professional career. For now, it's time to go back to the start of 1991 and Travis' "High Lonseome" album, that provided yesterday's last 3 songs.

The albums 4th single, 'I'd Surrender All' was another Travis co-write with Alan Jackson. It wasn't so successful as their previous co-writes, just scraping into the U.S. Top 20 and peaking at # 13 in Canada. I've skipped this in favour of the albums title track, which wasn't released as a single.

March 7 1986 was a big day for Randy Travis. It was on that date that he made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry, 3 months before his debut album, "Storms of Life" was released and shot him to instant super-stardom. But on his Opry debut in March, still mostly an unknown, Travis, sang the Hank Williams timeless classic 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry'.

Coincidentally, just 2 days back (# 1,231), on Travis' 1988 hit, 'Deeper Than The Holler, I specifically made mention as an aside of the whip-poor-will bird being in the lyrics, writing - "... (the whip-poor-will's sound is referred to in the opening line of the greatest country song of all time - Hank Williams 1949 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' - "Hear that lonesome whip-poor-will / he sounds too blue to fly ..." - post # 214).

'High Lonesome' the gently wailing title track, written by Gretchen Peters, which features Marty Stuart on mandolin and Jerry Douglas on dobro, although Mark O’Connor’s mournful fiddle is the most effective part of the backing. The opening lyric below is clearly a tribute to Hank's immortal all-time classic. From the mournful tune of the whip-poor-will to the distant wail of the train whistle at night, his heart breaking with loneliness, it's all here. Adding to the mood is Travis singing it in the highest vocal range he can, doing his best to capture Hank's high lonesome sound (hence the song and album title) -
"... I hear the call of a lone whip-pour-willl / Singing his mournful tune /
Way off in the night blows the long freight train / With a roar and a ramble of wheels /
My poor heart is breaking with every refrain / 'Cause it sounds just like the way I feel ..." -


Travis was at the peak of his success, releasing not one, but two greatest hits compilation albums on the same day. After “I’d Surrender All” barely snuck into the Top 10, Warner Bros moved on from "High Lonesome" and readied a pair of releases influenced by a recent trend in rock music - releasing 2 albums at once. Why they didn’t just do a 2-disc hits collection is beyond me, but the move worked - Travis scored a # 1 hit each from "Greatest Hits Volume One" and "Greatest Hits Volume Two". This one’s from Volume One.

'If I Didn't Have You', written by Skip Ewing and Max D. Barnes was released in 1992 as the lead-off single from Travis' "Greatest Hits, Volume One" album. It became Travis' 3rd # 1 single of the 1990's and his 13th # 1 single overall. The production of this song is superb. It starts with a lone percussive beat, then a guitar is added and finally the rest of the instruments kick in, including fiddle and dobro. Driven by a thumping percussion, 'If I Didn’t Have You' also features some stunning guitar work to accompany a fantastic vocal performance from Travis.

I can’t tease out what’s the most winning element of those three - the beat, the pickin’, and I don’t think Travis has ever sounded better than he does here, fully showcasing his impressive range while still maintaining full twang with every note. It’s understated, yet creative. And of course, Travis’ voice does a perfect job of hitting the low notes and ... let's say his version of high notes. Moreover, the song is light and infectiously fun - a great record that would still sound fresh today -


Travis may be most associated with the eighties, but some of his best singles came out in the nineties. 'Look Heart, No Hands' written by top Nashville writer Trey Bruce and former Amazing Rhythm Aces member Russell Smith, was released in late 1992 as the only single for his "Greatest Hits, Volume Two" compilation. Travis scored another big # 1 hit in early 1993 with this mid-tempo track, which compares falling in love to riding a bike downhill without holding on to the handlebars - but don't be fooled by that unlikely seeming simile. This is one of the best love songs of that decade, connecting the feelings of invincibility from the days of youth to the safety and security created by finding your soul mate.

It’s a bit dated now, but the image of riding a bike with that fearlessness - “... tennis shoes up on the handlebars / paying no mind to the passing cars ...” resonates with my country raised youth. Travis sings it beautifully, with nuance and restraint. The romantic ode then paints a heartfelt picture of what true love looks like - “No chains, no strings, no fences, no walls / No net, just you to catch me when I fall / Look heart, no hands / ... No doubts. No fears / Just like when you are here ...” -


'An Old Pair Of Shoes', written by Jerry Foster, Art Masters and Johnny Morris, was released in 1993 as the 2nd single from his "Greatest Hits, Volume One" compilation album. The song only reached #21, but I reckon it worthy of inclusion here. As we already know, Travis can turn out a good self-pitying song with the best of them. Using an old pair of shoes as his metaphor for feeling unimportant, he laments -
"... You've always been my one and only love / It ain't no easy thing to give you up / Looking back I'm feeling like /
There's nothing left to lose / This time I may just walk out on you / 'Cause I'm feeling like an old pair of shoes ..." -


Randy Travis had kept a fairly low profile on radio since 'Look Heart, No Hands” went # 1 back in early 1993. After
'An Old Pair of Shoes' peaked outside the Top 20, he turned his focus to his TV Western movie Wind in the Wire and its accompanying soundtrack. Travis' 8th studio album, released in 1993, the western themed "Wind In The Wire" was a side project, recorded to accompany the made-for-TV film of the same title, in which Travis appeared. It is, for the most part, a collection of cowboy and western-themed songs, totally non-commercial in its approach and as such, was mostly shunned by country radio and thus the charts. It was the first Travis album since his debut not to earn platinum or gold status and the first that failed to produce any Top 40 hits. It was also his first release without longtime producer Kyle Lehning, but instead by Steve Gibson. The album is in large part, a Travis love tribute to the singing cowboys and one can easily imagine Gene Autry or Roy Rogers singing many of the songs. Most of the tunes have a traditional Western sound, though only one 'The Old Chisolm Trail' is actually a vintage song.

The album's two singles - 'Cowboy Boogie' and the title track both failed to make the Top 40, peaking at #46 and #65 respectively in 1993, making this the first album of Travis's career not to produce any Top 40 hits in the U.S. 'Cowboy Boogie"', however, was a #10 in Canada, where Travis was always proportionately more popular than in his homeland. By the time "Wind In The Wire" was released, Travis had been absent from the radio airwaves for a while, and with Garth mania at its peak, a collection of vintage sounding cowboy tunes wasn’t what radio programmers wanted. Although Travis rebounded commercially with his next album, 1994’s "This Is Me", he never again achieved the level of success that he’d enjoyed up to this point.

Travis took longer to make his next album, "This is Me", than any of his studio sets to date, taking the time to find the best material, and radio responded warmly to his return. In 1994, Travis finally released his 9th studio album, "This Is Me", his first really commercial studio album after his pair of greatest-hits albums and his vanity "Wind In The Wire" project.

Travis shows that while he may have been takin' care of other business, his talent hadn't gone anywhere, proving his previous album was just a brief sidestep into a passion project rather than a full-fledged remodelling of his formula. He returns to his honky tonk roots, kicking the album off with a bang on 'Honky Tonk Side of Town', co-written by Jerry Phillips and Troy Seals. It exploits all of Travis' strengths in one song, from its shuffling swinging honky tonk blues melody to his shifting and rolling vocal inflections to the burning guitars, singing fiddles and Pig Robbins' unmistakable hot piano licks -


'Honky Tonk Side Of Town' is only a small taste of the 'This Is Me' album - it wasn't even released as a single! The best of this album - including one of Travis' finest songs - will come tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
In the early 1990s, country music, led by Garth Brooks and including such as Clint Black and Travis Tritt followed the path that the “New Traditionalists” such as George Strait, Reba McEntire and Randy Travis in particular had blazed. Perhaps some of the reasons for Travis' focus on a second career was because the New Country sound that broke in 1989 started gaining wild popularity in the early 1990's. Eventually these younger artists hurt Travis’ popularity, but he was still taking hits high into the charts deep into the nineties when he started an acting career. Travis first took a minor role in an episode of the western Matlock in 1992, a move which inspired him to continue acting.

Casting directors found Travis' chiseled features made him suitable for roles as either stoic lawmen or granite-jawed criminals and he thus appeared in more than 20 feature films. While most of Travis' early roles were westerns, including a starring lead in Dead Man’s Revenge in 1994, Travis moved beyond this genre with A Holiday to Remember in 1995 and Steel Chariots in 1997, The Rainmaker with Matt Damon and the 1998 movie Black Dog with Patrick Swayze, playing a country music singer (so all he had to do ... was act naturally). He also appeared in several top rating TV shows such as Frasier and Touched By an Angel.

Along the way, Travis acted in the 1994 gritty romantic drama (yes it's both gritty and romantic) At Risk, playing a homeless man who watches two of his friends waste away with AIDS. It was a pretty brave undertaking for a man whose publicist had already had to fax press releases all over the country to assure the media that he was just taking an extended break from touring after over 8 years of non-stop touring and recording - because word had gotten around again that there would be no tour in 1993 and possibly even ’94 because Travis had AIDS. The rumour was that Travis had gone to his home in Maui to die. Anyway, Travis, with no AIDS, lived and the rumour died after he returned to recording - so let's see what he's got for us from 1994, when he didn't die.

'Before You Kill Us All', written by Max T. Barnes and Keith Follesé, was released in 1994 as the lead-off single from his "This Is Me" album. It peaked at # 2 in both the U.S and Canada. Remember back 2 days when I wrote about 'Hard Rock Bottom of My Heart' and complimented Travis' ability to make sympathetic characters out of lousy spouses? This is the lighthearted variation on that skill of his, as he gives the father of all guilt trips to his departed lover.

Travis goes to extremes to show how everything falls apart when she’s gone. He accepts the blame, mind you. But come on, honey, everything is going to die, including the plants, the fish, the dog and the cat. You wouldn’t think this could be stretched out to an entire song, but the songwriters pull it off and I can’t help but smile at the sheer audacity of it all. The plants are dying, the dog won’t eat and the cat’s down to just 3 more lives. So yeah, he takes the blame for the breakup ... but doesn’t really. To make the song even better, the production is awesomely quirky. You hope for her to come back and yet understand why she had to leave at the same time -he’s the ultimate lovable louse -
“... You’ve turned us all into nervous wrecks / We just sit around wondering who’s gonna be next /
I know I had it coming / And its all my fault /But baby come back ...” -


'Whisper My Name' fully engages the spiritual side of Travis, which would become a bigger part of his public persona in his later years as a recording artist. Written by Trey Bruce, it was released in 1994 as the 2nd single from his "This Is Me" album and went all the way to become his 15th # 1 hit in the U.S. and his 19th # 1 in Canada.

The gospel-tinged hit, its lyrics loaded with mood-setting metaphors, finds a greater purpose and meaning embedded in the simple act of the woman he love whispering his name. It's a story of acceptance without harsh judgment. True to the lyric, the song is performed in an understated way, with Travis often singing barely above a whisper, especially on the verses. The backing vocals from Verlon Thompson, Darrell Scott, and Suzy Ragsdale also helps to set the tune apart -
"... Beating softly against the waves / Fell a sound of an early morning rain
And though the lightin' and thunder came / I still heard you whisper my name ..." -

The chart topping 'Whisper My Name' felt like the moment when Travis fully transitioned from young New Traditionalist star to an elder statesman of the genre, despite him still being, at age 35, still pretty young himself in 1994. But this time, he was a veteran compared to most of the artists on the radio, and this mature and purposeful record distinguished him from the pack as such.

'This Is Me' written by Tom Shapiro and Thom McHugh, was released in 1994 as the third single and title track from the album. The song reached # 5 in the U.S. but once again he topped the Canadian chart, providing Travis the distinction of achieving his 20th # 1 Canadian hit. Here is a stately country ballad, showing the tender side of a relationship where asking a loved one about that person’s problems is sometimes just as complex as asking for help. The opening lines cut right to the heart of the matter -
"Lately I get a feeling / There’s a feeling that you’re holding in / Why do you keep your distance /
As close as we’ve been? / Do you think your silence is saying / “There ain’t nothin’ wrong with you”? /
This is me / You’re not talking to ..." -


'The Box', co-written by Travis with Buck Moore was released in 1995 as the 4th and final single from his "This Is Me" album. It reached # 7 in the U.S. Before its release, it was the b-side to the album's first single, 'Before You Kill Us All'. This was the album's only song Travis had a hand in writing, but his contribution on 'The Box' demonstrates both knowledge of and a respect for traditional storytellers like Merle Haggard (# 497=502) and Tom T. Hall (# 611-617). Back at Travis' introduction post (#1,229), I described his relationship with his father as "complicated" and added a few details. I can't help but think Travis' own experience had some influence on the lyrics here.

Here, the singer, while rummaging through his old man’s personal belongings after he passed away, discovers the gentle and kind side of a father he saw as cold and unapproachable. At first just another easy emotional target - a son finding his dead father’s stash of personal mementos - 'The Box' is such a gem of understatement that by the time Travis gets to the chorus, he’s written an entire volume on the confusing roles of husbands and fathers -
”... We all thought his heart was made of solid rock / But that was long before we found the box ...” -


"This Is Me", the 1994 follow-up album to the side-project western themed "Wind In the Wire", revived Travis' career, with four Top 10 hits, three in the Top 5, including the chart-topping ‘Whisper My Name’. His next album, released in 1996, continues his recent upswing by focusing on the no-frills honky tonk that he does best. The album's title "Full Circle" suggests his intention to return to his hardcore roots. For the most part, he succeeded.

Travis' 10th studio album, 1996's "Full Circle", kicks off with the driving (pun intended), uptempo opener ‘Highway Junkie’, written by blue-collar singer-songwriter Chris Knight with Sam and Annie Tate. It portrays a trucker using his focus on life on the road to get over heartbreak against a muscular beat, a rootsy honky-tonk sound and the lyrical theme of the road as respite for life's troubles are pure country -


'Highway Junkie' wasn't released as a single - I just thought it was time for another country trucker song, having not had one for a while, and I enjoyed this one enough to include it here. As for the songs from the "Full Circle" album that were released as singles - these will wait until tomorrow.
 
Randy Travis may be rated as one the finest country vocalist of the last 40 years. It's been observed that he was fortunate to have had a natural rich resonance to his baritone voice, even in his normal conversations such as media interviews. His voice also helped his acting career. But as for his all-important singing, his vowel-stretching honky-tonk moan is rooted in the style of country music's most influential country vocalists - Lefty Frizzell (refer way back to post # 216) where I commented on Lefty's immense and lasting influence) with nods to George Jones (# 405-412) and Merle Haggard (# 497-502) - both who were devotees of Lefty. Travis couldn't have chosen better for country vocal role-models. Travis, with his own rich vocal subtlety places him above the rest of his country music contemporaries and in the company of the greats.

Yesterday ended with the opening track of Travis' 1996 album, "Full Circle" (the last song of the previous post). Surprisingly, though, this album was a commercial disappointment, with none of the singles doing at all well. It was produced as usual by Kyle Lehning, but the sound is a little fuller than on their previous work together. Travis' resonant baritone is still at its best, the material is generally high quality and it was deservedly well received by the critics. Deservedly, as Travis and his songs are still top class. But country radio had moved on to the new country sound - and, more worryingly, pop-country was starting to emerge from its decade long banishment back into country radio. All to put it another way - Travis, at age 37 and more than a decade as one of the major chart topping artists, along with his traditional honky Tonk sound, were finally going out of fashion.

The "Full Circle" album includes a number of honky-tonk ballads allowing Travis to stretch out and show off the richness of his vocal prowess. Travis co-wrote 3 of the better ballads but best of all is the album's first single, the classic-sounding 'Are We In Trouble Now', which faltered in the chart at # 24. Was a well-written ballad about falling in love which was written by British rock guitarist Mark Knopfler (Knofler has had a longstanding interest in country music and has recorded albums with Chet Atkins (# 356) and Emmylou Harris (mentioned in post # 873). Travis gives this a sensitive, tender delivery worthy of a much bigger hit -


The "Full Circle" album opener was ‘Highway Junkie’, the last song in yesterday's post. Its lyrics name-checks Roger Miller and his classic ‘King Of The Road’ (# 479) -
"... So I went to call up Elvis / and roger miller grabbed the phone /
He said drive that 18 wheeler / boy, you're the king of the road ...".

