Randy Travis, a true icon of country music, shares his extraordinary story of triumph, love, and perseverance in this heartfelt conversation with Sid Evan. From his rise to fame to the near-fatal stroke that changed everything, Randy’s journey is one of resilience, love, and groundbreaking innovation. With the help of AI and producer Kyle Lehning, Randy has regained his voice—and his story continues with a new song, Horses in Heaven, and a biopic, Forever and Ever, Amen.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Randy and Mary Travis, welcome to Biscuits and Jam.
00:03Oh, we're so excited about this right up our alley.
00:08Well, it's great to be here with you in person in your home in Nashville.
00:14It's just, it's such an honor to be here sitting with y'all.
00:18Thanks for having me. Thanks for your hospitality.
00:21Thanks for the eggs.
00:24Oh, you're welcome. You're welcome.
00:26They are hard to come by right now.
00:27So y'all have so much going on right now.
00:33You just came off of a Grand Ole Opry performance last night.
00:39You have been on tour.
00:43You've got new music coming out.
00:46Don't you ever want to slow down a little bit?
00:48No.
00:51No, he likes to keep going.
00:53He doesn't like to sit still very long.
00:55Well, it's an exciting year for you with so much happening.
01:00Why did it feel like the right time to go out on the road?
01:05Well, after the stroke, we never knew, you'd never know after a stroke what the aftermath is.
01:10And his was a massive stroke.
01:12And I think it was just, I think it was in spite of all of the doctors and all the news and all of the,
01:20they said you're going to live the rest of your life bedridden and in and out of hospitals.
01:26That's what they told us the day we left.
01:29So maybe we just did it in spite of them.
01:31Maybe we just said, you know what?
01:32We're not going to participate.
01:35So we went through several years of rehab every single day.
01:39And that was kind of our life for the next two and a half years, three years.
01:43And Randy finally kind of got tired of that.
01:47And, you know, he was like a mule.
01:50He'd stick his heels in the ground before we left home.
01:53And if I made him go anyway, then when we got there, he would just sit there.
01:59And so then it kind of became the physical therapist.
02:03Tim would say, I don't think we're getting anywhere.
02:06I think y'all just need to go do other things, go live some life.
02:11So we just took that to mean we need to get back out on the road and go do stuff.
02:15So we did find that some of the best therapy was living life.
02:19And the tour is called?
02:20More Life.
02:21More Life.
02:22I love that.
02:23That was one of the last songs that Randy recorded before he stroked.
02:27Not knowing, obviously, that a stroke was right around the corner.
02:32But he recorded More Life, which is a beautiful song about looking back on your life
02:38and appreciating the things that you have and just taking more time, more life.
02:46Well, what you're doing is very inspiring.
02:48I think it's one of the most inspiring things in country music right now, if not anywhere.
02:55So it's great to see.
02:59And I hope y'all are feeling that from all the fans.
03:04And I think you are.
03:05He has some of the greatest fans.
03:07You know, when you think of the longevity of his career, and those fans have been there since day one.
03:15Yeah.
03:15And we have them all the time.
03:17So I've been there since the early 80s.
03:19I've been listening to you since I had your first album.
03:22I have all of your...
03:23And then you run into the younger generation that will come up to Randy and say,
03:29Mr. Travis, could I take my picture with you?
03:32Or could I have your autograph?
03:34And they're eight years old.
03:35And they're going, this is so wonderful.
03:37So, you know, it's eight to 80, bowler, crippled and crazy.
03:41They all love him.
03:43It's just...
03:44But it's the inspirational stories that we hear from people all the time.
03:49I think it's just God's way of saying you're doing the right thing.
03:52You're doing what I put you here to do at this time and this season in your life.
03:58Absolutely.
03:58And he does it with so much...
04:01He's so open-armed and open-hearted about it.
04:04And that smile on his face, it just invites people in.
04:08And it lets them know everything's going to be okay.
04:11I think that's what life's about.
04:13We all get thrown challenges.
04:15You know, we all get our share of them in different ways, shapes, and forms.
04:19And it's not that you get them, it's how you get out of them
04:22and how you come out a better person
04:25and you share those experiences to maybe lighten somebody else's load.
04:30Randy's the best at that.
04:31Well, and that goes way back to even, you know,
04:34before The Stroke and all your earlier recordings,
04:37I think people have always connected with your music.
04:39And it was kind of a way to lighten their load
04:42and to say that life is hard
04:45and that, you know, a lot of the songs are about people
04:48who have been through some really tough times.
04:50So I guess that's what country music is all about.
04:52It is. It is.
04:53It's the story of our lives.
04:54And I always tell people, I say,
04:56Randy's music was the hymns of country music
04:59because they stick around forever.
05:01They just, you know, you just go back to them.
05:04It's like singing the songs, you know, at church
05:06and the hymns that have been around for hundreds of years.
05:10Yeah.
