Randy Travis Is Candid and Complete in New Book
On October 16th, 2016, when Randy Travis was officially inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in the institution’s exclusive medallion ceremony, Garth Brooks was the man who formally placed the medallion around Randy’s neck. “Name me any artist from any genre in the history of all music who took a format and turned it one hundred eighty degrees back to where it came from and made it bigger than it has ever been before?” Garth said as he spoke on Randy’s behalf. Brooks also proclaimed that he didn’t think he would be in the Hall of Fame himself if it wasn’t for Randy. The first quote you read on the sleeve of this new Randy Travis memoir is from Garth Brooks. It states in part, “Randy Travis saved country music.”
Garth Brooks is known for speaking in grandiose terms and falling into hyperbole at times. But these proclamations about the legacy of Randy Travis are hard to argue against. There have been bigger commercial stars in the history of country music, Garth included. But when it comes to influence and impact, Randy Travis may be one of the most significant in country music history, and most certainly in the modern era.
But unlike Garth, Alan Jackson, Travis Tritt, and the other massive artists that he would open the door for in the “Class of ’89” and beyond as a neotraditionalist that brought country back to its roots, Randy Travis was a shy, bashful, reserved, aw shucks kind of guy—an accidental superstar whose undeniable talent couldn’t be held back, despite the adversity he had to soldier through in his life with an overbearing father and a bout of troublemaking that led to some adolescent legal troubles, and the lack of opportunity as a performer who was dogged by being deemed “too country” early in his career. The details of these moments, along with the rest of his life and career are told with surprising candidness, honesty, and thoroughness considering Randy’s current physical condition in his new biography Forever and Ever, Amen, co-written with Ken Abraham.
The first question many will have is just how honest and thorough a book like this can be with Randy Travis still rendered unable to speak due to his 2013 health problems, including a massive stroke. It states at the very beginning of the book, “Because of certain circumstances I have experienced, I have relied on a number of individuals to help describe and fill in some details of this story.” But Travis is still able to communicate to some extent, and when reading Forever and Ever, Amen, you don’t feel like you’re getting the story from someone else’s perspective, or that this is simply a way to exploit his famous name and remarkable story of recovery for book royalties. If you want the definitive and unabridged perspective into the life of Randy Travis—from the victories to the falls from grace—it’s all here, and in forthright detail.
Randy Travis talks honestly about his early legal troubles as a kid in Marshville, North Carolina. He talks about smoking pot, which may upset some of his religious listeners (remember, Travis had a second wind in his career as a Christian music artist). Randy speaks honestly about sleeping with his much older, long-time manager (and later wife) Lib Hatcher while she was still married, and delves into the unusual, but wildly successful relationship the two had for nearly 20 years, taking Randy Travis from a struggling fry cook at the Nashville Palace near the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, to the first artist in country music traveling around with a high-end light and visual rig and playing arenas usually reserved for rock stars.
Of course what the public will find the most curiosity in will be Randy Travis’s legal troubles in 2012 where he was found lying in the road naked after crashing his Trans Am and accosting a local store clerk for cigarettes, or the assault charges against his soon to be brother-in-law. This all led up to his nearly life-ending viral cardiomyopathy heart condition, and eventually his massive stroke. Randy Travis pulls no punches about these sticky and embarrassing situations. He doesn’t try to gloss over them, or bury them under his accomplishments and accolades. He meets them head on, admits his faults when necessary, but also tells his side of the story, like how Ambien was mostly at fault for the naked Trans Am ride, or how he struck a plea deal that was supposed to see the dashcam video destroyed, but it eventually ended up in the hands of the press.
Randy’s brutally honest at times, and goes into great detail, including how for weeks he had a portion of his skull they removed to alleviate the swelling in his brain implanted in his abdomen so it wouldn’t decay, and exactly how he contracted the viral cardiomyopathy in the first place, which was on a movie set, and not the result of binge drinking compromising his health like so many assumed. In fact throughout the book, Randy Travis underscores his dedication to fitness, how he would regularly work out 2 to 4 hours a day, and participated in exercise initiatives with President George H.W. Bush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and others. Travis didn’t really drink at all for the majority of his professional career, partly due to the controlling nature of manager and wife Lib Hatcher. Randy’s health woes really were a bad luck of the draw, just as his recovery and rehabilitation were miraculous when at one point he was given only 1 or 2-percent chance of survival, and is now able to walk unassisted, and sing all four verses of “Amazing Grace.”