Quite fittingly, later in the album, there is a loping cover of that very song, which also appeared on the soundtrack of the movie Traveller, a 1997 American crime comedy-drama film 'King Of The Road'. Travis was among the artists who contributed cover versions of classic country songs to this album. The Roger Miller original stuns through Travis’s fresh interpretation (though I'll avoid going full-on heretical and foolishly declare it better than Miller's original). His precision as a vocalist is astounding here -


In mid-1997, Travis announced he had departed from Warner Bros due to disagreements over the promotion of "Full Circle" as well as concerns that the country music industry was beginning to move toward back country pop influences. The neo-traditionalist movement had run its course, having done its job of restoring traditional country music to the forefront, and Nashville was very much centred around Garth Brooks. Additionally, Lib Hatcher thought that Warner executives were not allowing her, Travis and his producer Kyle Lehning to have as much liberty on selecting singles as they had on previous albums.

Travis departed from Warner Bros thus, to become the flagship artist of the newly-formed DreamWorks Nashville in 1998. The move revitalised his career. "You And You Alone" was his first collection for the fledgling label. Hoping to rejuvenate his flagging career, he put together a new production team consisting of himself, Byron Gallimore and James Stroud, marking only the second time in his career he worked without Kyle Lehning. The result was a slightly more contemporary, definitely more radio-friendly collection of songs - but still true to the traditions of country music.

The uptempo “Out Of My Bones”, written by Gary Burr, Robin Lerner, and Sharon Vaughn, was released as an advance single from the "You and You Alone" album in 1998. It found Travis sounding more energetic than he had in quite some time, quickly re-establishing himself on country radio. It returned Travis to the Top 10 for the first time since 1995’s 'The Box', missing top spot by a whisker, peaking at #2 in the U.S., but becoming yet another that went all the way to # 1 in Canada - his 21st Canadian chart topper, showing, perhaps, their superior taste in authentic country music

'Out of My Bones', telling the tale of a man’s vain attempts to rid himself of the memory of his ex, is one of the best singles that Travis ever released. The fiddle work is phenomenal, it’s lyrically strong, and Travis gives a spectacular vocal performance, breaking new musical ground that pushes his artistry forward. Travis never stopped releasing quality material, but you could definitely hear the influence of the younger traditionalists of the nineties, with their more aggressive production. On 'Out of My Bones', Travis sounds more vital and urgent than he had in years, as he reclaimed his rightful place on the genre’s A-list songs -


'The Hole', written by Skip Ewing and James Dean Hicks, was released in 1998 as the 2nd single from his "You and You Alone" album. It peaked at # 9 on the u.S. chart and # 4 in Canada in 1998. Here we have a song, again superbly delivered by Travis, with impeccable timing, that's both funny yet simultaneously having a serious point. The song's meaning here is clear - a person's behaviour or action, whatever it may be, is causing them to get ever further into trouble - and unless he/she changes their ways, to climb out of the metaphorical hole they've dug for themselves, they're only going to dig down further into the mire. So it's a cautionary tale about self-destructive behaviour, where futile efforts to escape a bad situation only make it worse.

Now my theory, based on extensive personal experience, is that all of us, everyone, have dug holes for themselves that they've had trouble getting out of. I sure as hell know I've dug more than a few for myself over the years. In fact, I've dug one right here with this crazy country music history series. I've dug this hole far deeper than I ever first intended - and I still can't find my way out! -


'Spirit of a Boy, Wisdom of a Man', written by Trey Bruce and Glen Burtnik, was first recorded by Mark Collie on his 1995 "Tennessee Plates" album, but it just sounds like it was written with Travis in mind. Released in 1998 as the 3rd single from the "You and You Alone" album, like 'Out Of My Bones', “Spirit of A Boy' just missed topping the chart, levelling out at #2 in the U.S. and, more surprisingly, "only" # 7 in Canada. More contemporary than most of Travis' singles, it may have been an acknowledgement of the changing tides at country radio, which had started shifting back towards pop.

It’s a sophisticated, nuanced, mature song, already an impressive feat of storytelling songwriting - written in such a way, the focus is on the tension present as we make major life decisions. Collie's original version captures the youthful perspective, but Travis' genius cover sounds more like the wise man, embodying the song's central conflict. Travis is able to communicate both sides of the struggle with empathy and without judgment. It’s a hell of a balancing act, given we never learn for sure if it's the boy or the man that wins - though it’s heavily implied that the latter is victorious.

This showed there was still a window of opportunity in 1998 for a veteran artist (a veteran at age 39!) to release an evocative, intelligent song that doesn’t give the listener an easy resolution for the dilemmas it presents. As I've said a few times in this history, there is, or at least should be, always room for adults at the true, authentic country music table -


Today's quota, takes Travis' career up to 1998, with another critically acclaimed album, "You and You Alone". This is more proof to me that many of his nineties work was every bit as good as his more celebrated eighties albums. It narrowly missed on delivering two more U.S.# 1 hits, but, in hindsight, it marked the end of an era for Travis - as we shall see tomorrow. His career will take a sharp turn - but not without delivering a totally unexpected, very big explanation mark to his chart-topping career.

Then will follow much more that goes beyond his music.

But before I sign off today, I thought I'd mention, given Travis' sustained commercial success in North America, where all the money went - the short answer being mostly on real estate. Yesterday and the day before, I mentioned Travis had two homes in the Hawaiian Island of Maui - a popular island real estate location for many movie and TV stars, successful musicians (including Willie Nelson) and the like. But I didn't mean to imply that Maui was his principal p,ace of residence. It was briefly his "home" as such over 1991 when Travis and his wife Lib took the extended break and then married, as outlined yesterday, but otherwise, it was more a seasonal holiday retreat (why he had two there I don't know).

Travis and his wife Lib had a mansion and small farm in Ashland, 30 minutes out of Nashville CBD, where Travis kept his horses. By c2000, they had acquired other properties, including several in rural or semi-rural areas of Texas, where Travis, a keen horse rider since childhood, liked to hang out with his horses. The rest I'll leave for tomorrow, which will - sort of - conclude the career of the country traditionalist icon, Rany Travis.
 
Last edited:
Today cover the final part of the neo-traditional giant, Randy Travis career from 1999 on. It's an unusual post in that it has two songs after Travis had switched from mainstream country (with a disappointing final single), one being a classic standard, the other being one of his 3 biggest classic hits. We then have a detailed but what I think is a fascinating story on Travis and his wife at the time, Lib Hatcher - enough to fill a double album of country sings and also. Sets up what's still to come.

Today's music starts in 1999 with the album’s 4th single, 'There's A Stranger In My Mirror', written by Kim Williams and the great Skip Ewing. This is decidedly pure country - the sound a throwback to Travis' classic 'Storms of Life' days, but despite being clearly - for me - the best track on the album, it was too pure country for a lot of country radio that by the end of the millennium, was swinging back to pop-country, so this stalled at #16 in 1999 and unfortunately marked the beginning of Travis' declining chart performance -


The "You And You Alone" album, spawning 3 Top 10 hits, 2 of which just missed top spot, peaking at # 2, reversed Travis' declining fortunes at country radio, but only temporarily. It failed to garner the massive sales he’d enjoyed for his first 5 albums of his major label career. Travis teamed up with Gallimore and Stroud one more time for 1999’s "A Man Ain’t Made Of Stone" - but this was a critical and commercial failure. His second and last effort for DreamWorks was uninspired and over-produced and fell pretty flat both artistically and commercially.

The overly slick production and pop-rock elements diluted Travis' traditional country sound, stripping the emotion from his songs. For the first time in his career, Travis seemed not be invested in the songs - his vocal delivery lacked its usual emotion and sincerity. He was reading the lines and just going through the paces, like as if the songs had no meaning to Travis. It produced a Top 20 hit in its title track, but the 3 other singles all failed to make Top 40. 'A Man Ain't Made Of Stone' written by Gary Burr, Robin Lerner, and Franne Golde was released in 1999 as the lead single and title track from the album. It reached # 16, but surely that had to be based on past reputation. I'm only including it here because it's the best song from the album - and yet the worst Travis song here over the last week. The chorus on this grates me, but see what you think -


Shortly after the disappointing "A Man Ain’t Made Of Stone" album Travis was dropped from the DreamWorks Nashville roster. He then went and did what many country artists have done over the decades (not that I've featured it much at all) - turn to Gospel music. Travis was still a major concert draw-card but as the radio hits began to taper off, he began turning his focus towards more faith-based music. Though this hastened country radio falling out of favor with Travis, it earned him a new audience in the Gospel market (and keep in mind, this "niche" U.S. market is larger than the whole Australian music market) and it was where Randy’s heart was as someone who’d battled demons in his youth and overcome them to find success in his life. And Travis found more success than anyone could've predicted in this market.

Travis had actually begun working with his long time producer and friend, Kyle Lehning on a gospel music album while he was still with Warner. For his first Gospel album, other than a cover of 'Amazing Grace', the 2 pintentionally sought to include original content. Travis finished the tracks when he was no longer on a record label. Through a connection Lehning had with Word Records, Travis was signed to that label, which specialises in Gospel in late 2000 and released the gospel album, titled "Inspirational Journey". Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter provided guest vocals on 'The Carpenter', co-written by Travis. Kenny Chesney sang duet vocals on 'Baptism' - the 2 had previously recorded the song together for Chesney's 1999 "Everywhere We Go" album. Travis' first foray into Gospel album was, like his first country album back in 1986, an instant success, with his album winning 2 Dove Awards (the Gospel equivalent of a Grammy or CMA/ACM award) in 2001 - Bluegrass Album of the Year for the album itself, and Country Recorded Song of the Year for 'Baptism'.

Travis then astonished everyone - probably even including himself - by having a mainstream country hit from his follow-up Gospel album (which may be more accurately labelled as Christian Country music). And it wasn't just a hit, but a runaway # 1 hit, one of the 3 biggest and enduring hits of his career, sitting alongside his 2 other all-time classics, 'Forever and Ever, Amen' and 'On The Other Hand. No-one saw it coming at this stage in career.

The "Inspirational Journey" album had done sufficiently well for Travis to follow it up with another, which was to do rather better. But 2002’s "Rise And Shine" is famous for the inclusion of Travis' last solo hit - and a huge hit at that - the outstanding, beautifully written story song penned by Doug Johnson and Kim Williams and masterfully interpreted by Travis - ‘Three Wooden Crosses’. His older, wiser delivery suited the compelling story. Coupling impeccable storytelling and emotion-packed lyrics, it tells the tale of a farmer, teacher, preacher and prostitute involved in a multi-fatality road crash. As the best written country songs do, it has a surprising plot twist providing both a tear-jerking ending while teaching an invaluable life lesson, applicable to believers and non-believers alike -
"... it's not what you take when you leave this world behind you / it's what you leave behind you when you go ..." -

'Three Wooden Crosses’ message of faith, redemption and leaving a legacy behind you was so universal, the single quickly made its way to mainstream radio and in 2002 it became Travis' first U.S. # 1 single since 1994. It earned Travis the CMA Award and the Dove Award for Song of the Year, while his "Rise And Shine" album sold astonishingly well for a Gospel album, becoming gold-certified.

Another landmark (in this case literally) was Travis and Lib moving into a new, immense mansion just outside Santa Fe, New Mexico. Built in 2002, the 220 acre property was designed for luxury and privacy. It boasted a massive 20,000 square feet of total living space, 10 fireplaces, a building disguised as a traditional Adobe chapel that housed a gym, shooting range, and a bowling alley. As well as his horses, it was also a home for a herd of pet bison. It became their main residence when not on tour or recording in Nashville.

The next song selection is both a Gospel and Bluegrass classic standard and that's why I've included here - for I don't think I have previously. Amongst over a thousand covers, some of the more prominent have been Hank Williams, The Stanley Brothers (I should've - but didn't - include his version in his history piece), George Jones, Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch, Tyler Booth and even Bob Marley did a reggae version. Bluegrass groups sometimes play it just as an instrumental, with the instruments taking solo turns for the verses (mandolin, lead guitar, banjo, fiddle, dobro), then all together fora big final verse. Travis' bluegrass soaked version provides the perfect excuse to finally have this classics standard as part of this history.

After the enormous success of 'Three Wooden Crosses' along with the "Inspirational Journey" album in 2002, Travis brought out his next Gospel album, ”Worship & Faith" in 2003. It's a reverently sung collection of hymns, traditional spiritual songs and one or two modern worship songs, given an all-acoustic country bluegrass production. It did well, selling gold again. But the song which particularly stands out is ‘I’ll Fly Away’ thanks to Joy Lynn White’s distinctive harmonies - and, of course, all that bluegrass -


Travis spent the next 5 years recording 4 more albums of religious music, releasing a total of 7 Gospel albums from 2000 to 2008. By 2010, mainstream country music had long moved on from the 50 y.o. Travis, as it commonly does with aging stars. However he made the transition from radio star to a living legend smoothly, revered wherever he went and continued to draw large crowds on his frequent tours in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In 2011, in honour of his 25th anniversary in recording country music, Travis produced his "Anniversary Celebration", which included duets with the likes of Alan Jackson, Kenny Chesney, Willie Nelson, Tim McGraw, and Carrie Underwood. But while the 25th anniversary of his career was being celebrated, his personal life was falling apart.

The other day, I promised more, so here's a not so brief outline (I've gone into far more detail than I've ever had before on this fascinating saga) of Randy Travis and his wife Lib Hatcher, which transfixed the country music world - though the full effects of this story on Travis will be held over to tomorrow.

What seemed like a groundbreaking love story between Travis and Lib Hatcher wasn't always smooth. From reading transcript and various media interviews done when his career was active, Travis came across as a very nice, genuine person but not a very strong character, easily guided by his ever-present wife, the strong-willed, no-nonsense Lib Hatcher, who was in many respects the driver of his career. She was always present and actively involved herself in his media interviews. One Travis quote, from 1997, is telling - “Nobody runs me, but Lib runs the business and she’s done a hell of a job...”

But even as she helped Travis catapult into stardom, it is clear Lib Hatcher took undue advantage of him, viewing his success as her own. Indeed, when Lib first took control of Travis' life and affairs, and (as Travis later revealed in his autobiography) started a sexual relationship before she she left her husband, he was still a minor, aged 17 while she was 18 years his senior at age 35. If this wasn't illegal in Tennessee at the time, it most certainly is now and has been for many years.

Lib was also, from a court-ordered legal standpoint (as outlined in # 1,229), essentially Travis' mother, even as their sexual relationship developed. This dynamic is key to understanding how the interconnection between Travis and Lib Hatcher matured and developed over the next many years. Travis' father, Harold, saw how Lib was gaining control over Travis - in more ways than one - and tried to intervene, but Lib banned Harold from her Country Music USA club in Charlotte after he showed up once and caused a scene, keeping him away from Travis for the years to come.

Throughout their relationship, and now their marriage, Lib Hatcher controlled the social life of Travis with an iron fist. He was disallowed to drink, or really socialise at all if Lib wasn’t around, even with other industry professionals. Lib knew a,l about Travis' wild teen past, including the drinking, the drug-taking, multiple DUI arrests and other run-in’s with the law and kept her domineering, motherly role in Randy’s life even as he matured into his thirties and forties. And Travis, who knew he was deeply indebted to Lib for the success in his career, went along with it.

At times Lib undermined Travis, both controlling him by convincing everyone he had a number of allergies (he didn’t), and arguing with business contacts. On one occasion she had something close to a standup fight with George Jones’s wife Nancy (the latter coming off better). So in some ways, despite all his stardom, Travis was something of a man-child, both mothered and dominated by the much older, ever present Lib.

In 2009, when Travis, along with Lib, was touring Northern Ireland, they hired a local 21 y.o. driver named Eamonn McCrystal to take them to and from shows and other places during their 12-day trip. It turns out Eamonn was also an aspiring pop artist, and slipped Lib a copy of a live album he’d recorded. Over the span of the Irish tour, Lib became enamoured with Eamonn, eventually signing him to a management deal, and convincing him to move to the U.S.

