Randy Bruce Traywick was born May 4, 1959 in Marshville, NC, a sunny town in the Deep South. The young Randy has a turbulent and quarrelsome temper, but if on one side of the coin he has problems with the sheriff, on the other, he has a sincere passion for country music. A passion that grows at a very young age, playing guitar and singing with his father and brothers, David and Rick, in the smokey “country” clubs of North Carolina. The encounter that changes his life, is the one with Elizabeth ‘Lib’ Hatcher, owner of a nightclub in Charlotte called “Country City USA”. Lib immediately sees the great potential of Randy’s singing and convinces him to quit the bottle and bad company and devote himself full-time to country music. Very soon after she becomes his manager and funded his first single in 1978 under the name Randy Traywick, entitled “She’s my woman” which was produced by Joe Stampley for Paula Records. It is not a success! In order to find success he has to go to Nashville and find a major studio willing to take a chance on an unknown young man. The decision has been made: Randy, who in the meantime has renamed himself Randy Ray, and Lib Hatcher soon found themselves in the “Music City”, a city that is rediscovering an enthusiasm for country music thanks to the great success of the film “Urban Cowboy”. Here, in 1982, our guy recorded “Randy Ray at Nashville Palace”, named after the restaurant where he performed on stage as a singer, and more often, in the kitchen as a chef. Meanwhile, Lib manages to get an audition at Warner Bros who is looking for an emerging talent to counter the dominance of George Strait in terms of sales. The audition was successful and the first thing Warner did on the young Randy was to change his name to Randy Travis. Once the name had been changed, he had to make his debut with a good steady song, and the choice falls on the track called “On the other hand” which is pretty good, although success really came with the second single “1982.” With the release of “Storms of Life”, which contains both the above mentioned songs, the world of country music finally notices this guy from North Carolina, with this baritonal voice.
The eighties saw the rise of the star Randy Travis, thanks to the release of four more albums on the Warner Bros label: “Always & Forever” in ’87, “Old 8×10” in ’88, “No Holdin’ Back in’ 89 and finally the traditional Christmas album,”An Old Time Christmas”, considered by critics as one of the most beautiful Christmas albums in music history. Author of many hit songs, some of which performed by other singers, such as the famous “She’s Got The Rhythm (And I Got The Blues)”, which Alan Jackson recorded for the album “A Lot About Livin’ (And a Little ‘Bout Love), Travis breaks into the 90’s with a beautiful disc recorded with some of the myths of the music scene. The album is entitled “Randy Travis Duets: Heroes & Friends” and sees the contribution of singers such as George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Roy Rogers, Conway Twitty, Kris Kristofferson, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, BB King and in the track “Smokin’ The Hive” he even sings with Clint Eastwood. Success, of course, is worldwide and in the wake of this triumph, a series of albums are recorded, which all reach the top of the Billboard Top Ten. The decade which began in 2000 sees the music of Randy Travis acquire a touch of gospel, country music slowly turns into Christian music and at the same time, a career in acting was taking off, which saw him in various films and TV dramas. Now in 2013, Randy held a memorable concert at the CMA fest in Nashville, but in July was struck by a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital in Dallas.Overcome the acute phase , but not completely recovered,Randy came out with a new record dedicated to all those artists who have influenced his music and his style. The CD is entitled “Influence Vol.1: The Man I Am”, and contains a series of really beautiful covers that Randy plays in his own style, i.e great voice and great feeling.(Gianluca Sitta)
