All aboard this Gospel Train….

Well folks, if you know any two things about me, know this:

I love God.
and
If Randy Travis were a 20-something, fightin’ texas aggie female, I would marry him in a heartbeat…

So maybe that last one was a little too much, but just barely. If you liked his song, “Three Wooden Crosses” and haven’t been following the life of Randy Bruce Traywick (known to us as Randy Travis), you are missing out on a heck of an inspirational journey. Recently Chrisitanity Today reported:

Born in tiny Marshville, North Carolina, Travis lived a distinctively troubled youth. After dropping out of school in the ninth grade, he got into fast cars, drinking, and drugs, which led to a series of run-ins with the law. Violations like breaking and entering, larceny, carrying a concealed weapon, and drunk and disorderly conduct were sprinkled throughout the young Travis’s police record.

“It was everything short of murder, to be honest with you,” Travis, who turns 45 in May, says in his distinctive baritone. “When I give my testimony in church now, I often say, ‘I’ve totaled four cars, two motorcycles, a horse and buggy, and I’ve been in at least 30 fights. 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.’”

Growing up in the eighties, and having my dad’s radio station unalterably set to a local country music station, I grew to love Randy’s music. For the most part, his songs have always had a tint of faith in them, but then again, so does plenty of other secular artists who want to sell records to ‘church people’. What’s been different about this guy, is his progession into gospel - rather than most muscians degression from gospel music. Travis made it big, and then was called away from it all, into the territory of Christian recording.

Nearly all five of his last record releases have been wholly gospel albums, with the exception of his 2001 live album, which was a combination of gospel and greatests hits:
Glory Train: Songs of Faith, Worship & Praise (2005)
Passing Through (2004)
Worship & Faith (2003)
Rise & Shine (2002)
Live: It Was Just a Matter of Time (2001)
Inspirational Journey (2000)

If you are looking for some good ole country gospel music, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone as traditional and -throwback- as Randy Travis. I gare-ron-tee it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go jam to some “I’ll Fly Away”….

~ by brotherhank on December 4, 2006.