Over the next few months, McCrystal began to be interjected into the lives of Travis and Lib, both personally and professionally. Lib insisted Eamonn perform a few songs in the middle of Travis' shows, even though Eamonn’s bland pop music didn’t fit with what Travis' audience desired at all. Eamonn moved in with Randy and Lib, and would regularly eat meals with the couple ... eerily similar to how Lib first took in the 17 y.o. Travis under the nose of ner first husband. Even though the marriage between Travis and Lib was always a bit rocky, one thing they enjoyed together was going on movie dates. McCrystal even accompanied the pair on these! It was clear Lib saw McCrystal as her next big project, even if he failed to find major traction in his career despite Lib promoting him at every turn.

Lib even made Randy record a song with McCrystal, but finally, after more than 20 years of obedience, Travis put his foot down, refusing to allow McCrystal to come out and perform at one of his shows. The social media-savvy P.O.S. Eamonn took to the burgeoning medium of Facebook to complain, making Travis, who’d never even heard of Facebook, out as the villain! Soon, the regularly-rocky relationship between Travis and Lib began to unravel and Travis - who’d remained sober ever since Lib had become his legal guardian when he was 17, began taking swigs of wine. It wasn’t just his way to escape, it was Travis way of finally exerting his freedom against Lib who had controlled him for so many years.

Later in 2009, the house manager, Dolores, of the massive estate Travis and Lib owned in Santa Fe, New Mexico, found a damning email between Lib and Eamonn that made it clear they had kindled a romantic relationship behind Randy’s back. Dolores confronted Lib about the matter, telling her she should be honest with Travis, but Lib refused, instead firing her and then placing a gag order on Dolores so she couldn’t tell Travis about the relationship herself. Similar to how the predatory Lib had groomed 17 y.o. Travis, the same thing was now be happening with 21 y.o. Eamonn. Lib was age 68 (but didn't look a day over 60).

In 2010, even though Lib Hatcher has always been at all of Randy’s gigs and by his side most all of the time, she was MIA when Travis played a show at Billy Bob’s Texas in Fort Worth (a must visit place). Instead Lib was in Mississippi touring around with McCrystal. Travis felt alone and lost and began to confide in a friend of his named Mary Davis, who he had first met Mary in the early 90’s. Mary was the sister of Stubbs Davis, who was a Western shirt designer in Dallas. They met because Stubbs Davis made many of Travis' stage shirts. Mary happened to be at that Billy Bob’s Texas gig, observed that Travis was not his usual self and reached out.

Soon a close friendship, and eventually a relationship, developed between Travis and Mary. At this point, they were both still officially married to other people, even if both relationships were on their last legs. Also at the time, Travis still didn't know for sure that Lib was cheating on him with McCrystal, since Dolores, the had been gag ordered, even though Travis had his suspicions, as he had with other men who’d moved in and out of Lib’s life over the years, including massage therapists and others in Lib’s orbit.

Does it feel like this situation is getting like a whole load of cheating honky songs? Well it got even messier when Mary Davis gave Randy Travis his own mobile phone as a gift. That’s right, Lib even refused to allow Randy to own his own phone! And in 2010 at the age of 51, Travis finally received a mobile phone of his own. When Lib heard about it, she sent Travis the same model phone, but just on her plan, and told him to use her phone instead. After Travis' business manager got a sinking suspicion that either the phone or Travis' bus were bugged - since Lib would frequently call asking questions each time Randy and the business manager talked - sure enough, a search of the bus turned up a hidden camera and listening device Lib was using to spy on Travis!

Travis believed it was McCrystal who installed the surveillance equipment, calling the pop singer a “gadget guy,” but that’s never been confirmed. What was confirmed later is that the day before Travis and his new love interest Mary Davis met in Oklahoma and officially sparked off their relationship, Lib Hatcher had already put a condominium in Nashville under contract for herself and McCrystal, unbeknownst to Travis.

Obviously, the marriage between Travis and Lib couldn'tlast, and he filed for divorce in 2010. It was finalised that same year. Strangely though - and partially due to the fact both their personal and business affairs were so intrically intertwined - Travis retained Lib as his manager even after the divorce. Even though it was really Travis, as the only earner, doing Lib the favour, she still tried to squeeze extra concessions from him. Despite the regular industry rate being 15%, Lib had always made 25% off of Travis. Of course, when they were a couple, most of the money was going to the same place anyway. But after the divorce, Lib tried to get Travis to agree to a 33% cut for her, which he almost agreed to just to amicably move forward, before they eventually decided to go back to the already-inflated rate of 25%.

During the divorce, other financial irregularities came up. For example, expenses tied to the scoundrel, Eamonn McCrystal’s career - like the leasing of his tour bus - were charged to Travis' accounts. Business dealings in Lib’s name were accounted as being in the black, while most in Travis' name were found to be losing money. Lib disallowed Travis from stepping foot onto their immense, luxury, New Mexico property, which was his primary residence and instead sent his belongings to him in poorly-packed boxes, with many of his awards and memorabilia being damaged or destroyed in the process. This led to further tension that saw Travis finally fire Lib as his manager in August 2011.

What followed was one of the most nastiest, vicious post-divorce legal wrangling, with both sides suing and counter suing. ... and then things got really bad, and then much much worse, for Randy Travis - but, even as his life became a constant struggle, his standing amongst his peers in the country music world was never greater - but that's another story or two, for tomorrow.

Tomorrow's post will be the most controversial in this whole history series - even more so than the piece of David Allan Coe (post # 833) filth - which came with a strong warning about the contents within. This post won't have any sex, nudity, pr0n, swearing or smut of any kind, nor is it defamatory of anyone or political. But it's one I'm posting with trepidation and mixed feelings.
 
Last edited:
So today is my most controversial post in this whole series - though you might think it much ado about nothing once you get to the controversial part below, being today's one and only song. For now, we continue on from yesterday, with Travis' divorce, now regarded as the most nasty in Nashville. I'll omit the details, and just say that Lib, thanks to her business acumen and deeper pockets to afford better lawyers compared to Travis' naivety and limited resources, came out on top, taking the ransoms share of the estate, including Travis' beloved New Mexican ranch and mansion.

Travis, helped by his new partner, Mary Davis, tried to get a clear accounting of all of his financial assets, including the investments taken out from all the millions of dollars he’d made over the years. After all, he’d sold some 25 million records, played countless concerts and was one of the biggest concert draws in country music for years. But Travis found out all the investment accounts were gone. Since Lib had control over everything as his manager, all the assets had been sold off or moved into other accounts. Lib even absconded with all of the couple’s frequent flyer miles, using them to fly herself and the dirty, deceitful young Irish rat, Eamonn McCrystal, to Ireland for Christmas.

Lib, with her fortune built on the back of Travis' success (and TBF, he would most probably never have found any success without her predatory intervention and nous), went on to become a producer and executive producer in the TV and film world, using her wealth to bankroll projects, especially (and ironically) in the realm of faith-based programming - something she had dabbled in while still married to Travis, though it picked up steam since then, with some 20-plus projects where Lib is cited in the credits being produced since 2014 to 2020, often with the last name “Travis” as opposed to “Hatcher.” Lib Hatcher’s net worth is estimated at over $30 million.

As for Travis, who at the height of his career was said to be worth near $32 million - his net worth is estimated to be just the value of his sole surviving house, in the aftermath of his divorce from Lib and his medical issues. From the proceeds of his divorce settlement, he purchased a condominium (as Americans call it) in Nashville's most exclusive suburb, Belle Meade, where all the big stars were to be found. He also purchased Chrysalis Ranch, a fancy spread outside the small Texas town of Tioga, 90 km's North of Dallas. He has since had to sell both properties and buy a modest rural Texas home as his financial position worsened for the reasons outlined below.

While lawyers battled for Travis and Hatcher, Travis experienced a slew of personal and health problems. In typical country music fashion, the divorce also led Travis back into old habits that Lib's firm hand had kept in check for over 3 decades -excessive drinking and associated drug abuse and things soon spiralled out of control. In early 2012, Travis was now living on his Texan ranch, outside Tioga. Now, Tioga is about 35 km's away from the town of Sanger, and that's where Travis had a very boozy run-in with the law.

A Sanger police officer was doing his rounds at about 1:30 AM on the morning after the Super Bowl, when he noticed a suspicious vehicle parked outside a Church. When the officer went to investigate, he found Travis behind the wheel, smelling significantly of alcohol and with an open wine bottle in the passenger's seat. Travis slurred his words and stumbled while exiting his car, saying he'd had an argument with his girlfriend and was trying to make his way home and he already thought he was in Tioga. He was out by 35 kilometres.

All these clues led Travis to be arrested and booked for public intoxication. He was held for several hours in the county jail - the safety protocol for when someone is discovered drunk in public - and ultimately released around 8 AM. That same day, Travis released an explanatory statement - "I apologise for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl. I'm committed to being responsible and accountable, and apologise for my actions."
His long time producer and friend, Kyle Lehning and the great George Jones both tried to tell Travis he was drinking too much. When the likes of George Jones, who knew all about the debilitating effects of way too much booze and cocaine - but had been sober since a car crash in 1999 frightened the life out of him, tells you you have a drinking problem – you really, really do.

But worse was to happen - 6 months later in 2012, Travis went to his regular convenience store in Tioga and asked for cigarettes. It was a normal exchange - normal, that is, except that Travis was naked. When the shop anssistant asked him how he planned to pay for his smokes - he didn't have a wallet or anything at all on him - Travis got angry and left. The cashier called 911 to report the incident, and dispatch soon thereafter fielded another call about a nude man, this time lying by the side of the road. Officers arrived to find Travis star bruised, smelling of alcohol, and not far from where a totalled classic '68 Pontiac had crashed into construction barricades. After Travis refused field sobriety tests, police told him they'd have to take him in, at which point he threatened to kill them all. After posting bond of $21,500, Travis was released from jail the next morning.

In addition to the police mugshot, showing a disheveled Travis sporting a black eye, a Video of the arrest was later made public, despite Travis' partner, Mary Davis-Travis, suing to prevent that from happening, citing an invasion of privacy. In 2019, in his memoir Forever and Ever, Amen, Travis claimed he actually hadn't consumed all that much alcohol at the time of the incident. But in addition to two glasses of wine, he'd also taken the sleep drug Ambien, which can result in extreme behavioural side effects.

All this was bad enough, but then things became really serious. In 2013, less than a year after a drug-and-alcohol related ordeal that left his classic car totalled and him wandering around a small Texas town naked, Travis endured a chain of increasingly awful and alarming medical events. He was in otherwise fine health until June 2013, when he contracted a viral upper respiratory illness, possibly contracted while inside an old abandoned building with loads of dust while shooting a movie. Before long, he was diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy, a heart muscle infection that can lead to permanent heart damage and can prove fatal.

It just got far, far worse for Travis. After being diagnosed with viral cardiomyopathy and recovering from a medical procedure to increase blood flow, he looked to be on the mend. But then he was suddenly struck with a massive stroke, required him to undergo urgent surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Doctors gave him a remote 1-2% chance of surviving and discovered that in addition to paralysis, the brain attack caused damage to the area of his brain controlling speech and language, leaving it mostly beyond repair. He was in a coma, on life-support in a critical condition after the surgery, for weeks that lengthened to months.

Doctors gave Travis' partner, Mary Davis, who stood beside Travis during his hospital stay, the option to turn off the life support. Mary recalled - “Even in his state, his semi-coma state, he squeezed my hand and he laid there and I just saw this tear that fell and it was one tear at a time … I just went back to the doctors and I said, ‘We’re fighting this. ... We were in the hospital for five and a half months. So many times, it was minute-to-minute, life or death. Was he gonna make it? Was he not? Good news, bad news, bad news, bad news, some good news, bad news, it went on for it seemed like eternity ..."

Even after Travis was eventually out of hospital, nearly 6 months after his medical crisis began, the road to recovery was long and extremely difficult. After 2 years of extensive rehab, Travis could finally walk, shower, and dress himself without assistance - but only with a lot of difficulty. Of course, his music career was halted in its tracks. The stroke left Travis with aphasia, a condition that left him barely able to utter a word and completely robbed him of the ability to sing.

All of these troubles came amid the backdrop of Travis continuing to attempt to settle his affairs with Lib Hatcher, which had not become any easier. With Randy no longer able to perform, they assumed he would be able to make a disability insurance claim. After all, Travis had been paying around $250,000 for insurance to cover most anything that could go wrong for many years throughout his career. But no such provision in his particular insurance plan existed, nor was he covered for the concerts he had to cancel because of his condition. As per his memoir - “This financial oversight - or perhaps wilful disregard or mishandling of my fiduciary affairs - was the first indication that my health issues were not going to be the only problem we faced.”

Then Travis and Mary tried to determine why he wasn’t receiving any royalty cheques for his music from his long-time label Warner Bros. After traveling to Nashville and meeting with the label’s execs, they explained to him that despite selling some 25 million records, he’d yet to recoup the advances against royalties that had been taken out in Travis' name by Lib. In other words, over the years, his royalty money had been used by Lib as a bank to draw against before the money had been actually made. And so unable to work due to the health issues, in financial straits already from the divorce from Lib, and with tonnes of unpaid medical bills tied to his treatment and rehabilitation, Travis actually owed money to his record label, not vice versa!

Mary Davis proved her steadfastness, loyalty and devotion by standing by and caring for Travis after his severe 2013 stroke. She tended to his personal and medical needs and advocated for his continued treatment. Despite the incredible hardships both physically, emotionally, and financially, Mary still married Travis in 2015 in a small, private ceremony. Travis wrote - “I was healthy, in fantastic physical condition and a highly successful country star when we fell in love. But she married me after I had been incapacitated by a stroke, knowing full well what she was getting herself into. That was a major commitment - a commitment of love".

In 2016, after great popular demand for some years by both the public and fellow musicians, Travis miraculous return to Nashville was saluted with a tearful standing ovation when Garth Brooks inducted him into the Country Music HoF - more on this below. Surprisingly, when Randy Travis was announced as an inductee to the HoFame in 2016, he and his wife Mary made sure to credit Lib Hatcher for the all work she had done in helping to forge Travis' career. In 2019, Travis and writer Ken Abraham documented the dramatic highs and lows of his life in a top selling autobiography titled Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith and Braving the Storms of Life, which has been the source of some of this history piece and quotations.

Now for the controversy. In May 2024, Travis dropped his first new recording of music in over a decade -

The release shocked the music world - for pretty much everyone knew that since his stroke, Travis could barely say a word, let alone sing. Yet here he was, seemingly with his own voice back. It sounded too good to be true - and of course it was. Immediately there was speculation that 'Where That Came From' was AI-generated. The next day it was confirmed the next day on a TV appearance that took fans behind the scenes of the making of the new single - one described as being AI assisted - so it’s not just a Chat GPT-generated song, or similar.

I thought I'd never post an AI generated - or in this case, assisted, song. Yet here we are! I still have mixed feelings about it, but, on the other hand (see what I did there) I must point out the song, written 5 years previously by real songwriters, John Sherrill and Scotty Emerick, isn’t exactly what you think of when you think of an AI-generated song. The backing is done by real musicians using real instruments, it was produced by Travis's long time producer and friend, Kyle Lehning and even the vocals were actually recorded by a real human singer. Then there's there's Travis' special circumstances to consider - his health condition, described above, and his financial needs, also outlined above.

The actual singer who recorded the original vocals is James Dupre, a former The Voice contestant. He also stands in for Travis on his tour dates, so he knows how to imitate Travis' vocal and his singing style more than anybody - but that wasn't enough. For this project, it had to be Travis' voice. So when it came to recreate Travis' distinctive baritone voice and singing style, producer Kyle Lehning turned to AI for help.

Warner Bros. isolated vocals from 45 of Travis' original tracks, stripping away the backing music, leaving only his voice, and sent the stems to London, where they trained the AI model to imitate Travis' vocals. After it was returned to Nashville, the stems were overlaid onto the track recorded by Dupre to create the . Producer Kyle Lehning felt the result, done instantly, was 80% - so not good enough to release.

There was a lot more of fine-tuning involved. Lehning and Travis went back in the studio and made sure everything sounded like Travis would’ve sounded - his inflections and his tones, his runs and everything. It took 11 months or so to get the track sounding like a proper Randy Travis song. Lehning said they had to go “... not just word by word, but syllable-by-syllable ...” to get the sound right, admitting that it freaked him out the first time he heard it come all together. I must admit I do like the result and the several YouTube choices have had about 15 million combined downloads over the last 12 months. So after all these considerations, see what you think.