Reading through Forever And Ever, Amen you’re sometimes struck of how frankly boring Randy Travis’s life was while he was one of the biggest things in all of country music. He toured, spent time in the studio, worked out, and was married to a woman 15 years his senior. His current wife Mary doesn’t come across as an overbearing influence in this book, wanting to rewrite history as some may be concerned of. Despite all of her problems, Lib Hatcher is given proper due for putting Randy Travis on the map, and managing his career during its heyday, as well as mismanaging it near the end, and taking advantage of Randy at times.
If anyone’s life has played out like a country song, or a succession of them, it has been Randy Travis. And though his singing voice has gone away, his story continues to unfold and remain as compelling as many of his landmark hits that helped save country music. Forever and Ever, Amen has its dry spots, as did Randy’s life, and sometimes, especially near the end, the sappy nature of some stories and the tear-filled moments feel tedious. But it’s really remarkable that a work like this could be assembled under the circumstances, and that Randy’s story of perseverance could be shared in hopes of inspiring others from country fandom and beyond, which he does in the many captivating moments of Forever and Ever, Amen.
Ralphie
June 22, 2019 @ 9:00 am
“exactly how he contracted the viral cardiomyopathy in the first place, which was on a movie set”
Is he saying he contracted while working on the movie set, or he contracted because of the movie set? Obviously, I haven’t read the book, but it seems like an opportunity was lost to pass on a lesson about what hard living can do to the body. And my cynical side can’t help but wonder if maybe his assertion that his health problems weren’t caused by substance abuse is a ploy to garner sympathy?
Melissa W
June 22, 2019 @ 9:13 am
In the book he talks about poor air quality on a movie set which gave his breathing problems. Per his MD that was how/ likely where he contracted the virus as the incubation time of the infection to when the symptoms appeared matched a medical timeline re that specific virus
Ralphie
June 22, 2019 @ 9:19 am
Ok thanks for giving more details. That makes more sense to me.
I still feel like the opportunity for a good life lesson was missed. Did anyone else on set contract the virus? The reason I ask is because substance abuse can wreck your immune system, and the virus combined with the stroke sounds to me more like someone whose body was crashing.
Trigger
June 22, 2019 @ 9:14 am
When Randy Travis came down with viral cardiomyopathy, he was completely sober and working out four hours a day. Viral cardiomyopathy is a viral infection of the heart that usually takes six months to gestate. Working in an old abandoned building while shooting a film is where they believe he contracted it. Even if he was a slobbering drunk at the time, it wouldn’t have affected his health outcome whatsoever. It has never been more than a wild-eyed assumption that Randy got sick because he was an alcoholic—an assumption it’s hard to defend himself against because he can’t speak. Randy admits to making all kinds of mistakes in this book, but this idea that drinking or drugs directly led to his health problems has always been false, and corroborated by his doctors who were treating him at the time.
Ralphie
June 22, 2019 @ 9:27 am
Being sober the day of, or even for an extended amount of time previously really doesn’t mean anything if a person was abusing their body for long periods of time before that. That’s the lesson I feel should be emphasized to young people. There are long term consequences for short term pleasure. People who abuse alcohol and drugs can permanently destroy their immune systems. That’s why I asked if anyone else contracted the virus from the set.
Trigger
June 22, 2019 @ 11:17 am
But Randy Travis wasn’t. This is an assumption that is not really based on anything. It had been well documented that not only Randy Travis was sober, but that he was a fitness and diet freak for decades. That’s why he was doing government PSAs and participating it fitness events across the country. Even the naked Trans Am story doesn’t make sense as a drunken escapade. It was one of MANY insane stories of the things people do while on Ambien. And again, if Randy was trying to hide from the truth, he wouldn’t have iterated in this book how he slept with a married woman, smoked pot, and did have about a short period where he started drinking again around his divorce. Also, the doctors that treated Randy around his heath issues reiterated time and time again that personal behavior had nothing to do with his illness.
Really, folks just need to read the book before they decide how truthful Randy Travis or anyone else is being.
Luckyoldsun
June 22, 2019 @ 9:13 pm
Doctors lie as a matter of course when discussing their celebrity patients’ health issues. Trump’s doctor said he’s not obese. Trump tried to name him head of the V.A. right after that one.
Tony Gwynn’s doctor said that Gwynn’s use of chewing tobacco had nothing to do with him getting oral cancer. (That one was such a whopper that the doctor got called out for it. Gwynn himself said that the cancer started in the precise spot on his lower gum where he used to hold his chaw.
Randy Travis’s doctor saying that his stroke was unconnected to drug or alcohol use means nothing.
