Randy Travis: "Around the Bend"

Randy Travis has recorded the perfect country album. There is not one out-of-place note nor one false emotion on his superb new Around the Bend collection. His vocals have never sounded more expressive, better phrased or more soulfully shaded. The CD's production is a model of crisp clarity. Each instrumental texture is placed just right.

And then there are the songs. Each seems tailored to suit one mood or another of his sublimely burnished baritone. The bopping "Every Head Bowed," for instance, is one chuckle after another. While "From Your Knees" is a midtempo pounder full of drama and despair. The rocking "Til I'm Dead and Gone" is a working man's lament with a red-hot guitar groove. Around one corner, you'll find "Dig Two Graves" as a ballad of deepening love. Around another, there's the wryly amusing toe-tapper "Everything I Own (Has Got a Dent)."

Travis gives the lilting melody of "Love Is a Gamble" a soft and beautifully subtle delivery while the track sparkles with sighing steel guitar and lovely piano flourishes. Backed by cool fiddle work, his voice eases into slippery highs and lows while toying with the bluesy tune of "Around the Bend." Few artists could be more convincing singing the stunning, cautionary lyric of the ballad "You Didn't Have a Good Time." He rides the punchy rhythm track and moody melody of "Turn it Around" like a master, and even adds a slightly jazzy tone to the Bob Dylan classic "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right." "Faith in You," the album's debut single, is an extraordinarily emotive performance that alternates moments of meditation with flashes of passion.

"There are so many songs on here that I feel good about, which is a wonderful thing," comments Randy Travis. "A lot of people in interviews will ask, 'How do you put an album together?' The way I like to do it is to spend about a year looking for the right songs. That way you have the opportunity to really take care with a record. I don't know how people can say, 'This month we're going to look for the songs and then record them next month.' I don't know how people can do that, but some do.

"And finding those songs doesn't get any easier. Years ago, when producer Kyle Lehning and I started working together, Kyle said to me, 'You know, I want to help you make the best records we can make. But ultimately it boils down to you singing the songs. So if you don't love it, don't do it.' And that's still what it kind of boils down to. If I don't absolutely love it, I don't record it.

"What's been amazing, too, is that he and I have been in agreement almost all of the time. There have been only a few exceptions to that over the years. It's been an interesting relationship.

"As for my singing, I've always had the freedom to do little phrasing things. It's just that as the years go by, I tend to -- for whatever reason -- experiment more with melodic things within the songs and change phrasing here and there. I have a great time doing that."

His heartfelt vocals are the envy of his industry. George Jones, Tammy Wynette, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn and Willie Nelson are just a few of the legendary vocalists who have sung with Randy Travis. His singing strikes home with fans as well. To date, he has sold more than 21 million records and is one of the ten top-selling solo country artists of all time.

During the past five years, his music has brought him some of the highest accolades of his career. In 2003-04 his gospel collection Rise and Shine won both a Grammy Award and a Gospel Music Association honor. Its single, "Three Wooden Crosses" became a No. 1 smash and was named Song of the Year by both the Academy of Country Music.

"When that song made that number-one spot and then started getting nominated for awards, I think it surprised us all," comments Travis. "I got the song from singer Michael Peterson, who had it first. He thought it would fit me as a singer. And, boy, I'm happy he did. Kyle and I were finished with my album, but we went back into the studio to do that one song. That's how strongly we felt about that piece of writing.

"They started playing it on what they refer to as 'grass roots' stations, and it started building slowly. The requests were such that it went into bigger and bigger radio markets. And then, it did what it did."

That was only the beginning. In 2004-05, his Worship & Faith album earned him another Grammy Award and another Gospel Music Association accolade. He was also honored with a 2004 star on the prestigious Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"I felt so out of place you wouldn't believe it," he chuckles. "I felt like, 'I'll be happy when this is over.' It sounds bad saying that, because it really is a huge honor. But I did feel out of place as a country guy being there."

He shouldn't have. In addition to having a phenomenal recording career, Randy Travis has appeared in many films, TV movies and episodes of dramatic series. His movies include Fire Down Below with Steven Seagal, Black Dog with Patrick Swayze, Frank and Jesse with Rob Lowe and The Rainmaker with Jon Voight, Danny DeVito and Matt Damon. He appeared in White River Kid opposite Antonio Banderas, Ellen Barkin, Lily Tomlin and Bob Hoskins. His costars in Texas Rangers were Dylan McDermott and Usher. Most recently, he has co-starred in the supernatural dramas The Visitation (2006) and The Wager (2007).

Travis also appeared in two 2003 episodes of TV's Touched By an Angel, and he has been featured on five other episodes of that show over the years. Other series that have cast him as a guest star include Matlock, Blues Clues, Sabrina, Hey Arnold and King of the Hill.

"Somebody researched it and found out that I've done more than 40 projects, TV and film-wise. I was surprised to hear that. Because I've always done far more music stuff than acting. There's no doubt that I'm mostly performing music, either in the studio or in live performances."

Randy Travis's musical accolades continued in 2005-06. His country collection Passing Through earned him another Gospel Music Association award as well as critical acclaim for its singles "Four Walls" and "Angels." The traditional-gospel CD Glory Train earned him his sixth Gospel Music Association award in 2006 and his sixth Grammy Award in 2007.

"What I want to do is to alternate Christian and country records," Travis comments. "I really do like doing both of them. I was baptized a little over 14 years ago, and I really enjoy doing gospel performances, music ministry, as they call it. You get some amazing comments from people about some of the gospel songs, like "Raise Him Up." But with my country records, it has been the same. 'Forever and Ever, Amen' has been used in no telling how many weddings."

It's true. Few careers have produced as many country classics. In addition to "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Three Wooden Crosses," Randy Travis has introduced "On the Other Hand," "1982," "Diggin' Up Bones," "He Walked on Water," "Look Heart, No Hands" and his self-composed "I Told You So." His 1990 smash "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart" has recently been recast as a bluegrass staple in the repertoires of The Charlie Sizemore Band and Grass Routes. "Point of Light" was the theme song of President Bush's Volunteerism Campaign of 1991. In addition, the singer has revived such standards as "King of the Road," "It's Just a Matter of Time," and now, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right."

And when the roll is called of the greatest country albums of all time, such Randy Travis collections as Storms of Life, Old 8x10, Always & Forever, High Lonesome, This Is Me and Full Circle will surely be there. Now Around the Bend becomes an achievement to stand alongside them.