Travis's has 16 singles reached # 1 in the U.S. and a further 6 reached # 2. He had even more success in Canada, racking up a remarkable 22 # 1 hits. His first 6 studio releases have all been certified platinum or higher, with the highest-certified being 1987's "Always & Forever", at 5× Platinum certification for shipments of 5 million copies. Four more studio albums have been certified gold, and his first two Greatest Hits packages are each certified platinum. As for awards, he has a truckload, too many to me tip them all, just the major ones - 10 ACM awards, 10 from the AMA, 5 (shortchanged) CMA's and 5 Grammys.

I'll conclude this marathon on one of my country heroes, Randy Travis, by going back to his 2016 induction into the Country Music HoF. In attendance were his devotees from the celebrated "class of '89" - Garth Brooks, Alan Jackson, Travis Twitters and Brad Paisley - who all cited Travis as their major inspiration

Alan Jackson, with whom Travis wrote several songs that were hits for both artists, performed “On The Other Hand,” while Brad Paisley gave the crowd an acoustic version of 'Forever And Ever Amen' (both songs were the CMA Song of the Year in 1986 and 1987 respectively). Closing out the Travis tribute was Garth Brooks, who showcased Travis’s ‘comeback’ hit, 'Three Wooden Crosses', also a CMA Song of the Year winner in 2003. Hand-picked by Travis to induct him, Brooks, who years before had subbed Travis as "the saviour of country music, told the crowd - “I’m going to do my best not to ‘fan girl’ right now,” but reminisced about how much he was inspired to traditional country music the first time he heard Travis' very first “1982” hit in 1986.

Travis' induction into the HoF was one that, according to Brooks, righted a wrong. In 2011, at his own induction, Brooks publicly lamented about entering a HoF without Travis. At Travis' induction, Brooks declared - “Today the world is spinning right. Never will you have to say ‘Randy Travis isn’t in the Hall of Fame' ever again. It’s long overdue and well-deserved. I would not be standing here … I would not be married to Miss Yearwood … I would not be in this town if it weren’t for Randy Travis …Tell me some other artist in some other genre ever in the history of mankind who has taken a format, turned it around back to where it was coming from, and made it bigger than it was. It’s never happened. It will never happen again.

Randy Travis' music and story is worthy of a movie - and apparently there may be one in the pipeline. But with this mini-book on Randy Travis just completed, it's time for me to sign off until next time ... which may be early next month.
 
I saw Sleepy LaBeef at Shenton Park Hotel sometime - must have been late 1980's. Not sure why I went other than having heard the presenter of a 1950's radio show talk him up - but there was hardly anyone else that turned up other than people all dressed up in the fashionable clothing of that era. They seemed like the kind of people you might see once in a while as a couple or a family dressed in the middle of a day out in a shopping mall wearing the same type of clothes - real devotees to the era and probably with a vintage car. I felt a little embarrassed for the lack of effort in what I was wearing, jeans and t-shirt probably, not that anyone commented as they were all lined up along the bar, standing or on the barstools chatting with each other not really facing towards the stage. Maybe that's the way they listened to the music - or maybe they were expecting the music to be purest rockabilly.

Sleepy LaBeef had already started his set when I got there and usually when you walk in there's a crowd of people around a stage but the place so sparse I got inside the door and maybe 30metres from the stage you could see him from toe to head, all 6ft 7" of him built like a keg and playing his guitar. I saw a couple of oldies who might have been teenagers in the 1950's, but mostly youngish people and maybe 5 or 6 danced close to the stage, including doing those sort of 50's R&R dances with the 360 degree twirls where the dresses the girls wear flare out.

Anyway, Sleepy and the band had a pretty wide repertoire including rock & roll, rockabilly, country and blues. Songs you mostly heard before but all in his own style. I remember he really thrashed out a fast version of "Big Boss Man" - like I want to say he broke a string on his guitar but my memory of the night has faded. The other really amazing thing other than his incredible presence on stage was his commanding bellow of a voice. I imagine he would have been disappointed
with the turn out - and his departing words were "next time bring a friend".



 
Last edited:

Remove this Banner Ad

stax on the mull said:
I saw Sleepy LaBeef at Shenton Park Hotel sometime - must have been late 1980's. Not sure why I went other than having heard the presenter of a 1950's radio show talk him up - but there was hardly anyone else that turned up other than people all dressed up in the fashionable clothing of that era. They seemed like the kind of people you might see once in a while as a couple or a family dressed in the middle of a day out in a shopping mall wearing the same type of clothes - real devotees to the era and probably with a vintage car. I felt a little embarrassed for the lack of effort in what I was wearing, jeans and t-shirt probably, not that anyone commented as they were all lined up along the bar, standing or on the barstools chatting with each other not really facing towards the stage. Maybe that's the way they listened to the music - or maybe they were expecting the music to be purest rockabilly.

Sleepy LaBeef had already started his set when I got there and usually when you walk in there's a crowd of people around a stage but the place so sparse I got inside the door and maybe 30metres from the stage you could see him from toe to head, all 6ft 7" of him built like a keg and playing his guitar. I saw a couple of oldies who might have been teenagers in the 1950's, but mostly youngish people and maybe 5 or 6 danced close to the stage, including doing those sort of 50's R&R dances with the 360 degree twirls where the dresses the girls wear flare out.

Anyway, Sleepy and the band had a pretty wide repertoire including rock & roll, rockabilly, country and blues. Songs you mostly heard before but all in his own style. I remember he really thrashed out a fast version of "Big Boss Man" - like I want to say he broke a string on his guitar but my memory of the night has faded. The other really amazing thing other than his incredible presence on stage was his commanding bellow of a voice. I imagine he would have been disappointed
with the turn out - and his departing words were "next time bring a friend".



Click to expand...

Sleepy LaBeef - now there's a name! I like your story as much as the music clips. He never quite hit the big time with any hits as a recording artist, but made a name for himself by his constant touring, building a fan base through live performances - a bit similar to Freddie Eaglesmith or Jerry J Walker amongst other troubadours. He was also amongst those who benefited from the rockabilly revival in the late seventies/early eighties in the UK/Europe, where he had a bigger following than his U.S. homeland. Never knew he came to Australia. You did well to see this rockabilly original - though as you rightfully point out, he also had traditional country and blues in his repertoire.
 
Spotify randomly threw Tyler Childers at me a few weeks back - no idea why, I rarely listen to country. But I've been listening to him ever since.

This is the one from Spotify:



And this one's off the same album and turned up on the soundtrack to Landman.

 
Norwegian Blue said:
Spotify randomly threw Tyler Childers at me a few weeks back - no idea why, I rarely listen to country. But I've been listening to him ever since. ...
Click to expand...
You've chosen a good one there with Childers. As I've said a few times here in the last few years, hard-core country (so not the more fluffy pop-country) is something a lot of us grow into as we get older - it's often wasted on the young. That's speaking from personal experience.
 
Before being introduced to the latest artist in this history series, you may want to check out or back into two legendary Texan singer-songwriters (much more acclaimed for their songwriting than singing) - the late, great, Townes Van Zandt (posts #551-555) and Guy Clark (# 844-847). For in his formative years from aged 17 to 23, our next artist had the unique experience of being mentored and tutored by each of these in turn. So it ain't surprising he grew to be one of the most acclaimed singer-songwriters of his generation, completing this Texan trio. The protege became a master storyteller in his own right, with his songs being recorded by Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Joan Baez, Emmylou Harris, Travis Tritt, The Pretenders, Miranda Lambert amongst many others.

Along the way, this iconoclast took hard-core country music into a new direction, very sharply distinct from the neo-traditionalists like George Strait and Randy Travis - "... I consider myself to be a straggler of the Outlaw movement in the 1970s more than a part of any New Country, basically because it was a singer-songwriter movement. ...". We shall see how he was never afraid to go his own way

Stephen Earle was born in 1955 at Ft. Monroe, Virginia, where his father was stationed as an air traffic controller. When Steve's due date approached, a family member was selected and sent to Virginia with a tobacco tin of Lone Star dirt from the ancestral family farm. His Grandma said the dirt was spread in a flat pan and the little fellow was held up and his feet imprinted in the Texas dirt - or so the Earle family folklore has it. The family moved back to Texas when steve was aged just 2, so Texan he is.

Steve grew up in Schertz, then a small town 30km's NE of San Antonio, with 4 younger siblings. Don't look for any small town there today - it's been swallowed up by the long, sprawling, suburban corridor that now stretches all the way from San Antonio to Austin. Steve got his first guitar at age 11 - acoustic as his father wouldn't allow him an electric - and in just 2 years had mastered it to the point where he was placed 3rd in the Schertz school district's annual talent show.

Though he read constantly, Steve was a poor student - "... Theatre and drama was the only class I never got kicked out of. ... My grandmother bought me my first Gibson guitar as a bribe to get me to go back to school after I first dropped out. I got the guitar and managed 2 months of 9th grade the following year before quitting again. ..." So at 14, a restless, disruptive and rebellious Steve dropped out of high school and left home for Houston to join his uncle Nick, who was only 19 himself at the time. Nick encouraged Steve's guitar playing and soon after, he began playing at the Sand Mountain Coffee House, which had a mural featuring his 3 heroes - Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker - “I could see the mural very clearly because nobody was there when I played, for the most part”.

While not making anything more than meagre tip money from playing, Earle paid the bills by taking on odd jobs - "I've never had a job longer than 3 months in my life. I've always led a bohemian lifestyle. I have framed houses, worked on oil rigs, worked on shrimp boats and in restaurants, but it was different for me because I knew I was always going to get out". He worked on an offshore Gulf oil rig - well known for its toughness - for a month - "I came back with the most money I'd ever had in my life and I got in the most trouble I'd ever gotten into my life".

Townes Van Zandt was known to occasionally drop in to the coffee house and so it was that Steve met his idol in 1972 - "... It was Townes and about 5 other people in the audience. He was insisting between songs that I play 'The Wabash Cannonball', which I finally had to admit I didn’t know. Then he berated me by saying, “How dare you call yourself a folk singer?” (The Wabash Cannonball is a folk/country classic standard, made famous by Roy Acuff (# 148) and covered by dozens since like Johnny Cash (# 342) - so any aspiring folk/country singer back in 1972 would've been expected to know it - but Townes correctly guessed this 17 y.o. up-start still lacked a lot in his music education). "I always thought Roy Acuff was probably an arseh*le. I’m a Hank Williams fan. So I played [Van Zandt’s] 'Mr Mudd And Mr Gold' and that shut him up".

Townes was impressed enough with the precocious teen to adopt him as a friend, mentor and role model. The teenage Texan was impressed by Van Zandt's zeal for uncompromising artistry - "It was very obvious to me that I was seeing someone who wasn't making a single, solitary decision based on, 'Will this sell?' ... I committed to making art whether I ever got rich or not by Townes’s example”.

When they met in 1972, Townes hadn't had an address for 8 years, just wandering about and crashing anywhere he could - and his alcoholism was matched only by his heroin addiction. To Earle, Van Zandt was “no better teacher ... but no worse role model", saying it wasn't really Townes' fault - he tried to insulate Earle as much as he could from the worst of Townes' boozing, drugging and general squalid self-destructive behaviour, because he was still just a 17 y.o. kid. Their relationship could be both violent, cruel ... and hilarious - Van Zandt once told Earle (or compelled him through threats) to read Tolstoy's very long epic War and Peace, so he did - “ I found out later, through the questions he asked me, that Townes hadn’t actually read War and Peace himself. He just thought I should read it".
But, through it all, Earle received a priceless education in folk/country music history and the art of song-writing from a truly original and erudite, talented and sensitive writer, one who inspired Earle to make his own music.

At 19, Earle, thus inspired and realising his opportunities in Houston were limited, made his way to Nashville, where he played in various bands to support himself. He figured that his friendship and mentoring from Townes Van Zandt was his “letter of introduction” to meet another of his songwriting idols - Guy Clark. One night at Bishop’s nightclub, Earle came upon Clark - "... So I was pretty excited when I went into the club and the bartender, a friend of mine says, ‘Guy’s here.’ I wanted him to hear me play. I was doing some of my earliest songs, ‘Ben McCullough’ and ‘The Mercenary Song.’ But he was in the pool room and when I go in there the first thing he says to me is -`I like your hat.’ It was a pretty cool hat, worn in just right, with some beads I fixed up around it ...".

Clark did eventually hear Earles songs - and a few months later he was playing bass in Guy’s band - “Now, I am a terrible bass player…but I was the kid, and that was what the kid did. I took over for Rodney Crowell. At that time Gordon Lightfoot’s ‘Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald’ was a top 10 hit, which was amazing, a 6 and half minute story song on the radio. So Guy said, ‘we’re story song writers, why not us?’ So we went out to cash in on the big wave.”

On comparing Townes and Guy, Earle said - "When it comes to mentors, I’m glad I had both. If you asked Townes what’s it all about, he’d hand you a copy of "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee". If you asked Guy the same question, he’d take out a piece of paper and teach you how to diagram a song, what goes where. Townes was one of the all-time great writers, but he only finished 3 songs during the last 15 years of his life. Guy had cancer and wrote songs until the day he died … He painted, he built instruments, he owned a guitar shop in the Bay Area where the young Bobby Weir hung out. He was older and wiser. You hung around with him and knew why they call what artists do disciplines. Because he was disciplined”.

Another singer-songwriter Earle greatly admired and was influenced by, was Jerry Jeff Walker (# 844-847). Some decades later, Earle released 4 tribute/cover albums for Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker. The other one I'll get to in time. Earle's first known professional recording was with Guy Clark on Guy's 1975 album "Old No. 1". Earle sang back-up vocals on 'Desperados Waiting For A Train' (along with Rodney Crowell, Sammy Smith, and Emmylou Harris - "The first time I met Emmylou, she came in to sing on Guy's first album. She gave me half of her cheeseburger. I wasn't the same for weeks". Earle toured with Guy from early 1975 until late 1976.

Way, way back, in posts # 551 & 553 on Townes Van Zandt, I featured 3 clips from "Heartworn Highways" a cult-classic impressionistic documentary about the Texas outlaw country movement of the mid ‘70s (as I described it back then). In this clip from the documentary, a 20-year old Steve Earle, more than an entire decade away from his 1986 debut “Guitar Town,” performs the self-penned 'Mercenary Song' at a guitar pull at the legendary songwriter Guy Clark’s house on Christmas Eve 1975. Gathered round a 1970's table packed of booze bottles and cigarette butts, we get a raw, close glimpse of some of the prime country outlaws of the time, a joyous, drunken party including Clark, his wife Susanna, Steve Young, Richard Dobson and a 24 y.o. Rodney Crowell, also joins in.

A “guitar pull” is a term for a group of singer or songwriter friends or colleagues getting together and sharing songs one at a time, usually in a circle around a bar, porch or living room. Country music is famous for these guitar pulls, especially, back then, in at a private area of Tootsie's honky tonk in Nashville (now hopelessly overcrowded and noisy - and everyone there is just another damned tourist), not a local) and this one at Clark’s house in late 1975 is especially unique because it’s not only caught on video, but catches two icons well before they became famous.

When Guy Clark says "listen to this song", it's best to listen. Rodney Crowell affirms at the end - "boy, you got a good one there". Imagine being a fresh 20 y.o. at that table and getting the attention and praise from that crew. The song itself concerns a real historical event, describing the experiences of the many American mercenary soldiers who joined Mexican revolutionary leader, Pancho Villa in his revolt of 1912 - one that had great early success but eventually failed. The song has echoes of Townes Van Zandt's most successful song 'Pancho and Lefty'. Despite Earle writing 'Mercenary Song' and singing it here at age 20 in 1975, he didn't get around to recording ot until 20 years later, in 1995, along with a number of other early songs he had written, for his "Train Is A Comin'" album -

Watching these future songwriting legends having fun at such a young age in midst of the tutelage of Guy Clark seems like one of those rare fly on the wall moments that we're lucky to experience 50 years later because somebody had the forethought and brilliance to record it.

