3 Unheard Randy Travis Songs Accompany ‘Storms of Life’ Reissue

June 2nd marked the 35th Anniversary of the release of the legendary debut album from Randy Travis, Storms of Life. Given credit for righting the country music ship in 1986 with its neotraditional sound while propelling Randy Travis to superstardom, it’s arguably one of the most important albums in country music history.

So to celebrate the milestone, Warner Music Nashville will be reissuing the album first released in 1986 in a fully remastered 35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition on September 24th. Even more importantly, the reissue will include three previously-unreleased recordings from Randy Travis. This would be newsworthy from any country legend. But in the case of Randy Travis, it’s even more significant seeing how a stroke in 2013 took his Hall of Fame voice away from us too early.

“I love the timeless lyrics and the traditional country instruments, like steel guitar, banjo, piano, fiddle,” Travis says about the album. “It was music I believed in, that told a story I wanted to share. We were fortunate to have a large catalog of songs to choose from that were more traditional. At the time, people and radio really weren’t playing this kind of music. Most people were recording more of an urban cowboy sound, so I got to choose from the best of the best, cream of the crop. It was exciting for all of us to get back to our roots.”

Produced by Kyle Lehning with help on select songs by Keith Stegall, Storms of Life went onto go triple Platinum, and win the ACM award for Album of the Year in 1986. “On The Other Hand” from the album also won the ACM award for Song of the Year.

The unreleased songs on the new deluxe edition are called “Ain’t No Use,” “Carryin’ Fire,” and “The Wall.” Saving Country Music has painstakingly attempted to find out the songwriters on the unreleased songs, and to confirm if the songs were in fact recorded during the original Storms of Life sessions to no avail, though assurances have been made that this information will be forthcoming.

What we do know is Randy recorded “Ain’t No Use” as the lead song on his debut 1982 live album Randy Ray: Live from the Nashville Palace, and like most of the songs from that album, it was written by Randy Travis himself.

Though this won’t be a new album from Randy Travis, with the unreleased songs, Storms of Life (35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) will be the next best thing. Pre-orders for the album will commence on August 27th.



Storms of Life (35th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) Track Listing:
1. “On The Other Hand” (Paul Overstreet, Don Schlitz)
2. “The Storms of Life” (Max D. Barnes, Troy Seals)
3. “My Heart Cracked (But It Did Not Break)” (Ronny Scaife, Don Singleton, Phil Thomas)
4. “Diggin’ Up Bones” (Al Gore, Paul Overstreet, Nat Stuckey)
5. “No Place Like Home” (Paul Overstreet)
6. “1982” (Buddy Blackmon, Vip Vipperman)
7. “Send My Body” (Randy Travis)
8. “Messin’ With My Mind” (Joseph Allen, Charlie Williams)
9. “Reasons I Cheat” (Randy Travis)
10. “There’ll Always Be A Honky Tonk Somewhere” (Steve Clark, Johnny MacRae)
– Unreleased Tracks – 
“Ain’t No Use” (Randy Travis)
“Carryin’ Fire”
“The Wall”

© 2023 Saving Country Music