Twenty-four years ago today, on Feb. 29, 1992, Travis Tritt fulfilled a lifelong dream when he became an official member of the Grand Ole Opry.
“The Grand Ole Opry stands still as one of the biggest traditional gods, if you will, that we pay homage to in the business,” Tritt writes in his 1994 autobiography, Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof. “In country music, there’s not a single person whose grandfather or father doesn’t have a story about listening to the Grand Ole Opry around a little small AM radio or one of those big console AM radios when they were a kid. My dad told me about it when he was young. I listened to the Grand Ole Opry, watched it on television when I was young. Every person in country music, I think, has got a story like that.”
Tritt’s Opry induction occurred while his single “The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’” — a duet with Marty Stuart from Tritt’s sophomore album, It’s All About to Change — was climbing the charts. The invitation was a pleasant surprise to Tritt, who never imagined joining the revered organization.
“I always thought that I was too rowdy and too much of a rocker, or too heavily influenced by the other side, to be asked to be a member of the Grand Ole Opry,” he admits. “When I was inducted, I was the youngest member that had ever been inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. I guess the added excitement of never thinking that I would be there mixed with what tremendously high esteem that that particular institution is held in by my family, and by all the people that I know, to be a part of that institution is just absolutely one of the coolest things that I could ever be associated with.”
On the same day that Tritt was inducted into the Opry, Trisha Yearwood made her debut appearance on the Grand Ole Opry stage, singing “She’s in Love With the Boy.”
Read More: Travis Tritt Joins the Grand Ole Opry
Month: February 2016
[NationalCountryReview.com | John Reasoner | Feb. 18, 2016 ]
Grammy Award-winning Travis Tritt made a stop in Elkhart this past Saturday night for an intimate acoustic show that fans will not soon forget.
With the wind and snow blowing around outside The Lerner Theatre, 1,600 people plus lined up to go inside for a hot, sold-out show, featuring An Evening With Travis Tritt. Although this was an acoustic show with Travis by himself on stage, it did not seem to alter the excitement from the rowdy crowd that came to partake in the night’s activities.
As Travis took to the stage, he appeared to be taken back by the welcome he received from the boisterous crowd. The yelling and screaming of fans caused Travis to stand alongside his stool for a moment smiling big before having a seat and starting his show.
Travis grabbed his guitar and opened the show by singing a couple of songs back to back. He then welcomed the crowd to his show and made mention that he had only one word to say about Elkhart, Indiana;”brrrr,” as he shook his head back and forth from side to side. “Being from Georgia, this doesn’t work very well. I am freezing my raisins,” he said as he joined the crowd in laughter.
Before singing, Travis talked how in August of 1989, his debut single, “Country Club,” from his album of the same name became the biggest single to date for his record label, Warner Brothers. Since then, Travis has amassed quite a musical library collecting 12 studio albums, six compilation albums, 43 singles with seven number one singles, and winning multiple awards with Billboard, CMA, ACM, and Grammy.
Travis discussed how fans ask him about today’s country music. He said he appreciates what everyone is doing. However, he wishes the new artists would pay more respects to the artists before them that opened doors for everyone. Artists such as Conway Twitty, George Jones, Tammy Wynette, and so on. He is adamant though that there is no room for rap music. He then sang his hit song, “Country Ain’t Country No More.”
Next, Travis talked about growing up as a child and how music influenced him. He felt that the 1970’s produced the best rock music, with bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd. Hooked on Bluegrass music at the time, his uncle used to take him to festivals where he would pick with Bill Monroe and Ricky Skaggs. Travis also loves the blues and gospel. He tries to incorporate all of this into his singing.
On Sundays, Travis spent time with his father listening to the Grand Ole Opry where he first heard Bobby Bare sing “500 Miles.” He also heard it sang by Jerry Reed, another great singer-songwriter. When adding the song to his show, Travis combined the version from each artist to give it another distinctive sound.
Adding a little comedy to his show, Travis showed some age (53) by explaining that he doesn’t use the Internet to Google words. As he was growing up, “you didn’t have Internet to Google words, you had a Webster’s dictionary to look and find the word,” he said.
Today, Travis relies on his Webster’s Dictionary app on his phone. When he decided to play an instrumental song in his show, he stated that most people don’t know what an instrumental is. He laughed and talked about going to ‘The Redneck Dictionary’ where it states, “a song with no sangin’ in it.” He then started picking away on his guitar to “Pickin’ At It.”