Earle eventually wrote songs that were recorded by some major musical players at the time. With Guy Clark's backing, he landed his first publishing deal with a division of RCA in late 1975 (just before the above video) and was with them until 1978. Earle received $75 per week as a staff writer. He almost had a song,´Mustang Winé, recorded by Elvis Presley in 1975 ... but Elvis, by now in declining health, never showed up for the session. The song was recorded by Carl Perkins the next year, and Johnny Lee had a Top 10 hit in 1982 with 'When You Fall In Love', a song Earle co-wrote with John Scott Sherrill.

From 1982-1985, Earle recorded some rockabilly tracks for Epic, but Epic did a poor job promoting him and the singles had little success. The songs from a 7" vinyl Epic released in 1982, "Pink & Black", later showed up in the post-Guitar Town frenzy as Early Tracks in 1987. So Epic wasn't totally stupid - better late than never. The rockabilly genre songs reinforced Earle's reputation as an accomplished songwriter, while his contemporary rockabilly sound lay the basis of his first wave of major success.

With his recording career quickly going nowhere, Earle lost his songwriting publishing contract but he met Tony Brown, a producer at MCA Records. When Epic dropped Earle from their roster in 1984, Brown persuaded MCA to sign Earle instead, and the songwriter further severed connections to his Epic days by firing Lomax as his manager. He issued his debut album, "Guitar Town", in 1986. Although Earle was initially grouped into the neo traditionalist movement headed by George Strait and Randy Travis, he also gained the attention of rock critics and fans who saw similarities between Earle's populist sentiments and the heartland rock of Bruce Springsteen and John Mellencamp. His rockabilly based sound also helped his appeal to rock fans. "Guitar Town", at Earle's insistence, was one of the very first country music albums to be recorded digitally. Each of the album's original 10 tracks was either written or co-written by Earle. So if I don't mention any other songwriter on any track, it means Earle was the sole songwriter.

'Hillbilly Highway' co-written by Earle with Jimbeau Hinson, was released in March 1986 as the first single from his debut album "Guitar Town", also released at the same time - meaning that Earle was still little known at it's release, though the success of the album in the following months meant this was soon to change. It reached #37 in the U.S. and # 46 in Canada. It deserved better, as it perfectly encapsulates his ability to recount a semi-autobiographical story and make it universal.

It tells of a man (the singers grandfather) who moved from being a miner (presumably in the coal mines of Kentucky), to motor-city Detroit, the world's wealthiest city in the 1950's. With his earnings, he put his son through college, resulting in him (the singers father) landing a good white collar job in Houston - reflecting the theme of upward social mobility. The singer then quits school, to the chagrin of his parents (like Earle did in real life), needing to leave home to discover life and what lay for him down that country highway - and thus describes how the cycle goes on - “It’s autobiographical in the sense that it borrows things from everybody, from my family. My grandfather wasn’t a miner, he was a farmer and my father’s an air traffic controller and it’s like I’m one generation removed from the farm".The chorus is catchy, the words are honest and a terse twang guitar solo brings it alive -


“Hey pretty baby are you ready for me? ...” asks Earle on the opening title track from his 1986 debut. It’s a perfect way to introduce the rambling, restless but precocious young troubadour. Released in 1986 as the second single and title track from the "Guitar Town" album, reaching # 7 in both the U.S. and Canada.

Sung from the perspective of a touring musician traveling away from Nashville - "Guitar Town" - into Texas as he describes his experiences. In the preproduction stages for the Guitar Town album, Earle and session guitarist Richard Bennett decided the song should omit a guitar solo, feeling it was - in light of the song's title - too predictable. Early takes of the song featured a small keyboard solo. But upon hearing the insipid result, producer Emory Gordy Jr. insisted on including a guitar solo. An argument ensued between Bennett and Gordy before Bennett retrieved a Danelectro Longhorn 6 string bass and played "... the first thing that fell out of my brain". Bennett's solo was subsequently incorporated into the song - it's impossible to now imagine it without it. The reverbed guitar riff revives the tremolo-laden guitar sound of the early '60s, capturing the deep country in Earle's music and when he sings about following a voice down the lost highway, he’s predicting his future -

In 1992, Emmylou Harris and her then-new backing band, the Nash Ramblers, included 'Guitar Town' on the live album "At the Ryman". At the time, the fabled downtown Nashville auditorium wasn't the shining Mecca of country music it is today - in fact, there had been no public concerts there for the 18 years since the Grand Ole Opry relocated from the venue in 1974! Harris asked permission to play at the Ryman for a set she described as a "travelogue of American music". The setlist consisted of a hand-picked selection of cover songs and iconic American classics, including 'Guitar Town'.

It's largely thanks to that performance - and the acclaim that followed Harris' recording of it - that the Ryman wasp restored into the illustrious and beloved music destination it is today. While Harris was the one who recorded the project, it was given a big boost with Earle's legendary songwriting talent.

'Someday' was released in 1986 as the third single from the "Guitar Town" album, reaching #28 in the U.S. and # 31 in Canada. It combines a classic country concept of leaving town with no specific destination, a rustic sensibility and personal lyrics seemingly ripped from his journals - “... I wanna get out of here / to see what’s over the rainbow ...”. So it's about escaping the limitations of a small town, the feeling of being at a loose end or a crossroads in your life, the idea of being left behind, feeling the world is passing you by, and somehow knowing that there is something better out there - one I directly relate to. Earle sings with a youthful vocal twang, tremolo heavy guitar and just enough pedal steel to push this strummy ballad into country rock territory -
"There ain't a lot that you can do in this town / You drive down to the lake and then you turn back around /
You go to school and you learn to read and write / So you can walk into the county bank and sign away your life / -

´Someday' was later covered by Shawn Colvin on her cover album, "Cover Girl".

Now a "captains pick" -'My Old Friend The Blues' wasn't released as a single and is basically never mentioned amongst Earle's best known songs. For me, it's severely underrated, probably because it's a slow ballad that's not to the taste of Earle's many rock fans. But this shows Earle had also mastered the slow, beautiful ballad from the start, beautifully simple yet deep and moving. This is one best listened to while alone - even better when you're actually feeling lonely - and with a Jack Daniels or other strong whiskey of your choice, letting the song slowly wash over you - and become your friend -
"... Another lonely night, a nameless town / If sleep don't take me first, you'll come around /
'Cause I know I can always count on you / My old friend the blue ..." -


Guitar Town garnered glowing reviews and commercial success and brought Earle his first 2 Grammy nominations - 1987's Best Male Vocalist for the album and Best Song - ´Guitar Town'. Earle was also named 1986's Country Artist Of The Year in Rolling Stone Magazine's Critics Poll. The most remarkable thing about Earl's album is the way it reactivated a country tradition that had mostly lain dormant since the early 1950's. His blue-collar tales and dustbowl ballads had a hard twang that encompassed blues, rockabilly and folk. His music reflected the south and hillbilly country traditions with a rough'n'ready rebellious edge that took his music outside the tight confines of country music.

While all the above was happening, Steve Earle had been a bit cavalier and careless with women. Admitting that as a teen, one of the attractions of mastering a guitar was to make it easy to get into girls bedrooms - "... I didn’t play football, so guitar was my only hope. I got invited to lots of slumber parties and snuck in via the window. It hurt my feelings sometimes that these girls trusted me as much as they did ...". He married his first wife in 1973 at age 18 - "... Sandy never did anything wrong except marry me. By the time I got to Nashville, the drugs and alcohol took over. I ran off with another girl who liked to get high as much as I did ...".

Earles' second marriage, in 1977, based as it was on partying, boozing and drugging, was always unlikely to last too long - so it probably exceeded expectations by lasting 3 whole years to 1980. Earle then dated Carol Ann Hunter for a year after getting together in 1980 and he married for the 3rd time in 1981, at age 26. They divorced 6 years later in 1987, just when - and mainly because - Earle finally hit the big time. Earle later admitted he always prioritised his career before any marriage.

This marriage is most noteworthy because it produced a son in 1982. Earle named him after his friend, the late, great Townes van Zandt. Justin’s mother apparently never cared for the name - however she did become the sole carer of him after Earle left in 1986, chasing his rainbows. But we will hear more about Justin Townes Earle - not now, but later.

Steve Earle's career high - and lowest lows - still lay ahead.
 
Today's Steve Earle history segment, starting with his second album, 1987's "Exit 0", raises the question about what qualifies - or at least what historically qualified in the 1980's - as country music. It now seems odd, with mainstream rock (so mostly, with some exceptions, not including the various heavy metal sub-genres or straight out pop) now having folded back into its country music origin, that back in the 1980's, they were considered as two very distinctly separate genres. That's why, as I explained some time back now, groups like CCR and The Eagles were excluded from this history, despite their obvious country influence and themes (j listen to the early Eagles before their country sound "toughened up"). Yet back in the 20th century, both these groups were only seen as rock groups, marketed as rock groups, played on rock radio and charted in the rock charts - not the country charts. It was Steve Earle who was the first to really dissolve that rock/country barrier - but (typically for Earle) not without some controversy.

In a 1987 interview, Earle spoke about this very issue (the crucial bolded bit is my doing) as the controversy about whether he was still country or now just a rock star, was erupting - “Don’t deny influences. Like, I made rockabilly records for a few years (a compilation of Earle’s rockabilly singles for CBS had just been released in early 1987, entitled "Early Tracks") and that definitely shows in what I’m doing. I grew up listening to the Mysterians and the Sir Douglas Quintet, so there’s Tex-Mex things in there. I started out as a folk singer and that’s there, too. I’m a big fan of very hard country and that gets into my singing a lot.

“To me, country and rock’n’roll have never been mutually exclusive. I mean, when the Everly Brothers were makin’ records they didn’t know they were rock’n’roll; they thought they were making country records for a younger audience. I need the country radio base and I’m keeping it so far, with the new album. But the Dukes (Earle’s band) is by definition a rock band; it’s rock’n’roll but I’m a country singer. Stylistically I’ll always be a country singer ’cos I’m always gonna talk like this. I don’t emulate very many rock singers. All the licks I steal are from country singers, from George Jones and Buck Owens more than Mick Jagger and Bruce Springsteen.”

At another 1987 interview - “I’m a country singer, and I’m comfortable with that. But why does a country singer have to play only on country radio or a rock singer only on a rock station? I still don’t understand why it’s that big a deal". To the above, I would add that Earl's song-writing, so heavily influenced as it was by the poetry of Townes Van Zandt and the story-telling framing techniques taught to him by Guy Clark, represents the best tradition of story-telling country music - even if Earle then delivered the song with a strong rock punch. Not that it matters now - but back then, Earle went from charting in the country charts for his debut 'Guitar Town' album, to charting in both country and rock for his "Zero 0" album (though with different songs), then the rock charts for his third album.

Following the success of Earle's debut "Guitar Town" album, Epic, realising they had made a major and costly error in not promoting Earle's earlier rockabilly music when he was in their stable, thus losing him to MCA, quickly assembled a compilation of previously unreleased Earle tracks. The collection was imaginatively titled "Early Tracks" and released in early 1987. Later that year, Earle released his second album, "Exit 0", which bore a shared credit for his backing band the Dukes. "Exit 0" signaled the more rock-oriented direction and, like its predecessor, received critical acclaim, but also some criticism and it didn't sell as well as Earle's debut.

The recording of “Exit 0” was complex and conflicted. A year before the album was recorded, Earle had travelled from Austin to San Diego. Along the way, having ingested some magic mushrooms, he suddenly barked at the driver to pull over. He got out of the van and stared at the road sign: “Exit 0” which meant they were very close to the Arizona state border. In his "heightened" state, the sign took on a deep significance to Earle and he just stared at the sign for some 3 hours, determining there and then that his next album would be named after this sign.

The president of MCA, Jimmy Bowen who was largely responsible for transforming the Nashville recording industry, increasing record sales by better marketing of artists - but in doing so, requiring the artists to smarten up their acts and public appearance. In the case of Earle, bowen insisted he improve his enunciation - which in truth did need improvement - no good telling a great story if the words are difficult to grasp - also to wash his hair much more frequently and to get his teeth fixed. None of which are particularly contentious. As it happened, Earle was happy to have the required dental work - as the record company paid.

The album's co-producer, Gordy Jr, would mix the track that had just been recorded only for Earle to listen to it and argue for the sound to be more rock and less country. There were several such disagreements until one day, Earle, who frequently lacked patience, got his gun out (after all, despite his left wing politics, he's still a gun toting Texan) and laid it on the recording console before arguing his point. He won the argument.

As well as its venture into rock territory, Earle first seriously dabbled into politics with "Exit 0". But rather than an indictment of the American Dream, “Exit 0” tells the story of how a revolution in world economics in the 1980's, with previously high tariffs being drastically cut (the reverse of what's now happening) to create a "global economy", adversely affected American famers, factory workers (the start of de-industrialisation in the U.S. in favour of cheaper overseas labour) and the earnings of the average family, changing a whole country's perception of itself forever. Not only did Earle take a gamble by throwing his hat into the ring with the cream of America's blue collar troubadours, he did so by tackling the same themes as the likes of Dylan, Cash, Prine, Springsteen and Petty had been doing for years. Anyway, it's time to take a look at my picks form "Exile 0".

'Nowhere Road' co-written by Earle with Reno Kling, was released in 1987 as the first A-side single from the "Exit 0" album and reached #20 on the country chart - however this would've done much better had leading country radio stations not been spooked and stopped playing it when the singles B-side (the next song below) got picked up by rock stations (which were then separate from country) and started charting on the rock chart. In addition, rumours of Earle's wild lifestyle and drug use - which were mostly true - and his anti-establishment attitude rankled some of the mainstream country fan base. But back to the song - there's a line in 'Nowhere Road' which sums up the futility of most people's existence, and also sets up the theme of the singles B-side below -
"... I been down this road just searchin' for the end / It don't go nowhere, it just brings you back again ..."
Now that is poetry -

A notable cover of 'Nowhere Road was by outlaw country legends and fellow Texans, Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson, appearing in 1996 on the 20th-anniversary edition of "Wanted! The Outlaws".

Now to the singles B-side. The title of this autobiographical 1987 twang rocker, 'I Ain't Ever Satisfied' says is all. It’s sung by a guy who quit school in 9th grade at age 14, despite his obvious bright intelligence, had already acquired a reputation for hard living, had insisted on doing things his way - even to the point of getting his gun out - had been married 3 times - and about to have a short-lived 4th - and honest enough to hold up a mirror, taking a long hard look at himself (though, as time will tell, not long enough). The song starts like a sensitive ballad but quickly shifts to a tougher vibe. Once the chorus kicks in, gospel like, it’s easy to sing along. Various live versions capture the lyrical fervour better than the somewhat tame original. but for history's sake, I'll stick with the studio version here.

It's hard to believe this song started the Steve Earle country v rock controversy (which, as per above, he saw as absurd) by being picked up by rock radio and consequently charting to # 26 on the pop chart, but not at all on the country chart. This is simply one of the finest songs Earle has ever written, even if it is about himself -
"I was born by the railroad tracks / Well the train whistle wailed and I wailed right back..." -

Earle's intelligent, creative, but restless, never satisfied mind perhaps explains why he took risks, not afraid to experiment in both his music and life in genera, and pushed the boundaries to extremes - a prelude to the troubled times that lay ahead.

The next selection from "Exile 0", 'The Rain Came Down' wasn't released as a single, as it's not the commercial type that would sell. However, it's a superbly written, meaningful song, recounting the pain of foreclosure on the farming community, how pioneers forged their way out West only to see the land their ancestors toiled over being lost to the banks several generations later. This is still topical, and not just in the U.S. - just venture out to rural Australia and the same issues still apply -
"... So don't you come around here with your auctioneer man /
'cause you can have the machines but you ain't taking my land ..." -


With his third album, 1988's "Copperhead Road", Earle's rock and roll flirtations came to the forefront and country radio responded in kind, as none of the album's songs charted or received much airplay. However, rock radio embraced him, sending the album's title track into the album rock Top 10, which helped make the album his highest charting effort to date.