05:11And they don't ever get replaced with something else
05:13because they're just good and solid.
05:15It's life.
05:17And Randy's music is that way.
05:19It's kind of a guidepost.
05:22It's the ups and downs, the in and outs, the good, the bad.
05:26Yeah.
05:27It's life.
05:27Mary, I want to ask you a little bit about your own background.
05:31You grew up in Texas, in Plano, Texas.
05:33Yes.
05:34Tell me a little bit about the house where you grew up.
05:39The farmhouse?
05:40Yeah.
05:40Well, it was a hundred-year-old farmhouse.
05:45And there was eight in the family.
05:48There was, let's see, we had one, two, three bedrooms.
05:52Mom and Dad had one.
05:53The girls had one.
05:54And the four boys had one.
05:55But we had one bathroom.
05:56So you learned how to just, you didn't take a shower.
06:00You ran through a shower.
06:03But it was a farm.
06:04And we milked cows, hauled hay, chopped cotton, pitched oats.
06:10And I did that all my life until I left home at 18 and went to Baylor.
06:15Did the two of you connect over somewhat similar backgrounds, even if they were in very different states?
06:22I mean, you know, Randy, you grew up in North Carolina.
06:25Marshville, is that right?
06:27Yeah.
06:27Yeah, he had six kids in his family.
06:30And a farming family.
06:32Yeah.
06:32And my daddy was from North Carolina.
06:34And we had six kids in our family, a farming family.
06:40And so, yeah, that was something that made it.
06:43We met in 1990.
06:45We met years and years before we ever got together.
06:50And so we knew of each other.
06:54We knew of our backgrounds.
06:56And I think that that was one of the things that was, you know, a common denominator that made it so easy to understand each other.
07:05You know, where you come from.
07:07Mary, have you spent time in Marshville?
07:09I have.
07:09So, if you were to describe kind of Randy's growing up, what did that look like?
07:17Have you been to the house where he grew up?
07:20Tell me a little bit about that.
07:21It was a white farmhouse, kind of.
07:24Yeah.
07:24I think it was probably newer than the one I grew up in.
07:29But it was just a sweet little farmhouse.
07:34And I'm sure at one point in time it was probably as crowded as our farmhouse.
07:41But, you know, dads would expand them as the families grew.
07:45And he had a beautiful red barn right across the road where they kept the horses.
07:51And it was a lot like ours.
07:54And they were in the middle of agriculture, cropland.
07:59What was it?
08:00Y'all had, like, beans and tobacco and corn or something like that in that area.
08:06But it was a lot the same.
08:08They had the horses and the cows, just like we did.
08:11And chickens, you know.
08:13And music.
08:15And music.
08:16And your dad was a musician.
08:19Yep.
08:19And was your mom musical?
08:21No.
08:22No.
08:23No.
08:24No.
08:24I don't think I ever heard of Bobby much in music.
08:28She sang at church.
08:29But all the kids played music.
08:32Right.
08:33Your brothers.
08:35Right.
08:35There were three of you who really, picking up the guitar.
08:38Is that right?
08:39And nobody wanted to sing?
08:41Yeah.
08:42Well, there was, he and Ricky.
08:44Ricky was the oldest.
08:46Randy was second.
08:47And Harold, their dad, said, all of you are going to play an instrument, so pick your instrument.
08:53Well, Ricky and Randy both picked the guitar.
08:57And they showed the most promise, I guess, in music.
09:02And so, their dad sent them to Miss Kate Mangrum, who was a lady there in the area that taught,
09:10well, she taught guitar and piano.
09:13But Harold said, well, somebody in this family is going to sing.
09:18Because that's what Harold liked, was singing.
09:20I think he cut a record or two at some point.
09:24And so, Ricky said, well, I'm not singing.
09:26And he was oldest, so he got to pick.
09:28So, Miss Kate said, well, Randy, you're going to sing.
09:30And he opened his mouth, and out came that voice.
09:33And she got in touch with her.
09:35She goes, I think you've got to sing.
09:37You think?
09:38Yeah.
09:39Isn't that funny?
09:40I mean, it was just kind of by accident.
09:42They figured out that Randy could sing.
09:44And I think he was nine years old, something like that.
09:48Did your siblings or your mom and dad have a voice, anything like that?
09:54Nothing like that.
09:56No, not really.
09:57I don't think I've ever heard another voice like that.
09:59No.
10:00No.
10:01Not even close.
10:02And as he matured, even his control and the things he could do with voice.
10:07You still talk to artists.
10:09We run into artists all the time.
10:10They're like, I don't know how he does what he does.
10:14I try to copy.
10:15I try to do what he does.
10:16I can't make my voice do that.
10:18And I don't know what it was that he, I don't know if it was an ear thing he heard.
10:24I don't know if it's just a talent that, you know, a gift that God gave him and nobody else.
10:30But we hear that a lot from the artists that are like, man, I try.
