Listening to Randy Travis has always reminded me of my late grandparents. There’s a tenderness to everything that Travis sings, a no-frills baritone that sounds like a mix of George Jones and Merle Haggard and James Taylor. He exhibits a warmness that feels like a cozy blanket, smells like freshly baked peach pie, and looks like the light of stars on a temperate summer night. His voice is comforting yet strong, his songwriting polished yet relatable, his melodies inclusive yet authoritative. Listening to Old 8 x 10 you get the feeling you’ve had the pleasure of being invited onto Travis’ front porch to hear him sing songs about his life that always have a life lesson waiting there for you to uncover if you open your heart and lend him your ears. Randy Travis is just simply an all-time classic. As long as human beings interacting with one another is still a thing (with AI on the upswing you never know!) his songs will forever be timeless no matter what era we live in. Listening to Travis gives me the same warmth I felt in my relationship with my grandparents, a calming presence that was founded on a single core principle– love.
Standout Songs: “Deeper Than the Holler”, “Is It Still Over?”, “We Ain’t Out of Love Yet”
