By Mallory Mattingly
Country icon Randy Travis and his wife Mary joined Southern Living to talk about their faith in God and how they grew up in the church.
“It was not questionable; it was imperative,” Mary said when asked if she went to church regularly as a child.
“We had to all pile in our ’49 Cadillac, and we’d go to church,” she continued. “It was a country church that was Episcopal. And it was one that we kind of resurrected because it was out in the country in North Dallas, which is not country anymore, but we’d take a dirt road to. It was right off the tollway in Preston Road, if you know anything about Dallas, but it was a dirt road still back then. And we’d all pile in and go, and we’d go early because we had the yard to mow or the parish hall to paint or you know stray cats to run out of the church before we had service or whatever. It was great memories.”
After church, Mary and her family would go out on the church grounds, and “everybody would bring potluck.”
“It was a great upbringing as far as church is concerned,” she emphasized.
For Randy, music and church were deeply intertwined, and after finding success as a country music star, he came out with several gospel albums.
“People questioned, you know, ‘Why would you make that crossover?’ It was important to him to do that music to sing those songs. So, he had a lot of gospel music. Some he wrote, some were his own songs,” Mary said of Randy.
Randy enjoyed “more than 40 years as one of the most popular and recognizable voices in country music, during which he earned a pile of Grammys and a rightful place in the Country Music Hall of Fame,” Southern Living said on Instagram.
However, in 2013, he experienced a “near-fatal stroke” that “impaired his ability to speak and stole his singing voice. Randy had to overcome serious odds to rebuild his life and career.”
But, thanks to the use of AI and his producer, Kyle Lehning, “Randy Travis has gotten his voice back. The bond he and Mary share is a big part of what’s made his comeback possible,” the post concluded.
Randy released a new single called “Horses In Heaven” earlier this year, a song that came amid tragedies in America.
“This has been an incredibly hard 24 hours. Last night, many souls were lost in the horrific plane crash in Washington, D.C. and this morning, we lost a dear member of our country music and Warner Music family, publishing giant Ben Vaughn,” the country singer wrote on social media.
“Tomorrow’s song release, ‘Horses In Heaven,’ feels like a timely reminder of God’s love and mercy, and I hope it brings some comfort to those of us hurting through these tragedies,” Randy continued. “We have decided to continue with this release and promotion of it, but felt remiss to not share what’s on my heart right now…God Bless Ben, the victims of last night’s crash, and all who are feeling the heaviness of this moment.”
Despite his stroke and the setbacks he experienced from that, Randy clings to his hope in Jesus to help him return to country music and to continue to encourage his fans with his recent release.
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