10:34I just can't do it.
10:35I want to ask y'all about the church and your faith and kind of where that came from.
10:43Because it seems to be something that you have definitely bonded over and it brought you together.
10:50And it's helped you get through some very tough times.
10:55The last, you know, 10 or 12 years especially.
10:59But where did that come from for you, Mary?
11:01I mean, did you grow up going to church on a regular basis?
11:07It was not questionable.
11:08It was imperative.
11:10Right.
11:10You weren't asked.
11:11You weren't asked.
11:12You were told.
11:13And, you know, we had all piled in our 49 Cadillac that was handed down from parents, from their parents in Virginia.
11:22And all I was piled in that Cadillac and we'd go to church.
11:25It was a country church that actually.
11:28What denomination?
11:29It was Episcopal.
11:30Okay.
11:30And it was one that we kind of resurrected because it was out in the country in North Dallas, which is not country anymore.
11:39But we'd take a dirt road to, it was right off the tollway in Preston Road, if you know anything about Dallas.
11:46But it was a dirt road still back then.
11:48And we'd all pile in and we'd go early because we had, you know, the yard to mow or the parish hall to paint or, you know, stray cats to run out of the church before we had service or whatever it was.
12:04It was great memories.
12:05And then afterwards we'd have dinner out on the ground.
12:09Everybody would bring potluck.
12:11And it was a great upbringing as far as church is concerned.
12:15And so we, yeah, we went, dad was a lay reader and I was in the choir, which was a sad thing because I can't sing.
12:24But we, it was a small church and it grew from two families to 200 people and three services on a Sunday.
12:33So, and Randy, his mom was very, very faithful.
12:38She was just an angel with huge angel wings and polished halos.
12:45And, but I think Randy watched Bobby as she, she never, I don't, did she make y'all go to church?
12:57Yeah.
12:57She made you go.
12:59Yeah.
12:59And so they did go to Methodist.
13:02Was it Methodist a lot?
13:06And then he, I mean, he always had it in his heart, in his spirit.
13:11So Randy, was there a big connection for you between the church and music?
13:19A lot.
13:19Yeah.
13:21Yeah.
13:21You know, I, I, I heard you sing Amazing Grace.
13:27Yeah.
13:28I think you've probably done it a few times.
13:30Um, but, uh, you know, you, you, you came out with that in a really powerful way.
13:38Um, is that a hymn that goes back to, uh, that really resonated with you, um, when you
13:45were going to church early on?
13:47Yeah.
13:48No, it did.
13:49Mm-hmm.
13:49I don't know.
13:50Are there other hymns that, that y'all love?
13:53Well, he came out with several gospel albums.
13:55Yeah.
13:55Yeah.
13:55Um, after he had, he had done so well in the country, people questioned, you know,
14:02why would you make that crossover?
14:04It was important to him to do that music, to, to sing those songs.
14:10Um, so he had a lot of the, the, the gospel music.
14:16Some he wrote, some were his own songs.
14:19And it, you know, you go through, like I was talking about the hymnal a minute ago.
14:24Uh, and there's so many, you know, how great thou art and, uh, onward Christian soldiers
14:32and amazing grace.
14:33And you just go on and on with those old hymns that you just knew by heart.
14:39You know, what's one that really, that, that you love?
14:42I mean, when you think about all the gospel music, um, what's one of Randy, how great thou
14:46art?
14:47It's one of my favorites when I hear him sing that.
14:49This is, I'm wondering if there is a funny story about Randy's childhood that maybe people,
14:57um, don't know as well.
15:00Is there something that, that comes to mind?
15:02I have, I have heard that you weren't always a perfect angel.
15:07Uh, so you got in a little trouble every now and then.
15:11Yeah.
15:12Um, is there, is there a funny story that comes to mind?
15:16I'm trying to think of funny.
15:18Like with his, with it, he would riding horses.
15:22Yeah.
15:23Um, and he rode horses all over the place.
15:26He was, I think he was on a horse when he was three months old, but they had a little
15:30place called Pruitt's.
15:32Okay.
15:33In Marshville.
15:34And it was a kind of a drive-through hamburger joint.
15:38I think it's still there.
15:39Is Pruitt's still there?
15:40Yeah.
15:41And he'd, he'd ride his horse through the drive-through.
15:48That's great.
15:49Yeah.
15:50And he, he probably weren't the only one to do that either.
15:53I bet, I bet, you know, there might've been a couple others to come through on a horse.
15:57Yeah.
15:58A few other rowdies.
15:59Yeah.
15:59And, um, he would always make a joke about how he could ride or drive anything.
16:06He'd say, except for the, like the six cars, five motorcycles, three carriages, whatever.
16:15He said, those are all wrecks, you know, and I'm going, I don't know that I'd tell that.
16:21And he had an old truck that belonged to Ricky and he borrowed it.