"Copperhead Road" contains a definite 1980's production sound by producer Tony Brown. It employs a big drum sound and arena-influenced guitars, at times sounding more like Aerosmith or Guns n’ Roses than the country/rock sound of the contemporary “neo-traditionalists”. Still, the songs’ roots shine through all the gloss and firepower. Beyond the songwriting and vocals, Earle is fluent array of instruments, including 6 and 12 string acoustic guitars, mandolin, and harmonica.

Earle’s most popular composition by a wide margin - to the point where many mainstream rock fans, ignorant of all his other works that didn't happen to top the charts, think of Earle as a one hit wonder - 'Copperhead Road' was the opening salvo on the album. Earle's signature song, on the surface, is a classic Appalachian country tale, telling the story of John Lee Pettimore III, a narrator who comes from a long line of moonshiners. But it also doubles as social commentary as he returns home after serving in the Vietnam War to grow marijuana on the Copperhead Road land he has inherited. The song starts with bagpipes styled keyboard, leading into Earle’s hard strummed mandolin - which, along with the lyrics, still gives it a distinct country taste. Everything gradually builds until detonating at 2:30 into its volatile main section, where the harder edged rock element takes over, exploding with a resounding punch to the gut -

The song's story remains vivid in the imagination of country music. Thomas Rhett, Luke Combs, Chase Rice and Riley Green are just a few of the artists that have referenced ´Copperhead Road' in the lyrics to their songs. Though the song is frequently covered and is a staple of many a country band's live set, Earle's original remains the definitive version of 'Copperhead Road'.

The album's second track, 'Snake Oil', not released as a single, is the first, of many to come, explicit partisan political songs. It attacks then president Ronald Reagan, comparing him to a traveling con man. It starts with a honky tonk piano tune which quickly transforms to a rugged guitar rocker as Earle sings about phoney cure-alls meant to fleece unsuspecting buyers. “...Well ain’t your president good to you?...” he asks, knowing the answer, as the band pounds along behind him. I suspect most here see this song as more relevant now than ever, which makes this so timeless -


The third track, 'Back to the Wall' is about poverty and homelessness. Released as the albums second single, it made the Top 20 of the pop/rock chart. I haven't included it in my selection as it's just straight out heavy rock, not country - actually more heavy metal, but without anything original or standout about it - just regulation 1980's heavy metal.

Today's instalment can't end without mention of what Steve Earle famously wrote about Townes Van Zandt in 1987, which continues to be a source of much discussion. The exact quote - "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that".

It was actually a promotional sticker on the packaging of Van Zandt’s 1987 "At My Window" album. Earle explained - "I was asked for a blurb (for a Townes album), and that's what I said. It was literally a sticker. Do I believe that he was a better writer than Bob Dylan? No. Do I believe he deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Bob Dylan? Yes. And I think Bob Dylan does, too. I was opening for Dylan in 1988, and the first night I was on the tour Bob played 'Pancho and Lefty".

What isn’t so known is Van Zandt’s pragmatic - and typically comical - response to the notion that he was a superior songwriter to Dylan = “I’ve met Bob Dylan’s bodyguards, and if Steve Earle thinks he can stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table, he’s sadly mistaken”. And with that cleared up, it's the day done - but there's still more to come from "Copperhead Road" and beyond.
 
Last edited:

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Today brings more from Steve Earle's 1988 "Copperhead Road" album - which reached # 7 on the country charts but failed to reach the Top 50 of the pop/rock charts, despite the 'Copperhead Road' single going Top 10 in the pop/rock chart and not charting at all on the country chart. It also established him as a star in Europe, as it included a duet with the Irish innovative punk/traditional-folk group, the Pogues (who did a lot more exclusively traditional Irish music than most think), signalling his affection for Ireland. In the late 1980's, Earle frequently toured England and Europe and even produced a record for the new wave pop/rock band the Bible (albeit the record bombed). But it's time to head on back again to the "Copperhead Road".

'The Devil's Right Hand' was written and originally recorded by Earle while he was still with Epic and released as a single (with 'Squeeze Me In' in January 1984. Waylon Jennings, who really liked the song, covered it for his 1986 'Will The Wolf Survive' album, before Earle re-recorded it for "Copperhead Road" in 1988.

Earle grew up in Texas and lived a life surrounded by guns (go to West Texas in particular and you'll see them being worn openly pretty much everywhere) and as we saw yesterday, he carried his own. It was second nature to him but further along the road he became awakened to the evils of the rampant misuse of firearms and the alarming stupidity of the gun culture.

Its theme very much reminiscent of Johnny Cash's 1958 # 1 hit, 'Don't Bring Your Guns To Town' (post # 339), 'The Devil's Right Hand' makes the point that though a gun can get you into a lot of trouble, it can’t get you out of it. The unfortunate storyteller fails to heed his mother’s warnings about carrying a pistol, and his youthful fascination ends with him shooting a man dead after being cheated at cards. When the authorities come for him, he protests they have the wrong man because “... nothing touched the trigger but the Devil’s right hand ...” -

Besides Waylon Jennings in 1986, 'The Devil's Right Hand' has been covered by many other artists, including (at Waylon Jennings insistence), the Highwaymen in 1995 and Bob Seger in 2014. Johnny Cash also recorded a version, released posthumously in 2003 in the box set titled "Unearthed".

Traditional Irish folk is a seminal building block to original country through the Appalachian influence and Irish immigrants. With the way the late Shane MacGowan preserved, revitalised, and revolutionized Irish music throughout his career with The Pogues and beyond, there is definitely a cross-genre similarity between MacGowan and the post-punk revivalists who helped preserve and thus save the traditional instrumentation of country music. Earle, having been embraced by Europe, but was particularly enraptured with Ireland, was right at the forefront.

Specifically, MacGowan and The Pogues had a long working relationship with Earle. When you hear the iconic Irish-inflected opening of Earle’s 'Copperhead Road', don’t think that wasn’t influenced by MacGowan and The Pogues. And with 'Johnny Come Lately', Earle travelled back ro Ireland recorded the song with The Pogues themselves. Mind you, Earle's relationship with MacGowan went beyond music - and not really in a good way.

Earle was still at the top of his game when he produced this companion piece to Springsteen's ‘Born in the USA’. Besides the obvious nod in the opening line – “I’m an American boys, I’ve come a long way / I was born and bred in the USA ...” – ‘Johnny Come Lately’ offers a rollicking riff and is told from the perspective of a retuning Vietnam war veteran. While ‘Born in the USA’ more or less directly addresses this, ‘Johnny Come Lately’ sends us a decoy by first re-telling the story of a returning World War II veteran and the welcoming, comforting reception he received. The kicker, of course, with Earle's story is that the narrator’s grandfather’s heroic return is really just a set-up to contrast that homecoming experience with his own bitter homecoming experience as a Vietnam vet -

Did you notice the can of Fosters swilled at the end? - proof this wasn't filmed in Australia.

In 1990, Earle released his 4th album, "The Hard Way". Far more a rock record, but still with echoes of country, it's a powerful album, dealing with themes as diverse as the death penalty - 'Billy Austin', political responsibility - 'When the People Find Out' and murder - 'Justice in Ontario'. Much of the mood of the album is centred on individuality or even, to use an Australian term, larrakinism (if that's a word?), like the opener 'The Other Kind'. His voice is all kinds of ragged which mirrored his many growing health related problems at this stage, but this room filling, thumping rocker with its declaration of individuality was made for Earle, one of the other kind that won't be tied down by anyone -


Earle's sense of justice shows up on "The Hard Way" most explicitly in the album’s centrepiece, 'Billy Austin'. Another example of Earle's lyrics getting more political, in the Woody Guthrie sense, he champions the downtrodden and forgotten with a devastating, harrowing death row dirge. With sparse accompaniment, only acoustic guitar, a subtle, droning synth, and distant percussion that sounds like a prison cell door punctuating the tale, Earle tells the story of the song’s namesake who, in the tradition of Johnny Cash (as per 'Johnny Come Lately' above) and "Nebraska" era Springsteen, has shot a man but has no remorse. As he is strapped to his chair, he asks a final question just before the juice hits -
“... Could you pull that switch yourself, sir / with a sure and steady hand? /
And then, could you still tell yourself, sir / that you’re better than I am?”
The question hangs in the air long after the cell door slams the song shut -

Earle made his stance against capital punishment clear once again in 1995, on the soundtrack of the reflective movie on capital punishment Dead Man Walkings, with the haunting 'Ellis Unit One'. Earle, once again breaking the mould, didn't narrate it from the POV of a condemned prisoner, but instead from the effect it has on the prison guard whose job is to escort death row inmates to their execution.

Steve Earle's crossover popularity on rock radio should have been the beginning of superstardom. But despite, and most probably because, his career was taking off big time, Earle's personal life was becoming a wreck. He had divorced his third wife, married a fourth named Lou - whom he quickly divorced and then married an MCA employee. Unfortunately, Ph.D.-level songwriting craftsmanship wasn't the only habit Earle and Van Zandt shared.

One may have thought that the alcohol and drug driven decline of Townes Van Zandt and others Earle hung round with, like Waylon Jennings, may have deterred Earle from going down the same lost Highway - especially after ma Waylon managed to kick his cocaine addiction. But Earle continued delving deeper and deeper into alcohol and drug abuse. Though he had been taking various drugs for years, ever since he first arrived in Nashville, and even before that as a teenager - LSD, mushrooms, cocaine, heroin, whatever he could get his hands on, the extra income he now had meant he could afford a lot more than before - “I was just was an addict who became able to afford better and more drugs until I got into trouble.”

So, unfortunately, Earle's success only fueled his growing drug problem - keeping company with Shane MacGowan now become bad for both of them. Earle had amassed an impressive guitar collection, but he ended up selling them all to support his habit - "My need for drugs and alcohol eventually surpassed my commitment to my music". And though he wasn't charged for many of his actions, he admitted he carried a gun and hung around criminals - "I even robbed a couple of drug dealers". As Earle sank ever deeper into his addiction, he stopped making music. He was arrested in 1993 for heroin possession but narrowly avoided a jail sentence.

Earle was picked up again in 1994 for having crack and drug paraphernalia. But, never being satisfied and still unable to leave well enough alone, he promptly returned to his old ways and was soon arrested again, this time for cocaine and weapons possession. Each time, Earle failed to appear in court to face the charges and eventually, having used up all his chances, the judge slapped him with a 1 year jail sentence. It became his wake-up call he had to have, having walked so near to death - "Going to jail is what saved my life".

In all, Earle’s drug abuse led him to isolation, despair and as well as wrecking his latest marriage and pretty much all his friendships as he isolated himself from all his family and friends, suspended his career for 5 years from 1990 to 1995 until his stint in prison thankfully prompted him to clean up his act.

Earle was a model inmate and was released from his term after just 2 months. But as part of the completion of his sentence and parole, he was sent to complete a compulsory outpatient drug rehab treatment program near Nashville. It was there he took the first step - and it was a major step - towards reviving his career.

'Goodbye' was the first song Earle wrote drug free and sober, penning it in 1994 while still in court-ordered rehab - "I wrote it when I was still in treatment, before I even got to that step, the first time I got my hands on a guitar. It wasn't very good guitar, but I hadn't written anything in a very long time, so it was kind of reassuring to write something and to write something that good".

So Earle had just returned from his crippling drug addiction (both cocaine and heroin) and a jail sentence that had sidelined him since 1990, when he released his 1995’s acoustic “Train a Comin“ (IMO, his best). His bittersweet, sad and beautiful ballad of regret, ‘Goodbye’, speaks of how his life became a drug addled blur, where he can't even recall how his latest marriage had ended. The lyrics and the chords are dead simple, but they haunt you like a hungry cat -
"... But I recall all of them nights down in Mexico / One place I may never go in my life again /
Was I just off somewhere just too high / But I can't remember if we said goodbye ..."

In concerts, Earle introduces 'Goodbye' as a "ninth step in the key of C", referring to the step in which a recovering addict seeks to make direct amends to others they have harmed along the way. The song also resonated with Emmylou Harris who quickly covered it - and most beautifully, but of course: it's Emmylou Harris - for her “Wrecking Ball“ album the same year (post # 873).

In effect, due to the 5 year drug induced interruption, Steve Earle's old career as a major charting artist in the country and pop/rock charts was over forever. However, he still had much to offer as a singer-songwriter - provided he stayed away from his addictions to drugs and alcohol. So far, 30 years on, he has managed to avoid both - though he recently said it's still a daily challenge for him. But this means we ain't yet done with Steve Earle.

I'll end today's episode with a story. two days back, I said we'll hear more about Earle's son, Justin Townes Earle, born in 1982. His mother, Carol-Ann Hunter, was the 3rd wife (out of 6) of Earle, Justin his first child. The combination of paternal DNA and the Townes Van Zandt tribute embedded in his name might suggest a clear musical pathway, but Justin avoided music during his early years. His father split when he was 2. After the divorce, Earle was a rare presence in Justin's life and though Earle did give Justin a guitar when he was 9, Justin ignored it - “At that point in my life, I thought music was the reason my family was broken up. So the guitar went into the closet and went away".

But 3 years later, in 1994, during Steve Earle’s epic battle with heroin and cocaine, Justin moved in with him - “I moved in because I thought he was going to die. He was completely out of his mind. It broke my mum’s heart, but I just thought it was something that needed to be done.” During that time, which he described as “absolute mayhem,” he discovered the band Nirvana, taking a particular shine to the song 'Where Did You Sleep Last Night?´

After hearing the song playing over and over again through Justin’s bedroom door, Earle ducked into Justin’s room one afternoon to say, “You know that’s a Leadbelly song, right? I said ‘Bullshlt, Kurt Cobain wrote that,’” but he replied - ‘No, come here,’ and he took me upstairs into his room and pulled out a Leadbelly album and put it on the record player. And right there my world changed. Right there, everything completely spun around. It’s kind of like getting a bomb dropped on you. Something about the tone and the honesty = it was just absolutely honest, heart-ripping, and I loved that about it.” There is to be a tragical, sad ironic sequel to this story.
 
We left off yesterday in 1995, with Steve Earle, now aged 40, starting the second phase of his music career. As we've seen, Steve Earle’s first major success came with "Guitar Town" and subsequent albums were critically successful, if not easily categorised into the standard genres of country or rock. Steve Earle’s drug induced 5 year hiatus from 1990 to 1995 has resulted in his musical output being divided into 2 parts - his pre-prison work, from 1986's "Guitar Town" through to 1990's "The Hard Way" and then his post 1994 albums.

Although Earle's prison term was for one year, of which he actually only served 61 days followed by compulsory drug rehab, the experience greatly changed him as a person and informed his songwriting thus. For one thing, although he never "found religion" as such, during his low point he, for the first time in his life, found God, and has maintained his belief in a higher being that, according to him, saved his life. However, he doesn't identify with any religion, just a spiritual belief. This has had a profound impact on his personal and political outlook. Musically, Earle’s pre-1991 output reflects rockabilly and rock styles, but his later albums utilise a variety of musical traditions.

Earle, particularly with his pivot to rock in 1987/88, never endeared himself to the country music establishment. He had recorded country rockabilly, bluegrass, straight rock'n'roll, folk, Americana and outlaw country. Always the maverick, no-one could ever predict what he was going to do next. The arrest on heroin and gun charges sure didn’t help. So fittingly, it wasn’t the country establishment who had Earle’s back; it was another Nashville renegade- ‘ol Waylon. Waylon Jennings, who had himself gone to the brink with his cocaine addiction, but had cleaned himself up in 1985, wore a bandana on his wrist during every show he played while Steve Earle sat in jail, and always included the song 'The Devils Right Hand' in his set - and insisted to his fellow Highwaymen in 1995 that they record it, with some of the proceedings going back to Earle just as his comeback was beginning.

So after Earle’s drug abuse, sacking from MCA and legal troubles forced his recording hiatus until 1995, "Train a-Comin’" was released on an independent label, Winter Harvest Records. It's mostly a collection of Earle's older acoustic compositions plus some favourite covers - "This is exactly the record I needed to make ... no major label would let me make this record, especially coming back after four years. I always wanted to do it. It was a low pressure record, at a point in my life when I needed a low pressure record". The album, which contained the standout song Earle had written while still in rehab, 'Goodbye' - the last song featured yesterday - was nominated for a 1996 Grammy in the Contemporary Folk album category - Earle's 5th Grammy nomination.