Trigger
June 23, 2019 @ 8:53 am
Okay, so both of Randy’s doctors are lying. Randy is lying. His wife Mary is lying. His biographer Ken Abraham and the other people around him at that time are lying. Everyone is lying. And by proxy, I am lying by defending all of them. And what is your evidence for these lies, a hunch?
The entire reason I wrote this review was because I have seen so many comments from people saying there is no way Randy Travis will be truthful in this book. I’m here to tell you, he divulged numerous embarrassing things about himself that were not part of the public record here that he didn’t need to. He has no reason to lie about this. If alcohol led to the issues, he would have every reason to divulge this, and turn it into a life lesson. Arguably, it would have made him look even better, and make his story even more compelling.
Seriously, people just need to read the book. And what you’ll take away from it is that for 35 years, he was absolutely controlled by Lib Hatcher, including refusing to let him drink, smoke, or even socialize for the majority of his adult life. The guy was doing PSAs with Arnold Schwarzenegger and working out 4 hours a day. His issues started with his heart and lungs, not his liver. Stop it.
Blockman
June 23, 2019 @ 10:57 am
Was Randy not found drunk in a church parking lot not long before the Trans Am incident? Not doubting Ambien being a big factor but a few drinks with Ambien is more of a catalyst for some weird shit than Ambien alone.
Trigger
June 23, 2019 @ 1:22 pm
He was founding drinking wine out of a bottle in a church parking lot with the engine off after the Super Bowl, and cited for DWI. There was also a third incident that everyone forgets about where he got in a fist fight at the Prestonwood Church in Plano, TX where he and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law were charged with assault on his wife Mary’s ex-husband and brother. All of these charges resulted in Travis having to go to rehab to avoid jail time, and he was placed on probation for two years. It also resulted in Travis getting and staying sober up until his health problems. Literally the time Randy Travis spent drinking in his life were before he was 19 and Lib Hatcher became his legal guardian, and for a probably 6-9 month period after his divorce, and before his rehab stint. The idea that Travis was into drinking and drugs and it caught up with him eventually is to just not understand at all the kind of life Travis led, or to understand the illness he had. Travis was a fitness buff for 35 years. Check out this clip: https://youtu.be/ckHNgnRV8L8
Luckyoldsun
June 23, 2019 @ 2:22 pm
“…for 35 years, he was absolutely controlled by Lib Hatcher, including refusing to let him drink, smoke, or even socialize for the majority of his adult life.”
That’s actually more interesting than the question of Was it alcohol/drugs or toxic indoor air that caused his physical maladies.
You seem to be saying that Travis suffers from a severe mental-development disorder–if this old dame was able to take control of him like that.
Was Travis suddenly “cured” of that condition?
I intend to read the book–or at least go through it and pick out parts that appear worth reading, if not read it cover-to-cover.
Blockman
June 24, 2019 @ 12:38 am
Yeah when I saw his video for ‘A Man Ain’t Made of Stone’ it was pretty clear he was huge into fitness I definitely don’t doubt it haha.
Dee Maree
January 4, 2020 @ 3:44 pm
Randy is loved by millions. We his fans didn’t need him to sugar coat anything in his life to garner sympathy nor has he ever seemed to be a man wanting or needing sympathy. Would be odd to be ruthlessly honest about his life but that one detail. I don’t care how he got his cardio problems. I’m just glad he has survived.
Melissa W
June 22, 2019 @ 9:05 am
The book was a fantastic read. I grew up listening to Randy Travis. Never followed or knew anything about his personal life & didn’t pay close attention to his legal troubles later in life & his medical crisis. Of course I heard about them & just wished him the best remembering how much I loved his voice/music. I also didn’t know much about his career before he finally ‘made it’ or much during those successful years other than just enjoying the songs/music. Very thorough book. I would recommend it. Your review on the book is on point & Garth is absolutely correct re Travis’ impact on country music at that time. His unwavering faith is inspiring even though I’m not religious but I respect that. I hope Randy can continue to recover.
King Honky Of Crackershire
June 22, 2019 @ 5:15 pm
There’s one claim people make about Randy Travis, that I’ve never understood. They say he’s the guy that brought C(c)ountry back. But George Strait and Ricky Skaggs both pre-date him by 5 years. Not to mention all the legends that were still having hits in 85-86.
I’ve always thought this claim about Randy is an exaggeration.
Chris
June 23, 2019 @ 1:21 am
True – apparently Chet Atkins said Ricky Skaggs saved country music. There was John Anderson doing similar stuff around that time too and also Reba McEntire e.g. on My Kind of Country.
