Randy Travis: From the road to success to a journey of inspiration   by Teresa Lockhart   If you were to ask Randy Travis about his road to success, he’d tell you it hasn’t always been an easy one.   After moving to Nashville, Travis worked as a cook and a dishwasher at a popular club, singing there every opportunity he got. He was turned down by nearly every record label in Nashville, often more than once, before his road was finally paved with opportunity.   After Warner Brothers signed him in 1985, his first release, Storms of Life, earned him national recognition as a new traditionalist who helped shift country music back to its roots. He has gone on to sell more than 20 million albums.   Along with his music career, Randy also launched a career in acting, eventually making guest appearances on TV’s Matlock, Touched by an Angel, and Texas, and appearing in films, such as The Rainmaker, Frank and Jessie, Black Dog, and Fire Down Below. Though he seemed to have it all, Travis realized something was missing in his life, and began to think back to his younger days.   “I was out of control as a teenager,” Randy admits. “I was always getting into fights and scrapes with the law. I was caught breaking and entering one time, stealing a van another. I totaled four cars, a couple of motorcycles, even a horse and buggy, and I always walked away from it. I have no idea why I wasn’t killed, except that I know God was looking out for me.”   So Randy embarked on a different journey to fill his emptiness, a search to find peace of mind. “I was always just angry,” he explains. “A lot of that was just having no form of religion, no belief, nothing, as far as God or as far as Jesus was concerned. It just wasn’t part of my life. It was almost as if I had refused to acknowledge that it existed at all.”   During the early days of his career when Randy met Lib Hatcher, who would later become his manager and in 1991 his wife, he witnessed a totally different lifestyle than what he was used to. “Coming from where I did, my first thought when someone did or said something I didn’t like was ‘I’ll do something about this right now,’ ” he laughs.   “In turn, I ended up being in a lot of fights in my earlier years, but in her I saw a totally different way of dealing with people and treating people. I watched her continually doing things for other people when she didn’t have to. It could be something as simple as giving someone a birthday party or not arguing with people if they were arguing with her. She’d just walk away from it. It was different, so that had a big influence on me.”   Not only did Lib’s influence on his life turn him toward spiritual matters, it also helped keep him out of jail. “I was about to go to prison for five years,” Randy confesses. “If it hadn’t been for Lib saying I was not running with the same crowd and drinking and doing drugs all the time, I would have gone.”   Randy then began reading the Bible and listening to preachers on television. Though he admits the journey was slow, a course of ten years or so, he and Lib made the decision to get baptized in a little church in Ashland City, right outside of Nashville, seven years ago.   Although Randy has worked hard to change himself over the years, he admits only God could give him that inner peace he’s struggled to achieve.   “I’ve made a conscious effort to work on myself. I think we all have to do that, but you know what? When you do begin to hear the Word of God and begin to pray and open yourself to allow Him to come in, then you experience peace of mind and more happiness. No doubt I was making a conscious effort to change myself, but at a certain point, then I felt a difference, and it wasn’t something I was doing,” he says.   Randy’s spiritual journey continues with his latest Atlantic Records/Warner Bros. gospel release, Inspirational Journey, a collection of 12 songs that reflect the need for God.   “You know I am not a preacher,” says Travis. “I think there’s a certain gift they have that I don’t. But I can sing, and I know good material when I hear it.”   Noting that several of the songs unfold as stories, he adds, “If you’re telling stories, people don’t feel as much like you’re talking down to them. It’s a good way to get a point across. Especially when you’re talking about eternal things.”   The album closes with Randy playing his guitar and singing “Amazing Grace,” a song Randy’s mother loved and always wanted him to do. “I promised her I would, but she didn’t live to hear it,” he explains.   Though it’s the simplest song on the record, Randy feels it’s probably the most powerful. “When it’s all said and done,” he says, “that’s what this whole journey comes down to, anyway.”   Inspirational Journey is available at mainstream music stores such as HMV as an import, from Amazon.com, or by calling 1-866-472-6398 [LLN-Online] [Adopt-a-Block] [Newsbriefs][Event Calendar] [Lifestyles] [Juke Box] [Cover to Cover] [Movieguide][Casting the Net] [Viewpoints] [General Info] [Rates & Sizes][Marketplace/Classifieds] [Volunteer Ops] [Writing Guidelines] [Contact Us] [Subscribe][Archives][Good News] [About Us][Links]