But it was Earle’s 1996 release "I Feel Alright" (it's title serves as a health update) that came to define his modern sound and direction. He had stared down his demons and survived to tell the tale, addressing his past troubles head-on, letting his songwriting do the talking. From heartbreak to ramblin’ to recovery from addiction, the album has it all. It addresses topics that many artists were too afraid to broach - the dark corners of the mind and heart that lay beyond the commercial and popular. Much of the material is autobiographical. I suppose when you’ve been as low as Earle has been, it’s no problem to just lay it all out for an audience to hear. The actual sound of the album leans more toward "Guitar Town" than "Copperhead Road". It’s still rocking, but in a more rootsy, country way.

The album's title track and the opening of Earle’s second comeback release, 'I Feel Alright', returned him to a major label, Warner Brothers, and hence a larger audience. It’s clearly autobiographical, a defiant statement of his return to music, with Earle rocking out and snarling - “... Be careful what you wish my friend / Because I've been to hell and now I'm back again ...” with the intensity of someone who has done exactly that. The highs of his life were certainly high, but the lows could not have gotten any lower - he'd been down to the bottom, now he’s back and he's doing OK -
"I was born my papa's son / A wandering eye and a smoking gun / Now some of you would live through me /
Then lock me up and throw away the key / Or just find a place to hide away / And hope that I just go away ..." -


'Hard-core Troubadour' hearkens back to Earle’s "Guitar Town" days with ringing country rocking guitars, a killer riff and vocals singing about the life he had led, albeit narrated in the third person. “... Baby what you waiting for? ...” he asks the woman he’s leaving, without an ounce of pity. It'sough and real like Springsteen whose ´Rosalità makes a brief appearance in the final verse. But what gives this song such a gravitas is the story that concerns itself with an unreliable and intoxicated character and about the woman in his life who must make a choice about what she wants her life to be like. In a way, this song is also about Steve Earle himself - and the hard-core troubadour depicted here is certainly no romanticised hero of the Highway -quite the opposite in fact.

The scenario unfolding in this song is a classic trope in country music - a drunken man staggering on the front lawn of his long-suffering girlfriend or wife, calling on her feelings of pity and obligation to let him back into her life after yet another betrayal and countless demonstrations of his brutality and callousness towards her. The figurative “song” he sings under her window is a common one as sung by the user, the taker, the man who retains a level of familiarity and habit enough to remain to be a perversely compelling force in her life. Perhaps there’s a dose of unhealthy co-dependence thrown in for good measure. Will she let him in again? Or will she resist and choose something better for herself?

The question remains for the woman in this scenario; how much pain and suffering is it reasonable to take before its time to put one’s foot down to say “no more”?

'Hard-core Troubadour' is a product of soul-searching on the part of its writer, one who actually makes his living as a troubadour and also with a personal life fraught by trouble and instability. Given his recent past at this point, this is a sobering set of thoughts for Earle to set to music. Even without his personal context, it's s a stark reflection on how destructive patterns of behaviour cause harm to those beyond - and closest to - the one exhibiting them. It’s also one about knowing when it’s time to let go of a person who has become an agent of pain and suffering in one’s life, and to not be pulled into their maelstrom any further. By 1996, Steve Earle fully knew the score on that -


I read that Steve Earle named his 1997 album "El Corazon" (Spanish for "The Heart") "to represent a deeply personal, raw and centred artistic statement, focusing on the core of his songwriting and life experience". Which is all a load of high-falutin' piffle - Earle would never talk or think like that. The title just sounded cooler in Spanish.

'El Corazon' was Earle's 7th studio album, and contained more than a bit of political content. Hang on for this "El Corazon" slow burner narrative song, 'Taneytown'. It’s another tale of escaping a drab hometown for something different, although this time the singer is a young African American man, telling a profoundly personal story of how his quiet, private life intersects with communal histories of place, race ... and of a lynching gone wrong. Featuring Emmylou Harris on backing vocal, the grimy rocker, with a creeping guitar lick, the taut, hotwired guitars underpinning a horror story of racism, violence and injustice, powers the harrowing drama and intensity of the story -


Earle hired the Del McCoury Band to accompany him on the 1999 bluegrass career side trip, 'The Mountain'. That group’s traditionalism didn’t synch with Earle’s more recalcitrant nature and the combination was notoriously fraught with personality clashes. But that’s not to discount how musically successful it was - even nominated for a Grammy in the bluegrass category - exemplified by this title track sung from the vantage point of a coal worker reflecting on his life in the mines (Kentucky is both bluegrass heartland, where it all started, and loaded with - mostly now closed - coal mines), a topic Earle would later revisit -


When Earle arrived in Ireland in 1997, he was, at age 42, 5 times divorced and had served time in prison for his drug and gun offenses, his addictions nearly killing him. Galway might seem the last place for a recovering addict – the city, loaded up with the world's best pubs, is often lightheartedly dubbed a “graveyard of ambition” due to its irresistible nightlife – but Earle believed its relative solitude and musical culture outweighed all the temptations. Galway would help reignite his creativity.

Adding to Galway’s appeal was Earle’s familiarity with Irish musical traditions. His mentors, Guy Clark and Townes Van Zandt, frequently performed throughout Ireland (Van Zandt played his last show at the Róisín Dubh before his death in 1997). As we saw yesterday, Earle had also previously collaborated with the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan and Terry Woods. The two would eventually introduce him to Irish musician Sharon Shannon, with whom Earle recorded 'The Galway Girl'.

A tapestry woven in mandolin, banjo and accordion gives the song its authentic folkish charm. Appearing on his 2000 album, "Transcendental Blues", 'The Galway Girl' is an acoustic love - perhaps infatuation is a better description - song written about Joyce Redmond (who also plays the Bodhran on Earle’s 2000 recording). Here, Earle displays his lighter side and his affection for traditional Irish music - and of the country itself. Among Earle’s most covered songs (mostly by Irish artists), and is his second most streamed track on Spotify, despite not being released as a single in the U.S. -

'The Galway Girl' was not surprisingly a huge hit in Ireland, to the point of being a staple - but not the original version. The song’s biggest moment in Ireland came in 2008 when Irish singer Mundy recorded a version of the song with Sharon Shannon, who had also collaborated with Earle on the original. From there it spent 5 weeks at # 1 in Ireland.

I've had a bit of fun with this song on a couple of occasions talking with teenage fans of Ed Sheeran in recent years - when this song gets raised (and if they don't, I make sure it does), I always tell them Ed's cover version is no match for Steve Earle's original - this causes them confusion and dismay - first because none of them had heard of Steve Earle, and second, they thought Ed had written 'Galway Girl'. Then I get them to google and there it is - Steve Earle's 'Galway Girl'. None of them, in my presence, took the next step of listening to Earle's song and realise it has a different melody, different lyrics ... because, of course, it's a completely different song! Still, I think it's a bit annoying g that Ed didn't come up with an alternative title.

Speaking of "Alternative" - I'm going to have another rant (I remember doing it before, some time back) at this horribly misused word when it comes to naming music genres. In doing Steve Earle, I've painfully noticed many sites have labeled - or, more accurately, mis-labled - his music style as either "Alt-country" or "Alt-rock" (at least "Alt-metal" didn't make an appearance). Now I won't say, though very tempted to do so, that "Alt" sub-genres don't actually exist as such - but they are the dumbest named sub-genres in music history (though "Indie" ain't much better).

The term "Alt" started as a corporate ad campaign in the latter 1980's, relying on the laziness, ignorance and gullibility of the masses - and it sadly worked. It's simply the wrong term by definition, as it describes something by what it ain't, instead of what it is - "Alt" is literally an alternative to whatever it is that's described. And to make it more ridiculous, "Alt" Rock and country of the late 1980's became the mainstream kind of Rock and country of the 1990's, so the "Alt" term denotes something temporary in time it should've been abolished then and there.

So whenever someone (who hasn't been forewarned of my attitude) uses the term "Alt" as a music genre descriptive to me, they're in for it - the conversation goes something like this ... Me: "So what sort of music do they/he/she play". Reply: "Alt-rock". Me: "Oh, so they don't play rock. So what do they play? opera perhaps?". I then launch into my well practised, blistering attack on the term "Alt", leaving me feeling cathartically better and my astonished victim listener ... worse - but better educated.

I've no doubt Steve Earle wouldn't give a flying feck about this, but his son, Justin Townes Earle was another who detested the term "Alt", (he classified his genre as Southern American rather than Americana). He once assailed an interviewer who made the mistake of using "Alt" - "God forbid my music being labelled alt-country. It’s either country or it ain’t". That's putting it much more succinct than me and about sums it all up, thus bringing my rant to an end. I feel better now having written it - you may feel worse reading it.

Anyway, I got diverted from the life of country/country rock/rock/folk/folk country master singer-songwriter, Steve Earle. Tomorrow will complete his story to date, as we journey into then21st century - and also take a brief look at a subject I deliberately avoid - politics - apart from a brief neutrally pitched passing mention here or there so as not to be diverted from the subject (there's threads somewhere else on BF for political discussion ). But given that politics has played a big part in Earle's career, I thought I will address it, but only from an objective, not partisan, angle. I will also look at a tragedy that tore Earle to his very core.
 
Last edited:
Before we resume looking at Steve Earle's music, starting with another from his 2000 'El Corazon' album, let's take a very brief look at his secondary career as an actor. As well as his music being used in 12 Hollywood movies, Earle has appeared in several films, such as Captain Mike Across America in 2007, In Prison My Whole Life" in 2007 with Yasiin Bey and the Jeremy Irvine suspenseful adaptation The World Made Straight in 2015. He had recurring roles in the HBO series The Wire and Tremé. He has also done theatre. In 2009, Earle appeared in the off-Broadway play Samara, for which he also wrote a score that The NYT described as “exquisitely subliminal" (whatever that means). Earle wrote music for and appeared in Coal Country, for which he was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. He was the host of the weekly show Hard Core Troubadour on Sirius Radio’s Outlaw Country channel.

Now back to the music - 'When I Fall' is a song that's fits in perfectly with the theme of the 2000 "El Corazon" album. It was written as a loving tribute to Earle's sister, Stacey who, in addition to his barely teen son, Justin, was another who, in Earles's own words "saved my life" and helped get him through from his addiction to recovery. This is a unique track as Stacey Earle sings the backing vocal. A winning melody and positive lyrics make this a


Here's one for Gough. Earle’s post-1994 output became more and more notable for its political content and its debt to protest music singers, such as Bob Dylan (who had long, since the late 1970's, stopped protesting in his songs) and Bruce Springsteen. Though his protest songs date back to. In the 1987, his 2003 album, "Jerusalem" was the first of Earle’s very explicitly political themed albums, a meditation on the attacks of September 11 2001, and the US government’s response to them.

'John Walker’s Blues', a song written from the point of view of John Walker Lindh, an American who, after converting to Islam and training at an al-Qaeda-affiliated camp, had joined the Taliban in May 2001 (prior to the September attack). The song caused an uproar for seeming to humanise Lindh and condone his actions. Earle's use of the Islamic phrase “There is no god but God” in the lyric and the Islamic Arabic chant in the chorus caused even further outrage -"I told Elvis Costello when I’d just got the idea for it and the chorus was ‘la ilaha illa Allah’ and he said: ‘You’re out of your mind, don’t do that’.” But Earle being Earle, he went right on ahead and did it, receiving many death threats for his trouble.

Earle has since explained that for him, writing the song was a matter of simple fairness and justice - "That’s my whole connection to it. I have a 20-year-old son (Justin) And yeah, the shit I did when I was 20 … I believed a lot of stuff in my heart when I was 20-years-old that I don’t believe now. Some of which was right and some of which was wrong. But holding somebody that accountable … If they had anything that they could have charged him with, they would’ve. This particular case they chose to bring him back and try him in our civil system, and it happened way too behind closed doors and way too quickly and way too quietly and I’m not comfortable with it. We talk a lot about democracy and about unity and those two seem to be at odds with each other right now, which is heartbreaking ...

I do not support John Walker Lindh and what he did. But when you’re writing in the first person, you’re writing in the first person. And you assume that person’s politics, that person’s foibles, his mannerisms, his speech and the better you get at it, the more you’re gonna be put in the position of saying something that is a little uncomfortable for you to say. I mean, I’ve written from the point of view of much more despicable characters than John Walker Lindh" -

For me, and I reckon for Earle at the time, the song is also an exploration of the motivation behind Walker's actions - the song's Islamic chant being a key. Earle took a "crash course" in Islam at the time he wrote the song and realised how incredibly ignorant he - and by extensions most Americans (and I would add in Australians) - are about Islam. In the briefest of nutshells, there are some quite different variations in Islamic interpretation, just like in Christianity. While all Muslims are required, in the Quran, to support the establishment of Islamic (Sharia) Law as the basis of civil law in countries that don't already have it, some call for a gradual peaceful transition, but others (with some Islamic teachings going back 1,400 years in support), call for non-stop Jihad against infidels to establish Sharia Law quicker. This is the belief John Walker Lindh was converted to, so once he accepted that version of Islam, as many do, he was bound to fight and be prepared to die for his belief.

I won't say too much about the albums title song, 'Jérusalem', but to note the obvious - this is even more relevant now than when it was written. Unusually for Earle, this song isn't political but idealistic - it's message of hope perhaps at odds with the present grim reality (and there are no easy answers - with a reasonable grasp of 3,000 years of history, I can see both (well actually it's 3) sides of the story). Here, Earle refers to "the children of Abraham" - by that he means all Jews, Christians and Muslims, who all trace their beliefs back to Abraham.
even. One practical message to take from this is to stop hating. Sadly, Earle's idealistic vision seems further away than ever -
"... And there'll be no barricades then, / there'll be no wire walls /
And we can wash all this blood from our hands / and all this hatred from our souls /
And I believe that on that day, all the children of Abraham / Will lay down their swords forever in Jerusalem ..." -


Earle followed "Jerusalem" with his most overtly political album of his career, the aptly named "The Revolution Starts…Now". The Grammy Award-winning album of protest music aimed at hammering home Earle’s then extreme far-left political views (he's still very far left, but has mellowed a bit, no longer calling for a marxist uprising and a one-party socialist state) was one of the first full albums about the Iraq War by a major artist. It is notable for its radical eclecticism, with musical gestures from rock, folk, reggae and spoken-word.

Earle, the man who, as his song from 2 days back proclaims 'I Ain't Ever Satisfied', and always, from the time he quit his school, despite his obvious intelligence, and headed off to Houston, seemed to take things to extremes - both for better and for worse - took to politics. But not for him centre- right - or anything right, or centre-left - or anything centre. No, he placed himself at the edge of the hard- left and after his recovery from his heroin and cocaine addictions, he went as far left as o e could get, describing himself as a Marxist.

In a 2008 interview with the communist journal, The Socialist Worker, where he praised communist China as having the ideal model for the U.S. to follow, he called himself a socialist - “... I’m a socialist in a country where there’s no viable socialist party, and by viable, I mean in the sense of participating in these elections ...". Neither of these candidates (Democratic Party candidates Obama and John Kerry) are anywhere close to anything that I consider to be the left, but I’ll vote for whichever one gets the Democratic nomination in the general election. I’m not a Democrat. I vote outside the Democratic Party all the time. I just don’t do it in the presidential elections, and I’m probably not likely to, unless something drastically changes. Things are too critical right now. It’s not about lesser evilism to me. It’s about survival.”

Since then, Earle, a fierce critic of Obama, has moderated his views ... somewhat. He no longer identifies as a full-on Marxist, he believes family owned shops and family farms shouldn't be nationalised (but most everything else should be), and has endorsed the Democratic Socialist Party led by Bernie Sanders, which is now making big inroads into the Democratic Party and may well take it over within the next few years. If so, Earles's dream of a socialist republic may well become a reality.

Despite being a fierce critic if Obama (I need not mention his attitude to Trump), Earle's albums since 2010 have been less overtly political than the previous decade, instead having an emphasis on empathy - “My attitude has changed. I’m no less radical than I was, but I’m watching our democracy fall apart, and I think it has to do with how we will not listen to each other.”

