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.