So today's choice is an interesting one the major label debut release from Randy Travis. He had actually recorded another album under his own name Randy Traywick in 1978, it was originally released on a cassette and 8 Track. The same year he also recorded a couple of singles under his own name - She's My Woman and I'll Take Any Willing Woman. He used the album as a demo to gain the attention of record labels in and around Nashville. He had been pretty much rejected by every label in the city during the early 1980s.
Finally he got a deal with Warner Bros. Nashville and was able to release his debut album as Randy Travis and that album went on to sell over four million copies! And Storms of Life set him on course for a career that has seem him record 21 Studio Albums and 58 singles including 23 #1's on the US Country Chart.
The Storms of Life are what makes Country Music such an interesting thing and Randy has had more than a few storms on his journey. I won't go into them all here but I'm sure if you go a google search you'll find out all about them. But I did want to mention one particular storm because it is probably the toughest for anyone to go through.
On July 7, 2013, Travis was admitted to a Dallas area hospital for viral cardiomyopathy after a viral upper respiratory infection. His condition was classified as critical. Three days later, Travis suffered a massive stroke and had surgery to relieve pressure on his brain. On July 15, 2013, it was reported that Travis was awake and alert after undergoing brain surgery, that his heart was pumping without the assistance of machines, and that he was on the road to recovery. He was released from Baylor Heart Hospital in Plano, Texas on July 31, 2013, and entered a physical therapy facility. Following his stroke, and despite physical therapy, Travis has been unable to sing or speak and has difficulty walking, having to rely on a cane. As of November 2014, he was slowly recovering, and could walk short distances without assistance and was relearning how to write and play the guitar, according to his then-fiancée Mary Davis.
In March this year it was announced that Randy Travis was going to Country Music Hall of Famebe inducted into the . You can read about that here in a piece from USA Today.
Storms of Life - Randy Travis
Warner Bros. Nashville
Produced by Kyle Lehning & Keith Stegall (he Co-Produced only two tracks On The Other Hand and Reasons I Cheat)
Released 6th June 1986
US Country Chart #1
US Album Chart #85
Canadian Chart #61
Singles from Storms of Life
On The Other Hand
June 1985
US Country Chart #67
April 1986 Reissue
US Country Chart #1
1982
December 1985
US Country Chart #6
Diggin' Up Bones
July 1986
US Country #1
For Personnel who played on the album check here.
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