16:26And Ricky said, don't you wreck my truck.
16:28First thing he did was he goes and rolls it in a bar ditch and, you know, he said, Ricky was so mad at me.
16:35I said, I guess he was.
16:37And it was just right.
16:38And then Dennis was his little brother.
16:40Dennis lives down south of here off 65.
16:43But Dennis was, um, he was the youngest.
16:48Yeah.
16:49So Randy was nine years older than him.
16:52And mama would send Randy to go pick up Dennis at school.
16:55And he said, and he had this baby blue pickup truck and I could hear it coming.
17:00And he said, I just cringed.
17:02He said, because we went the farm roads home about 80 miles an hour.
17:06Oh gosh.
17:07He'd take a curve on two wheels.
17:08He said, I was scared to death.
17:10So I was always so mad when mama sent Randy to pick me up.
17:15I'm glad that you got through that.
17:18I'm glad you lived through that.
17:19By the grace of God.
17:20I think we all are.
17:21Yes.
17:22By the grace of God.
17:23Because he tried really hard to do himself in.
17:29Mary, what was the first time that you heard Randy sing?
17:32The first time I heard him sing?
17:34Yeah.
17:35Mid-80s.
17:37I mean, as soon as Stories of Life came out.
17:39Because being a country girl, being from Texas, that's just what we listened to, was country music.
17:46Yeah.
17:48So I heard him when he came out.
17:51I'm 60.
17:51I'll be 66 this month.
17:53And so is he.
17:54He'll be 66 maybe.
17:56So I was already out of school.
17:59I'd already graduated Baylor.
18:00And when his songs came, when his Storms of Life came out.
18:07And I mean, I'd heard him for 15 years before.
18:11Was it 1990?
18:12It was five years.
18:13It was five years.
18:14Before y'all met.
18:15Before we met.
18:16And you met, did you meet in Nashville?
18:19Dallas.
18:19Oh, you met in Dallas.
18:20Okay.
18:21Okay.
18:21My brother made shirts called Stubb shirts.
18:24And Randy always wore them.
18:27Those were the ones you'll see in most of his pictures and album covers.
18:33But he would buy them here in Nashville.
18:36There was a store that had them.
18:38And Stubbs and I worked with my brother Stubbs in Dallas.
18:42And he'd come through and pick up more shirts or buttons because they had button tapes.
18:47And so he'd come through there and I thought he was pretty cute.
18:51But I went and got married.
18:53He got married.
18:54And, you know.
18:55It took a while, but it came around.
18:57Yes.
18:5720 years later.
18:59Yeah.
19:00I'm a slow runner.
19:01I wanted to ask you guys about some of the new music that you've been working on.
19:07And y'all have talked about this a good bit.
19:09But it's really, it's such a remarkable story.
19:15And the song is where that came from, which came out last year.
19:23And I want to let you tell it because I'll mess it up.
19:28But it's so extraordinary to have something coming out using AI, using your voice, and that you are able to produce music that you're involved in and care about.
19:50And it sounds so wonderful.
19:52And, you know, this thing that a lot of us have kind of demonized, here it is, you know, doing something that's really remarkable.
20:01But just tell me how that first kind of hatched, that idea of using AI to create this song using Randy's voice.
20:10Chris Lacey, who is head of Warner, she's co-president there at Warner, and she called us.
20:18It was in July of 23.
20:21And she said, before I go any further with this, we've been approached by a team in London that has this AI platform.
20:34And they were asking if, you know, Warner was interested in doing anything with that or with them.
20:40And Chris said, she said, the first thing that comes to my mind is giving Randy Travis back his voice.
20:48She said, that's all I could think of.
20:50So she called us.
20:52She said, would you all be interested in doing that?
20:55Knowing that there's pushback, knowing that, like you said, demonized.
20:59But, Sid, it was one of those things just to hear his voice again.
21:02Yeah.
21:04If I was the only one that listened to it, it would be worth trying it just because I could hear that voice again.
21:10And I wanted to do that a long time.
21:14So we said, well, sure, we'd love to.
21:18We'd love to see how it comes out.
21:20And this was, you know, you think about how fast AI has grown, and it's just exponential now.
21:27But this was two years ago, and we hadn't heard that much about it or of it.
21:32So we didn't really know.
21:34She sent, I think it was 45 different songs of Randy's to them.
21:39And they pulled the stems, vocal stems, of Randy's voice.
21:44Since this is Southern Living, I can say this, and y'all will understand.
21:48It always reminded me of a clothesline where they took a vocal line, and they just laid Randy's vocals on top of that.
21:56So it's really Randy's vocals.
22:00Sometimes when I say the clotheslines, the kids cringe.
22:03They're like, what's that?
22:04But that's the way I see it in my mind of how they do something like that.
22:10I know it's all with computer, and it's all technology, but my mind's not big enough to get around all that.
22:17But the initial track came from James Dupre, correct?
