Editorial Content for Randy Travis: Storms of Life
Contributors
Reviewer (text)
Diane Diekman has delved deep into the life events and storied career of American music’s acclaimed, awarded and much appreciated singer, songwriter and authentic character, Randy Travis.
Travis was born into a small-town North Carolina family whose American ancestry reached back to 1699. His father, Harold, was a hardworking man of various trades. By his teens, Travis was often seen in the local courtroom for a multitude of legal infractions. But music became a cohesive factor as he and two of his brothers learned to play various instruments and sing in the country style, helped by Harold and inspired greatly by recordings of Hank Williams.
"[Diekman] has created this far-reaching portrait from both personal and professional perspectives, through interviews with his family members and fellow musicians."
Travis’ passion for the genre would lead him to Nashville, where he worked in the kitchen of a performance venue, was encouraged and promoted onstage by all who heard him, and garnered his first Grammy in 1987. He often imagined seeing his name in the Country Music Hall of Fame. That dream would become a reality as he was inducted in 2016.
But, as Diekman deftly details, Travis had a long journey upward, through the eponymous storms of life, with the same litigations that had plagued him in his teens. Nonetheless, his musical amalgam of sincere old country love songs and gospel renderings, coupled with the popular new rock genre, was apparent in such award-winning tunes as his poignant “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The victim of a stroke in 2013, he still managed to produce albums and even made stage appearances while sitting in a wheelchair.
Diekman, who has written biographies of other legendary music icons (TWENTIETH CENTURY DRIFTER: The Life of Marty Robbins and LIVE FAST, DIE HARD: The Faron Young Story), states that upon first hearing Travis on the radio in 1986, she became a fan. She has created this far-reaching portrait from both personal and professional perspectives, through interviews with his family members and fellow musicians.
Diekman's narrative does not shrink from the legal episodes that marred Travis' trend-setting career. At the same time, though, she offers due praise for his courage and determination despite the restrictions that followed his stroke. In fact, he established a philanthropic organization that bears his name, through which “he encourages people to be stroke survivors rather than stroke victims.”
Readers undoubtedly will be grateful to Diane Diekman for honoring this memorable American path setter.
Teaser
Randy Travis’ 1986 breakthrough put him at the forefront of Nashville’s new traditionalist sound and, in the words of Garth Brooks, saved country music. The singer’s warm baritone and all-time classic songs landed him atop the charts 16 times. His cross-genre appeal brought a level of multiplatinum success that no country artist before him had ever achieved. Diane Diekman’s biography follows the life and career of one of country music’s most beloved figures. She uses dozens of interviews and in-depth research to fill in the details of Travis’ pre-fame life and his enormous impact on country, popular and gospel music. From there, she pivots to telling the story of the singer’s difficult divorce, subsequent problems with alcohol and run-ins with the law, and the challenges he overcame in the aftermath of a devastating 2013 stroke.
Promo
Randy Travis’ 1986 breakthrough put him at the forefront of Nashville’s new traditionalist sound and, in the words of Garth Brooks, saved country music. The singer’s warm baritone and all-time classic songs landed him atop the charts 16 times. His cross-genre appeal brought a level of multiplatinum success that no country artist before him had ever achieved. Diane Diekman’s biography follows the life and career of one of country music’s most beloved figures. She uses dozens of interviews and in-depth research to fill in the details of Travis’ pre-fame life and his enormous impact on country, popular and gospel music. From there, she pivots to telling the story of the singer’s difficult divorce, subsequent problems with alcohol and run-ins with the law, and the challenges he overcame in the aftermath of a devastating 2013 stroke.
About the Book
Randy Travis’ 1986 breakthrough put him at the forefront of Nashville’s new traditionalist sound and, in the words of Garth Brooks, saved country music. The singer’s warm baritone and all-time classic songs, like “Forever and Ever, Amen,” landed him atop the charts 16 times. His cross-genre appeal brought a level of multiplatinum success that no country artist before him had ever achieved.
Diane Diekman’s biography follows the life and career of one of country music’s most beloved figures. Steered from a troubled path as a teen, Travis served a long apprenticeship under manager and future wife Lib Hatcher before being rejected by the Nashville music industry as “too country.” The single “On the Other Hand” and his smash debut album did away with the doubters and began a dominant four-year run that stretched into ongoing success as a recording artist, trailblazing live performer, and actor in film and television.
Diekman uses dozens of interviews and in-depth research to fill in the details of Travis’ pre-fame life and his enormous impact on country, popular and gospel music. From there, she pivots to telling the story of the singer’s difficult divorce from Hatcher, subsequent problems with alcohol and run-ins with the law, and the challenges he overcame in the aftermath of a devastating 2013 stroke.
Informed by a wealth of new research and interviews, RANDY TRAVIS is the first in-depth biography of the country music legend.
