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Everything Nash talks to Randy Travis and his wife, Mary, about celebrating 40 years of his debut 'Storms of Life' album, the newly-named Randy Travis Room in Nashville Palace, his legacy in country music, and more.
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Randy Travis silhouette.
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>> I promise he exists.
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Hey guys, it's Gail with everything let
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me start that over. Forgot where my
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microphone was. Hey guys, it's Gail with
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everything Nash. We are here with Randy
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and Mary Travis at the Nashville Palace.
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>> Yeah.
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>> I'm so excited. Uh we're celebrating a
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lot of things right now including
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40 years since Storms of Life. Like that
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doesn't even seem possible because I
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remember that album coming out. Talk
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about it being such a milestone
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anniversary.
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>> It's pretty cool, huh?
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>> Yeah.
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>> Well, shoo, 40 years boy it's flown by.
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It's been a long storm, hasn't it? Here
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we are 40 years later still the Storms
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of Life.
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>> Um
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it was an
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incredible the success that that's that
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album found being Randy's
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first album.
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Um the number of hits that came off of
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it, the number of albums that sold.
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Um when he and Kyle finished that
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that you know they they thought, "Well,
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if it'll sell 40,000 albums maybe Warner
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will let us make another one." And that
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was what they said when they walked out
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of the studio when they completed it. Of
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course it went on to sell 4 million, I
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think, but um it was a it was a pivotal
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album in country music, not just for
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Randy but all of country music, I think.
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People wanted to hear that.
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Maybe the labels and the radio stations
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didn't believe it but Randy believed it.
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>> Yeah.
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>> And that
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>> I think we're still listening to it like
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you said 40 years later.
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>> On the other hand on the other hand
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released twice not once but twice. I
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love that. I'm Digging Up Bones. It
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really did kind of set the tone for the
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future of country music, I think.
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>> Mhm. Yes, 1982.
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Yeah. No Place Like Home, those were the
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big ones off of that one but
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and beautiful songs.
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>> Um we're also celebrating something
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else. We are sitting in the Randy Travis
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room at Nashville Palace.
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What What an honor because this is where
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it all began.
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Can we just talk a little bit about what
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that means?
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>> It's pretty special.
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>> Yeah.
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Yeah. And what Barrett did and what the
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Hobbs did here and I you know, look at
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this picture over here with John A over
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our shoulder. John A was just um
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he believed in Randy. He was like a dad
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to Randy when Randy got to Nashville.
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And John could be rough, but John was
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just as as kind and gentle as anybody
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would ever want to meet. Randy loved
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John A Hobbs, but John believed in him
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and
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understandably so.
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It's just that the rest of Nashville
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didn't at the time, but they you know,
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they just he stuck to it. He
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he didn't give up and he didn't change
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his desire to make traditional country
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music. He wanted to make that music and
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that's all he wanted to do and Colin
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Lending said when he came into the
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studio, it was so simple because I knew
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exactly where we were going to go. Randy
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knew exactly who he wanted to be and
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exactly what he wanted to sing. He
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wasn't going to vacillate, he wasn't
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going to change and ultimately
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the world heard it.
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>> Is it Garth I think it's Garth and said
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that Randy single-handedly you saved
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country music
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because you stuck to what you wanted to
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do, which was not a popular opinion back
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then.
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Okay, so I think that I know a lot about
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country music. I've been doing this over
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20 years. I just learned something new
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about you last week. Your opera debut
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happened while you were working here,
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cooking here, right?
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>> Yeah.
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>> [laughter]
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>> I honestly I honestly never knew that.
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You have to tell us that story real
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quick, Mary.
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>> Well, that was the in 1986 also, you
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know, that that 1986 was huge for Randy
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40 years ago.
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Um it was in March of '86 and Little
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Jimmy Dickens would come in here and
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eat. Randy would cook for him, you know,
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and he'd eat. And then he'd go over to
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the Grand Ole Opry and one night he told
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Randy, he said, "When I go over there, I
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want you to go with me." And so Randy
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took his apron off, put on his jacket,
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and they went over to the Grand Ole
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Opry, and Randy just he's excited cuz
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he's thinking I just I get to go with
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Little Jimmy Dickens to Grand Ole Opry.
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Well, when it's Little Jimmy's time, he
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sends Randy out on the stage. He said,
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"You go out there and you sing for me,
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boy." And Randy said,
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"I didn't even notice to see a people
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out here because I was so nervous cuz in
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the corner of my eye, all I could see
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was Little Jimmy Dickens standing over
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there side stage." And he said, "I
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remember thinking, I wish he'd just go
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away cuz it was so nervous with Little
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Jimmy Dickens watching him. So, that was
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his Opry debut, and in December then
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they he was invited to be a member of
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the Grand Ole Opry in 1986.
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>> So, I might be a little partial because
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you know that I love you, and I feel
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like I know you pretty well, but I feel
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like there's there are few artists that
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are still as relevant as you are.
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I really do believe that. More music
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coming?
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>> Yes.
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>> Yes.
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>> Yes.
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Music from the archives.
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>> I love that, and I love the stuff you
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put out, too. I'm I'm just I just love
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it so much.
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>> Well, I think that was a way of
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introducing the world to AI in a good
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way
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cuz anything with technology is the fear
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of the unknown, and people are like,
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"Uh, I don't know what to think about
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that."
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And and till you get the guardrails up,
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it's the telephone, it's the computer,
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it's whatever it is that's technology.
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AI is just another one of those. When we
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started doing that 3 and 1/2 years ago,
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uh
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nobody knew what to think of AI. Now AI
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is everywhere. It's in our living rooms.
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You know, it's it's our next door
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neighbor now. So, it I think it was it
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was a way of Randy to be involved with
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producing music again, even though he
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has lost his voice to aphasia from the
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stroke. But it was it was a way of him
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to be able to make music
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um and to be a part of it and he blessed
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the whole thing all along the way.
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Um
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So it's it's it's
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We'll figure it all out. AI's here to
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stay. We've just got to figure out what
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to do with it. So he loves the music and
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to be a part of it and so that's what
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touring and all of this is all about.
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>> And Randy Travis is here to stay, too.
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Randy and Mary Travis friends.
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>> Thank you.
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