22:22He actually cut that song when he was with Warner, after he was on The Voice, and he signed with Warner, and he cut that.
22:30But it just sat on the shelf.
22:32But his voice is that clothesline.
22:35His voice is the clothesline on that one.
22:37That's a good way to explain it.
22:39And then Randy's voice is kind of layered over the top, although I know it is a much, much more complicated process than that.
22:47That's a simple form.
22:49That's the only way I know how to grasp it.
22:51Yeah.
22:52And I do know that when we came out then, Horses in Heaven, the next one, they used four different vocals.
23:01So even more complicated.
23:03Yes.
23:04Yeah.
23:04It's fascinating to see.
23:07And when it went over to London, that's what they sent.
23:10And then when it came back, Kyle and Randy sat in front of Kyle's board, and they manipulated whatever they could to make sure that the sounds and the inflections and the runs were Randy.
23:25And it was an amazing thing to watch Kyle and Randy, because nobody knows Randy's voice better than Randy and Kyle.
23:32And Kyle is your longtime producer who you worked with for 30 plus years, maybe longer.
23:3940, yeah, since the first one.
23:42Yeah.
23:42Yeah, since Storms of Life.
23:44He worked on Storms of Life with Randy.
23:45And he really wasn't a country producer, but he heard Randy's voice.
23:51He said, Martha Sharp was A&R, head of A&R at Warner, who actually signed Randy and found him at Nashville Palace and said, this one I'm going to sign.
24:04And even though he'd been turned down by one.
24:08So Martha worked her magic.
24:11And she told Kyle, I want to sign this kid.
24:17And Kyle said, well, I've heard his voice, and I'd love to work on it.
24:21To this day, he was there last night at the office.
24:24Yeah, yeah.
24:25So, yeah, he knows Randy's voice.
24:28And he's from Louisiana, right?
24:31I think he was from Ohio.
24:33Oh, James?
24:34James is from Louisiana.
24:35James is from Louisiana.
24:36Okay, yes.
24:36He's from Bayou Chico, Louisiana.
24:38Kyle was from Ohio.
24:40Kyle's from Ohio, yeah.
24:41So I want to ask about your involvement in that process, Randy, because I think a lot of people might think that you lost your ability to sing.
24:58And so you can't participate in the creation of this music, but you really, you were very much a creator on this.
25:13You were in the studio with them, listening to it.
25:19You wanted to get it right.
25:20You wanted it to sound like you.
25:23You wanted it to sound like something that you were proud to put out.
25:28How did that communication happen?
25:30How did you communicate that with Kyle and the other folks working on it?
25:38Would you give kind of a thumbs up or thumbs down when you heard something you didn't like?
25:43Yes.
25:44Yeah, yeah.
25:45Randy's very good about getting his message across.
25:50Yeah.
25:51I always say he speaks volumes in his silence.
25:55Yeah.
25:55But Kyle has worked with him, well, since the stroke, several times.
26:02So he understands.
26:04And Randy knows everything going on.
26:07He's not missing a thing as far as his knowledge of things, his awareness of things, his detail.
26:15You know, they say that when you lose maybe one of your senses, the other ones get even more acute.
26:21That's the case with him and his detail.
26:24If I forget anything, a grocery list, forget to do something, he's on me.
26:30He's so detailed.
26:32And when we went into the studio with Kyle, after being in Kyle's studio just at home and going over the sounds and the nuances of the song and stuff,
26:42then we went into regular studio and with musicians, just like he did, you know, when he was cutting albums, session musicians, producers.
26:53Kyle was there.
26:54Engineers were there.
26:55So it was a full-blown project.
27:00And what people don't get, they go, oh, it's computer generated.
27:03They can just plug that in.
27:05It took us 11 months.
27:07Right.
27:07It took as long to do that one song as it does most people to make a whole album.
27:14What was the hardest part of that?
27:17Was it the chorus?
27:22Was it a certain range that's hard to hit?
27:29Is it a tremolo kind of in the voice or something like that?
27:35What was the hardest part to get right?
27:38I'm trying to think what was the biggest challenge.
27:42Was it hard to make Randy happy with the final outcome?
27:48Were you hard to please?
27:50No.
27:51No.
27:52Kyle, like I said, Kyle knows his voice so well.
27:56Yeah.
27:57That he had so much, Kyle had impact, he had input with the guys in London.
28:04So he was working with them before we ever got to hear it when it came back.
28:09And that's the point in time when they sat with, you know, Kyle and Randy sat in the studio and tweaked it.
28:16I don't know.
28:17The hardest part, there was something about the vibrato, I think.
28:20Wow.
28:21It's what Kyle kept saying, that James's was different than Randy's.
28:25And to get that covered up and make it Randy's and not so much vibrato,
28:30because James had more vibrato in his voice.
28:33And that's the one thing I kept hearing Kyle talk about.
