Randy Travis  

July 24, 2009

Friday 6:00pm

Detail:

Randy Travis with Caitlin and Will

Randy Travis was born with the name Randy Traywick in Marshville, N.C., on May 4, 1959. He grew up a hellraiser, by drinking, fighting, dabbling in drugs and committing petty crimes on a path heading straight toward prison. But the rebel ninth-grade dropout "found himself" in the spotlight of a Charlotte, N.C., nightclub, where he won a talent show. With the help and direction of the club\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s owner, Lib Hatcher, the teenager underwent a startling transformation.

He purified his mind, turning his back on substance abuse and focusing on music. At the time, Nashville was deep in the Urban Cowboy, pop-country phase of the early 1980s. Travis was intent on bringing back fiddles, steel guitars and honky-tonk lyrics. He recorded for a tiny label, Paula Records, and, in classic country fashion, drove from radio station to radio station throughout the South to promote his work.