Credit where it’s due though – Randy’s music in the ’80s was incredible and I can see why it influenced a lot of people.
King Honky Of Crackershire
June 23, 2019 @ 7:45 am
Of course. Randy is great and I’ve always been fan. I’m only criticizing the claim that people make about him.
Luckyoldsun
June 23, 2019 @ 8:47 am
I don’t really disagree with you.
But still, it’s worth pointing out that when Randy Travis came out with his first two albums–and the hit “Forever and Ever Amen,” off the second album, he attracted a lot of attention from mainstream (non-country) musical press in a way that George Strait had not.
Now, we think of George Strait as one of the most successful country artists of all-time, and Travis as something of a period piece, but that’s not how it was, at the time. George Strait’s mainstream “superstardom” came later–even after Garth.
Trigger
June 23, 2019 @ 8:58 am
“when Randy Travis came out with his first two albums–and the hit “Forever and Ever Amen,” off the second album, he attracted a lot of attention from mainstream (non-country) musical press in a way that George Strait had not.”
Exactly. No offense to George Strait whatsoever, but his career has always been a slow burn. When Randy Travis hit, it was like he was shot out of a canon, he proved that country music could have crossover appeal even as TRADITIONAL country music, and went from frying catfish at the Nashville Palace to selling out small arenas in such a quick period, it proved how commercially viable country music could be.
Tom
June 23, 2019 @ 7:15 pm
Agreed. The level of success attained by John Anderson, Ricky Skaggs, et al, proved that there was still a market for traditional country music among country fans. Their success made it possible for Randy Travis to get a record deal, but it was his success that proved that people who didn’t identify as country music fans would listen to traditional country music if done well and wrapped in an appealing package. His broad appeal and level of commercial success prompted record companies to roll out the deliberate and intentional marketing strategy that launched the Class of ’89 and their followers.
King Honky Of Crackershire
June 25, 2019 @ 9:39 am
I think my point is more about C(c)ountry music in the 80’s than about Randy’s. I’m not denying his massive stardom. I’m just saying that he didn’t bring C(c)ountry back, because it wasn’t gone.
What we need, is somebody like Randy, to come along right now. C(c)ountry didn’t need saved in 1986, but it does now.
Kathy Mc
June 22, 2019 @ 5:18 pm
I have read his book, I’ve enjoyed his music and gone to several of his concerts over the years. He was kind enough to do a 1:1 meet backstage with my little girl as we celebrated her 6th birthday in 1991. The grin on her face said it all 🥰 Sadly she was called home to Heaven in 1994.
One part of Randy’s story struck me as ironic. He admits to an affair with Lib Hatcher while she was already married. She was managing his career at the time. Years later, while Lib & Randy were married, they were on tour in Ireland. Lib became enamored with an Irish musical artist. She soon became his manager and brought him into their home. Sound familiar? What goes around comes around. Could Randy really not see that Lib was repeating her past behavior? What they did to her former husband was now being done to Randy. Karma is a bitch.
Luckyoldsun
June 23, 2019 @ 8:39 am
You write like Lib’s was some great catch at that point. There’s no comparison between Randy Travis–a younger world superstar–and Lib’s first husband–who was a nobody, and, presumably, around her age or older.
From the dribs and drabs that made it into the media over the years, I was under the impression that Travis and Hatcher’s marriage ended many years before it became official. I don’t think they liked to be on the same continent with each other. When Randy wasn’t on tour didn’t he like to stay in Hawaii? (Without her)?
Ann Smith
June 22, 2019 @ 7:31 pm
I just don’t have any respect for Randy Travis. It just makes matters worse when he tries to sing. He’s lost his ability to belt out any musical notes. It just makes him look more pathetic when he tries. He’s done and needs to accept it. He ruined his career with alcohol. It’s sad but anyone who would by a CD that was recently recorded by Travis would be wasting their money.
Trigger
June 22, 2019 @ 7:45 pm
You have no idea what you’re talking about, Ann Smith. Your comment makes me sick. Randy Travis isn’t recording any new music because he suffered massive brain damage. He can’t even speak to defend himself. Being misinformed is one thing. Kicking a man while he’s down is another.