28:36Right, gotcha.
28:36And then with the next song, Horses in Heaven, that was even harder.
28:44Is that fair to say?
28:46Yeah, I think so.
28:47Yeah.
28:47According to Kyle.
28:49Yeah.
28:49He said the first one, it just kind of fell into place.
28:53I think it spoiled him enough into saying, let's do a second one.
28:57And that one was a challenge.
28:58And I don't know if it was just because of the music itself, the range involved.
29:05I'm not really sure.
29:06But they kept adding voices because they couldn't get what they needed from just James's.
29:12And so then they added Clay Walker.
29:15They added Jamie Johnson.
29:17And they added Wes Hightower.
29:18I couldn't remember his name.
29:19I'm sorry.
29:21Yeah, I don't think I know Wes yet.
29:22But so, yeah, he said it took all four of them, though, because some of them just, it didn't work.
29:29It just didn't sound right.
29:31Well, it sounds great now.
29:33It's a great song.
29:36Yeah.
29:36I think one of the other things that's hard is the pushback.
29:40And we knew we would get pushback because of AI.
29:44Yeah.
29:45To us, we knew.
29:47And Chris, that's when she asked if we were interested.
29:50She said, there'll be people that, you know, don't like it.
29:52They don't support it.
29:54And we were like, we're okay with that.
29:56Yeah.
29:56Because Randy's kind of always been on the leading edge in the country music scene when they came out and started doing videos.
30:07He was one of the first to do those, the big video walls.
30:10He was one of the first.
30:12So he was never afraid of trying something new and different.
30:16And just like with every other technology, there's going to be pushback.
30:21It's the fear of the unknown.
30:22And until we get to know it and until we learn to use it the right way and do good things with it and monitor the bad and, you know, have laws against fraudulent use of it.
30:37Yeah.
30:38And we'll get there.
30:40You know, where would we be without a mobile phone now or a computer?
30:45And all of those faced pushback.
30:48Sure.
30:48You know, Apple Computer went bankrupt their first go around.
30:51Now look at us.
30:53Yeah.
30:53So it's that technology.
30:56Randy, you have always been a champion of traditional country music, old school country music, the real thing.
31:07You know, at a time when in the 80s, country was kind of going a different direction.
31:13And you were very passionate about that original country sound.
31:19And it's kind of ironic that you that's that's been your whole career.
31:27And yet you here you are on the absolute cutting edge of something that is so, so far ahead that we don't even know where it can go yet.
31:40I mean, you're really the first you're a pioneer of this new kind of music.
31:46Do you find that kind of funny?
31:48Yeah.
31:49He's a beautiful anomaly, isn't he?
31:52Yeah.
31:52People don't realize what he can come up with and keep up with.
31:59You know, obviously, I think we all want to support real music and real instruments and, you know, that acoustic guitar, which will hopefully never go away.
32:13And, of course, you know, the sound of a human voice.
32:17But to have this as as an option, as a, you know, a way of creatively expressing yourself when you've been through something like you have, it's pretty remarkable.
32:34Yeah.
32:34Music is his, that's his soul.
32:38Yeah.
32:39You know, everything about Randy Travis was music and his passion for people.
32:46And that's what fueled him.
32:48He would always say the energy that he got from the crowd is what kept him coming back.
32:54It's like a good golf shot, you know, on the 18th.
32:58He'd go back the next day for some more because it just feels right.
33:03And that's what he loved doing.
33:04And the music was so important to him.
33:08His whole life was music.
33:12I want to ask you about the response that you've gotten.
33:15And, you know, you said you've gotten some pushback.
33:17But I've got to imagine that you're also hearing from people who are who are pulling for you and who feel inspired and maybe empowered by what you're doing.
33:33People who maybe didn't think that they would be able to create music again.
33:38And now they can.
33:40Have you heard some of those stories from people?
33:43We have.
33:44We haven't heard as much from people that have not been able to that can now.
33:50Yeah.
33:51There's just a small part of the music world.
33:55That could even do that.
33:57Well, they could do it, but they'd have been through what Randy's been through and have lived to tell about it in the way that he's telling about it without words,
34:08but just putting into motion what he believes in.
34:11And I don't think that there's that many people.
34:15I think it's just it's very extraordinary that he's in the position that he's in.
34:22Full sound mind, knows exactly what he loves about the music and is still here to be able to be involved with it, to be a part of it.
34:35There's people that have passed away and they want to do the AI using somebody.
34:43But Randy's here still.
34:45Right.
34:46And involved in the process.
34:47And involved, very involved in the process.
34:49And I think that's what's so important and makes it so different than so many other scenarios.
34:56If it doesn't do anything else, it serves as a great way of saying this is a good use of AI.
35:01Yeah.
35:02Don't abuse it.
35:03Use it the good way.
35:06Use it the right way.
35:08We'll get there.
35:09Yeah.