I suspect Earle's involvement in politics is one of an artist, rather than grounded by hard reality. He virtually says as much - "... To me politics is about romance. If I thought politics was about the way things are I wouldn’t farcking bother, I wouldn’t read a newspaper, I wouldn’t go out of the house. My involvement in politics is about the way the world should be, not the way the world is.” No more on Earle's politics - now back to the music.

In 2011, Earle, at age 57, was still doing all right - in fact, it was about the happiest period of his life - and that’s the vibe you get from his latest album, "I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive". In the loping opener, 'Waitin’ on the Sky', he sings over and over about “... sittin’ on top of the world ...”, Photos in the CD booklet show him in the studio doting on his beautiful baby boy, John Henry. And then there’s the fact that he’s now living in New York, having moved there in 2006 and loving it - calling it his favourite city in the world - with his beautiful wife, Allison Moorer, a successful singer-songwriter in her own right. She was wife # 6 and probably the love of his life (he has been married 7 times, as he married Lou-Anne Gill, with whom he had the second of his 3 sons, twice). He was also close to fellow New Yorker, his immensely talented and sensitive son, Justin Townes Earle - “Yeah, my life’s pretty good. I make an embarrassing amount of money for a borderline Marxist doing something I really love to do. What would I possibly have to complain about?”. Little did he know then of the terrible grief in store for him.

In 'Meet Me In The Alleyway' Earle goes Tom Waits for this seething entry from 2011’s "I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive" album. Although the album title hearkens back to Hank Williams’ last song he ever recorded of the same name, Earle doesn’t cover it or any of the many other Hank Williams classics (of which Earle, like most other serious songwriters, was a huge fan). He instead wrote originals like this that convey a life on the fringes of an urban jungle (in contrast to the usual country music based setting), accompanied by nightmarish, thumping drums, distorted vocals, raw harmonica and a portentous edge miles away from anything -


So the release of 2011's I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive" album saw Earle on top of the world, doting on his baby son, John, having a beautiful singer-songwriter wife, Allison Moorer and spending more time with his eldest son, Justin, whose own singer-songwriting career was taking off - but this idyllic world would be ripped apart, testing his resolve to the fullest.

Just before turning 2, in 2012, John Henry Earle was diagnosed with autism, later revealed to be Level 3, the most severe degree of disability. John Henry is nonverbal with extreme sensory issues, prone to violent behaviour such as head-butting, scratching, and hair-pulling as well as screaming fits, toileting issues and problems sleeping. It doesn't get much tougher than that. Caring for John Henry demands much of Earle’s time, but has also given him a renewed sense of purpose - “I know why I get up in the morning now: to figure out a way to make sure he’s going to be alright when I’m gone. That’s my job. That’s what I do. Autism is the centre of my life, apart from recovery. They are the two things that control my life.”

John Henry's parents, Earle and Allison, considered the love of Earle's life, were together for 8 years - the longest of any of Earle’s 7 marriages. Both singer-songwriters, they often toured side-by-side. However, in 2014, Moorer left Earle. Asked how his son’s autism contribute to their split, Earle, still with a stoic sense of humour, called it “the straw that broke the camel’s back. I think she was going to leave me anyway. She traded me in for a younger, skinnier, less talented singer-songwriter.” That “... skinnier, less-talented singer-songwriter” Earle is referring to is none other than Hayes Carl. Both Earle and Allison remained in New York City to care for their son.

Steve Earle suffered his biggest gut wrenching body blow of all when eldest son, and a significant singer/songwriter in his own right, Justin tragically died in 2020 at age 38, from an accidental “acute combined drug toxicity”, yet another victim of the raging opioid epidemic, use of fentanyl-laced cocaine resulted in his overdose. Outspoken to the end, Justin never hid his struggles with addiction – just like his father. There was something different about the way he used drugs and drank compared with his friends and Justin himself said he thought people with drug problems are missing something inside. His songs couldn’t disguise how he felt, and on the title track of his final studio album, "The Saint of Lost Causes", he even sang: “Truth is that this has been with me so long / That I must admit I kinda like the pain”.

Just a few months on from his son’s untimely death, in a fog of heartbreak after losing Justin, Earle, with the help of his other 33-year-old son Ian, selected 10 of Justin’s most memorable compositions from 6 of Justin's albums. He booked a week at Jimi Hendrix's Electric Lady Studios in NYC. where he had recorded 2020's "Ghosts of West Virginia" album. Earle then gathered his trusted band, the Dukes, to record an album named "J.T.", released on what would have been Justin's 39th birthday.'Harlem River Blues' was the title song of Justin's 3rd studio album, released in 2010 The elder Earle goes bluegrass for this rather upbeat tune, seemingly about suicide, where the singer lets the dirty water cover him. Steve’s version features fiddle and a gospel chorus -

On the CD liner wrote - "For better or worse, right or wrong, I loved Justin Townes Earle more than anything else on this earth. That being said, I made this record, like every other record I’ve ever made...for me. It was the only way I knew to say goodbye".

Steve Earle, at age 71, is still, despite everything, very much active, still writing songs, still recording, still touring.
I was to finish Steve Earle's history piece today, but I've got just a little bit left over for tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Yesterday, I briefly outlined Steve Earle's acting career, which has included live theatre. His creativity has also extended to literature, having published both a collection of short stories, Dog House Roses in 2003, that draws heavily on his life experiences.and a novel I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive in 2011, about a defrocked doctor in 1963 San Antonio who is haunted by the ghost of Hank Williams. Earle also produced studio albums for other artists such as Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels on A Gravel Road" in 1998 and Joan Baez "Day After Tomorrow" in 2008.

A notable authorized biography, Hardcore Troubadour: The Life and Near Death of Steve Earle by Lauren St John, covering his early life, drug addiction and, of course, musical career, was published in 2003. Earle also has a planned autobiography titled "I Can't Remember If We Said Goodbye". It's apparently been written - or at least mostly written , and it has been listed on several retailer sites with varying publication dates since 2018. The latest expected publication date has been given as August 2026, so let's wait and see.

But for today, having completed the rest of Earle's potted history, I'm including songs Earle wrote about two special persons in his life and another a cover from 1 of the 4 tribute albums Earle has recorded. The first song - which I couldn't help myself in taking a bit of a bit dive into - Earle wrote about his friend and first great mentor, the late, great, legendary song-writer, Townes Van Van Zandt (posts # 551-555) who passed away in 1997 at age 52, his body wrecked by drugs and general unhealthy living.

When Towns Van Zandt passed away on New Year’s Day 1997, Earle kept finding his old friend wherever he turned until he finally sat down in Galway, Ireland 2 months later and wrote 'Fort Worth Blues' as a tribute to his departed friend. The loss of van Zandt seems to have inspired Earle to even greater levels, with a song at once poetic, regretful, soothing and with one of his finest melodies. On top of this, there is a combined guitar/pedal steel solo that is so full of soul and yearning, it seems to capture the tears and joy of living. The song carries a lonesome restlessness that is irresistible, and seems to capture and reflect Van Zandt’s own writing.

Van Zandt came from Fort Worth, born into one of the most well-known, and wealthy, Texas family. Despite never feeling comfortable with his privileged background, doing everything he could do embrace poverty in a life of wondering, Fort Worth was the closest thing he ever had to a home. The song opens hovering over Fort Worth on the night Van Zandt died, the city - a far better place to visit than neighbouring Dallas - swathed in neon lights -
"But they’d shut down all the honky-tonks tonight / And say a prayer or two / If they only knew "

The sad irony comes from knowing the honky-tonks didn't close, but not because they hadn't heard the word of the songwriter’s death, but because they didn't appreciate the poetic greatness of the songwriter. Think of Auden’s memorial for Yeats when life went on not noticing the death of the poet or the New Testament lines - “A prophet is not without honour, except in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house". They loved Van Zandt in Europe, especially in Ireland (along with Guy Clark and Steve Earle) but his hometown was another matter. Van Zandt left Fort Worth seeking a place where life made sense to him -
"... You used to say the highway was your home / But we both know that ain’t true /
It’s just the only place a man can go / When he don’t know where he’s travelin’ to ..."

But no other place offered the home Van Zandt sought -
"... But Colorado’s always clean and healin’ / And Tennessee in Spring is green and cool /
It never really was your kind of town / But you went around with the Fort Worth Blues / ..."

Here the song morphs, because it is not only Van Zandt who sought some peace, but Earle himself, so he sings not only of Van Zandt but also his own journey. In fact, Earle wrote this song while traveling and touring in the months after his friends death. The song turns back on Earle when he sings -
"... Somewhere up beyond the great divide / Where the sky is wide and the clouds are few /
A man can see his way clear to the light / Just hold on tight /That’s all you gotta do / ..."

Is that advice or a wish? Earle speaks at least as much to himself as he does his friend. Earle had been travelling after Van Zandt’s death and one can imagine he was struggling with his grief and to make sense of Van Zandt’s life. He came into his favourite retreat, Galway (the most Irish and magical part of Ireland) and stopped for a break. There’s a pub and performing space, the Roisin Dubh, where he surely would have found the picture of Towns Van Zandt hanging over the bar with an inscription “Townes Van Zandt Texan Singer Songwriter and Gentleman.” That would best explain why he then writes -
".. There’s a full moon over Galway Bay tonight / Silver light over green and blue /
And every place I travel through, I find / Some kinda sign that you’ve been through ..."

More than a sign in the bar, more then footprints, it’s the echoes of his friend and the words he wrote, a sense that Van Zandt’s spirit has infused the world that Earle inhabits. Earle puts his friend’s travels in some perspective as he sketches out a sort of posthumous travelogue for Townes, ending with thoughts of foreign cities and the shared journey of the two men (Think of Auden writing on the passing of Yeats - “The words of a dead man /
Are modified in the guts of the living"). Earle will go on singing his friend’s song which has become his song -
But Amsterdam was always good for grieving / And London never fails to leave me blue /
Paris never was my kinda town / So I walked around with the Ft. Worth Blues ..." -


Earle’s spent some years travelling with Van Zandt and tells the story of an early tour with the last show out in the backwoods of Colorado and Van Zandt was too drunk to go on stage. Figuring (as they were still little known and, of course, this was long before mobile phones and social media) no one would know the difference, the young Steve Earle went on as Towns Van Zandt, played all of Van Zandt’s songs, grabbed the money and they high-tailed it back to Texas without anyone being the wiser.

In 2009, Earles released a 15-song set dedicated to Van Zandt, the 2009 album "Townes" winning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Folk Album and features guest appearances by Tom Morello and, appropriately given his name, Earle's son, Justin Townes Earle. The album consisted of Earle's covers of Towne's exquisitely written compositions, giving his own interpretation to them but only rarely straying from Van Zandt's original melody.

In 2019, Earle, having done the same for Townes Van Zandt 10 years earlier, released the album "GUY", a 16 song collection paying homage to Earle's friend and his second great mentor, songwriter Guy Clark (posts # 848-856), who had died in 2016 in Nashville at the age of 74, following a lengthy battle with lymphoma . It features the Dukes and includes guest spots from Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, and Jerry Jeff Walker.

On "GUY", Earle and his newly recast band, The Dukes, delivered both the well-known and relatively obscure. He doesn’t monkey much with Clark’s winsome melodies or with the feel of the original recordings, though he does add some new instrumentation. Earle played Clark’s songs the way Clark played them - why wouldn’t he? - Clark had already sniffed out the best way to deliver the material, though Earle’s voice is thicker and grittier than Clark’s.

Earle recorded all 16 tracks in just 5 days. Though Earle knew most of the material intimately, he still found himself cursing Clark’s particular genius, his odd ease with language - “I would notice something, some intricate alliteration, and just go, ‘motherf@#ker'. It was always something. He was so good and he worked so hard on everything.” As for Earle's reason for releasing the album - "No way could I get out of doing this record. I didn’t want to run into that motherf@#ker on the other side if I had released an album of Townes songs, but not one of his".

From the "GUY" album, I chose 'Dublin Blues', partly because Guy Clark, along with Earle and Van Zandt, all had a great affinity with Ireland, and the Irish, in turn, had a greater appreciation of this immensely talented, authentic songwriters than the average American. Aside from that, it's just a damn good song, playing like part ode to the trio's Texas home - all its haunts and watering holes - and part soliloquy to lost love with all its bittersweet heartache. You may check out post # 850 for Clark's original -


As we've seen, writing a tribute song and the recording a tribute album weren't the first acts of homage for Earle paid to Towns Van Zandt. He had also named his first son, Justin Towns Earle, after his friend. But little did Earle imagine that he would also be recording an album, "J.T.". Justin had inherited his father's song-writing genes and also the poetical spirit of Van Zandt. But tragically, he had also gone down the same path of drug addiction as both his namesakes. In 2021 in memory of Justin after his opioid overdose death in 2020. I posted Earle's cover version of Justin's 'Harlem River Blues' yesterday, but held back one more song from the album.

The "J.T." album consists of 10 songs written by Justin and one final track, 'Last Words' written by Earle. All the proceeds from the album are donated to a trust set up for Justin's daughter. In 'Last Words', Earle looks back on the extraordinary last year where father and son found themselves back in Nashville. Their hey both sat out the last summer of J.T’s life in Tennessee, grounded by the pandemic (the same pandemic that tripped me over into starting this whole history thing) - “We spoke often those last few months, saw each other a handful of times and I talked to him the night he died. I am grateful for that.”

To mark this, Earle composed ‘Last Words’, which comes straight from the heart, unfiltered and raw -
“Last time we spoke, was on the phone, / and we hung up and now you’re gone/
Last thing I said, was I love you / Your last words to me were, I love you too.”
With simple, candid lyrics Earle also recalls that very first moment he laid eyes on his new-born son and cradled him “... I was there when you were born / Took you from your mama’s arms /
I wish I could have held you when / You left this world like I did then / ...”
Earle even remarks that J.T. departed this world - “... a little over a mile from where he came in...”


Earle has since recorded one more tribute album, this time to another of his song-writer heroes and friend, a 10-song tribute to the "gypsy songman", Jerry Jeff Walker (posts # 844-847), who died from throat cancer in 2020 at an Austin hospital, at age of 78. You may (but probably don't) recall that in Earle's introduction post (# 1,242), I wrote that Earle "... began playing at the Sand Mountain Coffee House (in Houston), which had a mural featuring his 3 heroes - Townes Van Zandt, Guy Clark and Jerry Jeff Walker. ...". Simply titled "Jerry Jeff". the album features full-band recordings of hits like 'Mr. Bojangles' and 'Gettin’ By'.

In 2020, Earle was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In 2023, he was honoured by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music. Earle’s latest album, “Alone Again (Live)” was released in 2024.

Most recently, Steve was honoured with an invitation, delivered by Vince Gill, to join the Grand Ole Opry and at age 70, he was officially inducted into the Opry by Emmylou Harris in September 2025. He will be performing at the Opry later this month, before heading up to New York City for a couple of gigs before heading back down south. He will be touring Europe again - including Ireland, of course, later this year.

I've just been ordered off to Indonesia for around a couple of weeks, so you'll have another reprieve from any further history here until at least March.
 
Last edited:
Enjoyed Jake Vaadeland tonight. He is getting some credit, show was sold out. Which was a bit annoying, hard to keep up the booze level at he bar and see the artist at the same time. But on the other hand a good thing obviously.
 

Remove this Banner Ad

Similar threads

rdhopkins2
Nirvana - The Music, The Memories
Replies
1
Views
87
Davidoff
Davidoff
JHF1870
    • Like
Your personal music timeline
2 3
Replies
61
Views
3K
raskolnikov
raskolnikov
Achy Blakey Heart
Melbourne live bands/music
Replies
0
Views
345
Achy Blakey Heart
Achy Blakey Heart
Ohitsthatguy
    • Like
    • Love
    • Haha
Is music truely subjective? Why does everyone love the Beatles and Pink Floyd?
2
Replies
27
Views
1K
TimZoo
T
Judd_Magic
Check out my music YouTube channel
Replies
0
Views
357
Judd_Magic
Judd_Magic
M
    • Like
For King and Country
Replies
0
Views
487
mikey127
M
revo333
New music discussion 2026
2 3 4
Replies
86
Views
7K
PoopingHindi
PoopingHindi

Remove this Banner Ad

🥰 Love BigFooty? Join now for free.

Back
Top Bottom