Llemarra
October 8, 2020 @ 7:17 pm
Trigger, you are the kindest soul and like an angel from heaven defending Randy Travis. He was and still is so amazing. We all have our vices, and it’s horrible on here how many people are attacking him. Facts for strokes are many times they hit down white men that are relatively fit and thin. Luke Perry anyone? Yeah, he had some issues in his past, but it does not appear that his stroke was caused by that. So many “medical” experts here trying to attack this man. God chose it was not his time to go, and I just love his current wife as his soulmate and caretaker. Thanks again Trigger!
ScottG
June 22, 2019 @ 8:35 pm
“It just makes him look more pathetic when he tries.“
Speaking of which…
TammiA
June 22, 2019 @ 9:08 pm
Wow….. Ann Smith… Does that ugliness in you come naturally or have you had to work on it for years?? I would love to see you repeat that statement WORD FOR WORD to Mr Travis face to face. Since your so eager to speak such vile unkindness.
You should be ashamed.
Tom
June 23, 2019 @ 7:16 pm
I’d like to see her repeat that statement to pretty much anybody face-to-face.
Luckyoldsun
June 22, 2019 @ 8:14 pm
“Randy Travis talks honestly about his early legal troubles as a kid in Marshville, North Carolina. He talks about smoking pot, which may upset some of his religious listeners (remember, Travis had a second wind in his career as a Christian music artist). …”
I don’t think Christians have a problem with someone who was a big sinner.
From “Amazing Grace” to Travis’s own “Three Wooden Crosses,” isn’t the whole point that all one’s sins are wiped away if one finds Jesus?
Mark
June 23, 2019 @ 2:46 am
No doubt the influence of Randy Travis’ early recordings created the industry shift away from the more pop sounding product – however – I believe another important cause of the redirection was the mid-1980’s sale of RCA Records to the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG). This change and subsequent “cleaning of the house” that was done at the label, caused a major upending to the extremely successful musical careers of Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Ronnie Milsap, Charlie Pride, and Waylon Jennings, all of them artists who had largely contributed to Country Radio’s less-than-traditional sound of the era.
Of the artists let go from this purge, it was Parton who quickly regrouped, finding a more traditional sound (and continued gold & platinum commercial success) in 1990’s on Columbia Records and later on with a series of Grammy-winning bluegrass recordings for the Welk Music Group.
Dawg Fan
June 23, 2019 @ 6:43 am
If you don’t think of Alan Jackson as a “shy, bashful, reserved aw shucks kind of guy”, then you don’t know Alan Jackson.
Trigger
June 23, 2019 @ 9:03 am
Alan Jackson may be shy and reserved too, but Randy Travis never went water skiing in his jeans, or stopped down his song in the middle of an awards show to give a middle finger to the producers.
ScottG
June 23, 2019 @ 8:07 am
On today’s episode of Saving Cardiac Medicine, basement Dr’s pronounce their diagnosis from wild remote speculation and a conspiracy theory, a field trip of sanctimonious soccer moms turn off TMZ long enough to say I told you so, and D.A.R.E. shares a special message nobody has ever heard before. Stay tuned.
Blockman
June 23, 2019 @ 10:51 am
Wish I could get a copy of this where I’m at. It is tragic a voice like his will never come back. Though he left a hell of a legacy. God bless you Randy Travis.
Lori Holman
June 23, 2019 @ 2:30 pm
I am saddened by the mean spirited people who left such unkind remarks above. Randy Travis is a legend who almost lost his life. I have loved him since the first time I saw the video of forever and ever amen. No one will ever come close to his great baritone smooth voice. You keep on fighting Randy because you are loved by millions. Your book was wonderful and I applaud you for opening up about your life. The good and the bad. You are one of the greats. God Bless…….
Tom
June 23, 2019 @ 7:27 pm
Minor point of clarification, Amazing Grace has six verses, seven if you count the verse from “Jerusalem, My Happy Home” that Harriet Beecher Stowe had Uncle Tom sing as part of Amazing Grace in Uncle Tom’s Cabin (which is now almost universally included as the last verse, where the original sixth verse is often omitted). Some modern hymnals abridge it to four verses partly to save space and partly because people don’t like to sing as much as they used to.
Kingpete
June 24, 2019 @ 7:23 am
Was working at a record store when ‘Storms of Life’ was released. The campaign (had them back then) around it was: “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes? Randy Travis, that’s who!”
Llemarra
October 8, 2020 @ 7:20 pm
What a disgusting comment. Maybe it could humble you to take sometime to work in a nursing home or maybe even visit one to see how the effects of strokes on patients who have been placed there by family members who can’t or aren’t willing to help in rehabilitation of their loved ones. I think Randy has an angel face and it means so much to him to be able to at least take part in something that was so important to him.