35:09I'm wondering if there have been, you mentioned earlier that there are several generations of fans of Randy's music.
35:20I'm wondering if there are, if there's a whole new generation of young fans that are maybe discovering Randy through some of this new music that hadn't heard him before.
35:35Because you're out there on the road, you're doing shows, you're doing a lot of things like the Grand Ole Opry, you're putting out this new music.
35:47Do you feel like you're reaching a younger generation of fans?
35:51I really do.
35:52Yeah.
35:53I think that the exposure is great.
35:58The good thing is we see moms and dads and grandmas and grandpas bring grandkids or kids to these shows.
36:07Yeah.
36:09They've probably heard mom and dad, grandma and grandpa playing this music all their life.
36:13But then when they get to see him in person, even with the challenges that we've had with the health and everything, I think it gives them permission to dive in, you know, into traditional country music.
36:30And a lot of them, I started playing because I heard your music, Randy.
36:33You know, Mr. Travis, I started, I picked up a guitar.
36:36I got a guitar when I was five because of you.
36:38And you hear those songs, those stories, and you go, that's what it's all about.
36:42Yeah.
36:43You know, it's not taking it with you but leaving it here, just like three wooden crosses.
36:48Right.
36:49You know, it's what you leave behind you when you go.
36:51And he has left such a legacy and such an impact on people, health challenges, struggles in life.
37:03You know, he abused himself, but, you know, you're just with living hard and fast.
37:10But you can get, it's okay because you can come out on the other side.
37:14Just, you know, get your priorities in order.
37:16Spend the time that you're supposed to spend it with people that you love.
37:19But I think Randy Travis is just a picture of hope.
37:27He's a picture of inspiration.
37:29You know, I was thinking about that song on the way up here, Three Wooden Crosses.
37:33And three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway.
37:37And this idea that it's not what you take with you, it's what you leave behind.
37:42And it seems like you are leaving behind something very, very powerful and inspiring in terms of a legacy.
37:49So it's kind of neat to be bringing that back around.
37:57And that song came out when?
37:59A long time ago.
38:001991.
38:02Yeah.
38:03Yeah, it was, I think, like More Life.
38:07We spoke of that a minute ago.
38:08Those are kind of songs that are about Randy Travis.
38:14Yeah.
38:14You know, he walked on water.
38:17You know, what a great song.
38:19Yeah.
38:20Of course, when he sang it, he was younger and his grandpa was the one that walked on water for him.
38:26He loved his grandpa.
38:27Or was it your great-grandfather?
38:29It was your grandpa, right?
38:30Oh, it was your grandfather.
38:31Yeah, it was his mama's daddy that he was really close to, his grandpa.
38:37And then it was his daddy's mother that was Gaga that he was real close to.
38:43And she lived in the farmhouse next to him.
38:46And Gaga was kind of his refuge.
38:48Because Gaga would sit out on the porch and dip her snuff or whatever it was she did and drink her bourbon in the afternoon.
38:56Like an old Southern grandmother, yeah.
38:58Yes, and sit on that porch and dip and spit and drink her bourbon and tell Randy everything's going to be okay, honey.
39:07And so she was very dear to Randy.
39:12But it was his daddy's mama that he loved so much.
39:18And then his mama's daddy that was the grandpa that he loved.
39:22Well, real quick, I want to ask you all about the new biopic that just got announced last night.
39:32And it's coming out, I guess, well, maybe it'll be a year or so.
39:41They're shooting for spring.
39:43It's called Forever and Ever, Amen.
39:46Right?
39:46It's got Clay Walker in it as the lead.
39:50He's going to be playing you.
39:52Although there's going to be a couple of versions of you.
39:55What are y'all most excited about when it comes to this project?
40:00I think bring in Randy full color on this big screen.
40:06You can hear his music and it takes you places, time and place in life where you've been or, you know, a bad relation gone good or a good relationship gone bad or whatever it is.
40:20His songs take you places.
40:22They all hit a spot in their life.
40:26A book, you read it and you, with your own imagination, you fill in the blanks.
40:33You kind of draw your own pictures.
40:35When it gets to be a movie on the screen, then it becomes a reality.
40:42And I think that that's where people will get to see.
40:45And we want the guys that are involved, Andrew Hyatt and Eric Groth, when we first visited with them about it with Clay, we told them we want it to be very true to life.
41:01We don't want a lot of Hollywood theatrics.
41:04We don't want drama that's not, Randy lived the theatrics.
41:09He lived the drama.
41:11All you got to do is tell those stories.
41:14And so they came back at us with the first script.
41:18And, you know, you're always kind of worried about what's in there.
41:23We were so pleased with it as far as the highlights and the lowlights of Randy's life.
41:30All we had to do was correct and define some of the dates, you know, the accuracy of some of the dates.
41:38We were fine with the content.
41:40They've moved some things around to make it flow a little better from the first script.