Travis talked about his move to Nashville, and the industry labelled him an outlaw based on his association with the “bad boys of country,” such as David Allen Coe, Willie Nelson, Hank Williams Jr., Johnny Cash, and Waylon Jennings. He made the comment how he missed three important men in his life; his Dad, Johnny Cash and Waylon. He sang Johnny’s “I Walk The Line” before paying tribute to Waylon with “Are You Sure Hank Did It This Way,” “Mama’s Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys,” and “Good Ol’ Boys.”
Coming to Nashville and being signed to a record label in 1989 made him part of a unique group called the Class Of 1989. This group included other up-and-coming artists, such Garth Brooks, Clint Black and Alan Jackson. Due his preference for wearing leather instead of a cowboy hat and ironed blue jeans, he was labeled an outcast. However, as a whole, these four gentlemen sold more albums and more concert tickets than all of country music preceding.
As Travis grew up in the 70’s, he came to like the music of Elvis Presley and the Beatles. As a fan of the Beatles, he had a brainstorm to add the song, “Help,” into his show. He also recorded the Elvis hit, “Burning Love” from the movie, Honeymoon In Vegas, which opened the door for him to record “T-R-O-U-B-L-E”.
As Travis got up from his stool, the crowd still feeling pumped from the performance gave him a standing ovation as he left the stage.
With chants of “Travis” echoing into the rafters of The Lerner Theatre, Travis returned to the stage feeling overwhelmed by the love from the volumes of the crowd. After sitting back down on his stool, he joked with the crowd by saying, “You can be seated now,” laughing as he commented that he has always wanted to say that, and repeated it again.
Travis thanked the crowd for the standing ovation and for coming out to support him. He told fans that he would never have believed that people would come and sell out multiple venues to see him do an acoustic show. He finished the evening off by singing “Modern Day Bonnie And Clyde.”
With the show billed as An Evening With Travis Tritt, an acoustic show, most people expected just to have Travis sit/stand on stage and play his music acoustically. What they received instead was Travis on stage playing his songs acoustically as he told his life in an autobiographical story. For two hours and forty minutes, fans enjoyed the story of what makes up this great artist, as described by Travis Tritt himself. After this performance, it is easy to see why the Class Of 1989 changed the direction and mentality of country music.
Thank you to the fine folks at The Lerner Theatre and Dusty Guitar Promotions for bringing another great show to the people of Elkhart and the surrounding areas. Shows like this are sure to sell out, as this one did. Just a sure sign that not everyone needs bro-country to have a good time as older country is still alive and doing well.
Check out the complete article and photo gallery at: NationalCountryReview.com
LIMA — Country music fans both young and old descended on the Veterans Memorial Civic and Convention Center on a snowy Sunday night to witness a performance by country music veteran Travis Tritt.
The performance was a far cry from the over-the-top spectacle artists such as Lady Gaga and Miley Cyrus bring to their concerts. There was no band, there were no backup singers and dancers, there were no pyrotechnics. This show was just Tritt, an acoustic guitar and a stool. And that’s the way his fans like it.
“It’s just a man and his guitar — that’s all you need,” said Tammy Phillips, a Lima resident who said she has been a Travis Tritt fan since he first broke onto the music scene in 1989.
Phillips and her sister, Deb Twining, wore Travis Tritt shirts as they drank Bud Lights from their Travis Tritt koozies. The sisters said it was their first time seeing the singer after following his career for decades. “I got my tickets as soon as they came out,” Twining said. “There ain’t nobody like him. He’s my favorite male singer of all time.” Twining said the anticipation of waiting to see her favorite artist in person was almost unbearable. “She [Phillips] kept texting me, ‘only seven and-a-half hours left,” she said with a laugh.
Lima resident Tom Riepenhoff attended the show with his wife, Mary, who said they received tickets to the show as a gift from their daughters. Riepenhoff agreed with Phillips and Twining, saying Tritt was more authentic than a lot of artists in the music scene today. “I really like artists that write their own music like he does,” he said. “You listen to the words, you feel the music, and you know that’s really them. It’s who they are.”
Paul Linger, of Huntsville, also praised Tritt for his authenticity. “He’s a real country singer, that’s what I like about him,” Linger said.
Another Lima resident, Sarah Helton, said she was a fan of Tritt but had not seen him live until Sunday evening. She said she was intrigued by the fact he was doing an acoustic set. “I really like that he’s playing acoustic because it’s something different,” Helton said. “Not a lot of artists play acoustic shows like this.”
The 53-year-old Tritt has seven albums that are certified platinum and five No. 1 hits, including “Anymore” and “Help Me Hold On.” He is a two-time Grammy Award-winner and has won three Country Music Awards.
Original Article: LimaOhio.com