41:46But they just did a, they did a, they wrote a masterpiece as far as following his life and telling the story about Randy.
42:00The good, the bad, the ugly, you know, all of it.
42:03Well, Randy knows a thing or two about movies.
42:06Yes.
42:06So how do you feel about being at the center of one?
42:10Well, I don't know.
42:13Do you feel like Jesse James or something?
42:15Yeah.
42:17No.
42:19Well, I really hope y'all have a scene of Randy riding his horse up to the drive-in in the movie somewhere.
42:25There should be.
42:26There should be.
42:27Yeah.
42:28Yeah.
42:28They, I'm sure that will be because that's, that's pretty, that people don't forget it.
42:34And, and Randy, he was so, he was so cute and he was always the first to laugh at himself.
42:41He owned his mistakes.
42:44He'd always tell you what he'd go back and do differently.
42:48If, you know, we got to do all that, but we don't, but he always owned his mistakes.
42:53And I think that's what endears us to Randy.
42:56He never, he never blamed it on somebody else.
43:00He's, it's mine, I earned it.
43:04And I think that, I think people need to see that out of somebody that's of his stature.
43:12It's like, yeah, I messed up.
43:13I shouldn't have done it that way or I would do it differently.
43:17His, his life in the, on the big screen is going to be a lot of fun to see though.
43:21I can't wait to see it.
43:22I can't wait either.
43:23And like I said, they did a beautiful job with it so far.
43:26Well, I just have one more question for y'all.
43:30And Mary, maybe you can speak for, for both of you guys.
43:34What does it mean to you to be Southern?
43:37Is there anything else?
43:40Is there, are there any choices?
43:43We're so, we're, I mean, we're as country as dirt really.
43:47And I love that growing up, like I said, on the farm, milking cows and hauling hay and shopping.
43:55There was times that I'd have to wear my milking boots, my overalls to school because I didn't get up in time to get the cows milk.
44:02And so dad said, well, if you don't get up, then you don't have time to change clothes.
44:06And so I can't tell you how many times I went to cheerleading practice in milking boots and, and overalls.
44:13It was sad.
44:14But, and then Randy was the same way.
44:17His daddy had, of course, cows.
44:19Not cheerleading practice though.
44:20No, he didn't have cheerleading practice.
44:22No.
44:23But his daddy had turkey houses.
44:26Yeah.
44:26And they sold turkeys, I think it was to Tyson or somebody.
44:31Yeah.
44:32And one year, like a virus went through the turkey house.
44:36So there was 2,500 dead turkeys that he and his brothers had to go through and clean.
44:42And he said it was the worst job he'd ever had in his life.
44:47And so he said, that's why when I came to Nashville and started cooking at the Nashville Palace, I was frying catfish.
44:54I was not about to fry chicken.
44:56He'd had enough of that.
45:00But yeah, there's, being Southern is, I think it's something you're proud of.
45:07You know, I, I, I love being from the South and I know that he loved being from North Carolina.
45:12It, you know, what is it?
45:14Grits.
45:15Yeah.
45:15Girls raised in the South.
45:17Yeah.
45:18So, yeah, I, I love being from, from Texas.
45:22Yeah.
45:22Uh, there's just something so, I don't know.
45:28The, the people, you know, from the South, it's warm, it's friendly.
45:32You know, we hug, we don't, we don't shake hands as much.
45:36We hug.
45:37And we get up North and we hug and they look at you like.
45:43You know.
45:44Or you open a door for somebody and they kind of go, what are you doing?
45:47Yeah.
45:48Oh, yeah.
45:49And if, I remember, I used to fly for Southwest Airlines and we'd have layovers, layovers up North.
45:54And you'd speak to somebody on the streets of Chicago.
45:57I mean, and their eyes would get big and they'd look at you like they're fixing to, you know, like steal my billfold or something.
46:08You know, I'm just speaking.
46:09It was, it's just a whole different culture.
46:11Yeah.
46:12I don't know what it is that makes it that way, but there's something so warm and friendly about the South.
46:17I don't, I love the people up North now.
46:20You get used to them and they get used to us and everything's great.
46:24And it's wonderful to get to go and travel because it's beautiful.
46:29But I'm glad I'm from the South.
46:31Yeah.
46:32Aren't you?
46:33Yeah.
46:34Well, I'm glad y'all are here and it's just been such an honor to be here with you guys.
46:39And congrats on the new music and the tour and the new film and everything else.
46:47You're working on and thanks for being on Biscuits and Jam.
46:51I love it.
46:52Well, we, that's the other great thing about the South is food.
46:56And how it doesn't get better than turnip greens and stewed tomatoes.
47:01We'll do another one and we'll just, we'll just talk about that.
47:04There you go.
47:05There you go.
47:07Yeah.
47:08Thank you guys.
47:08Thank you so much for letting us be with you.
47:12This was just a real treat, Sid.
47:14My pleasure.