Travis Tritt is a musician, songwriter, and all-around musical superhero. He's a soundtrack of a lot of lives, many lives, and he's just a real archipelago of talent. I'm honored to be able to be in his presence today and to have a conversation with the musical superhero, Mr. Travis Tritt.
00:02:30.020But I was also going to school, like, two or three times a year to find out all of the, you know, updated products and kind of be a troubleshooter, you know, for all the products.
00:02:40.920So I did that and I started out on the docks loading trucks and worked my way up to manager of the store for, in about 18 months.
00:03:49.220I mean, I played occasionally with, you know, I had a little band that I played with, you know, every now and then, but not very often.
00:03:55.700And, uh, I was kind of, my wife at the time, she kind of discouraged me from doing that too, because, you know, when you're new young couple, you know, you don't want your husband out, you know, traveling around all over the place, man.
00:04:32.720But that whole thing just, uh, it just worked out.
00:04:35.600And I, I did, I did the day job and the night job for, oh, I don't know, several, eight months, maybe.
00:04:43.800And I started realizing that I was having more fun at my night job than I was at my day job.
00:04:50.720And oddly enough, I was making more money at my night job than I was at my day job.
00:04:56.160So I went back to my, my, uh, vice president and said, look, you know, if I don't take this shot now, I'll never know.
00:05:05.280I'll end up being an old man one day and I'll never know whether or not I could have made it in the, in the music industry.
00:05:11.100So I, I quit that job and, and never looked back.
00:05:16.060Was there a person that kind of like chatted with you and influenced you?
00:05:19.560My best friend, Scott's dad, actually, he introduced me to Jerry Clower, who I was telling you about.
00:05:23.440He's one of my favorite comedians and, um, and just a storyteller.
00:05:27.640You know, I just miss so often now we, everything's glanced over the art of storytelling and it's all just like, uh, almost like everything's an equation of what sells, you know?
00:05:37.640And, um, and Jerry Clower just did it.
00:05:40.560He just put me in a comfortable place.
00:05:42.100But my friend, my best friend, when I was young, his, his dad, uh, was from Mississippi and he introduced me to Jerry Clower.
00:05:48.040And then he said to me one day, I said, you know, I think about doing standup comedy and he goes, well, you have to go do it.
00:05:53.960You know, you have to go in and take that chance because otherwise it's your life will be there.
00:05:59.320You can always come back, you know, was there anybody like that and that kind of, or was it just you playing that kind of influenced you to keep moving?
00:06:06.620Well, the, uh, vice president of the heating and air conditioning wholesale company that I told you about, he also was a really good guitar player and he had had, of course, it was a kind of a family business.
00:06:19.260And his, uh, his whole family, his dad had been president of the company and they had groomed him to basically do that.
00:06:27.560But when he was very young, I think he had an offer from Carlos Santana to go out on the road and play guitar with Carlos Santana.
00:06:40.920And so when I went to him and told him about what my dreams were, he's like, man, do it.
00:06:46.720Because he said, I will be that guy in my rocking chair at however, however old, 80 years old, wondering, man, I wonder if I could have, if I could have made it in the music industry.
00:07:15.520You know, from an outsider's perspective.
00:07:19.080Do you, uh, do you miss sometimes like, um, like I've gotten to some light levels of success in, in my work in the past few years and, and it's been a long series of work, but it's kind of weird.
00:07:31.700I felt like when I got to a certain level of like, uh, like mild popularity or comfort, like that every, all my problems would go away.
00:07:52.560You know, I remember the first two years when I started releasing records in, in 1989, the first two years I was home each year, a total of 14 days each year.
00:08:07.040And no two days were ever together, Theo.
00:08:09.260They, they, they were all, it was just like one day here because you're either, you're either writing or recording or you're out on the road performing concerts or you're doing videos or doing press or doing whatever.
00:08:55.560But on the other side of that coin, I found that for me, the old saying about find something that you love to do and find a way to make a living with it and you'll never work a day in your life.
00:09:13.400I mean, you know, yeah, there's, there's, it's not all glitz and a lot of people out there think it's celebrity all the time and they think it's glitz and glamour and all this stuff, but that's, that's not it at all.
00:09:26.880As a matter of fact, when I come home, a lot of people that, um, that I correspond with through social media or whatever, they think that the only people that I hang out with are celebrities.
00:09:43.900Or people in that, and that's the furthest thing in the world from the truth.
00:09:47.580In my case, I go back home when I get off the road, I go back home and hang out with people that I've known for some of them I've known since high school.
00:09:58.600And like 30 years, you know, and they're all, every single one of them, you know, these are not, they're not even involved in the entertainment industry.
00:10:06.940I mean, they're, most of them are blue collar, hardworking people that go out and work with their hands and, uh, they keep me grounded.
00:10:16.760If I, if I came back home and started acting anything other than the Travis that they know and have known for all these years, man, they wouldn't hesitate one second.
00:11:01.220You know, that ego, it can start to, cause you're see a reflection of yourself so often in posters and in people's smiles are so excited to see.
00:11:12.900Uh, I don't know that I necessarily struggle with ego, but obviously when you're just trying to get started and especially back in those days, it's, everybody's in competition with each other.
00:11:27.940And there, there weren't, uh, as far as all of the people that were the newcomers, they, they didn't hang out a lot, you know, together with each other.
00:11:38.760I mean, everybody's kind of, and they're very secretive.
00:11:41.560They're keeping their stuff to themselves cause they don't want to rush almost or something.
00:12:00.280Um, so there, there comes a point in time where you have to, um, realize that, Hey, a little friendly competition, there's nothing wrong with that.
00:12:10.560But at the same time, you have to remember that, uh, you know, nobody was more surprised to have the career success than I was.
00:12:21.460I remember in the early days, man, you know, you dream about it.
00:12:25.140You dream about wanting to have that, but it becomes a reality.
00:12:28.780I mean, when it becomes a reality, I remember being on stage, man.
00:12:32.620And I'm, you know, you'd be in these big, huge arenas that seated, you know, 25,000 people and it's sold out and they're there to see you.
00:12:42.780And I'm looking at the band and looking at the guys and it's gone.
00:12:46.700Can you believe this shit is happening?
00:12:49.500Man, this is, this is unbelievable to me.
00:12:58.700There's something, sometimes there's some surprising moments.
00:13:00.840You can never really live in the fame or in the popularity.
00:13:04.140It's almost like it's something that's bigger than you.
00:13:06.660It's almost, it's like, um, you can't really wear it that much.
00:13:11.080It doesn't feel like, I mean, I guess you could, if you really wanted to, that would almost seem bizarre, but, um, it's almost something that even though you're sitting in it, you marvel at it.
00:13:20.420Almost like you're in a pond, but you have waders on or something.
00:13:23.940Like it's not seeping into you, but you're right there in it.
00:13:26.560I think it's, uh, for me, I am no more the extrovert that I am on stage, uh, in real life than you could ever imagine.
00:13:41.860I mean, I'm just, I've, I've always been, you know, I kind of, you know, I'm, I'm one of those guys that, you know, I kind of keep things on the down low, you know, and that sort of thing.
00:13:53.240Um, and any partying I did back in those days, I did pretty much with a very small group.
00:14:06.500Everybody had cameras everywhere that, that didn't happen back then.
00:14:09.820But, um, for me, it was about just, um, I don't know, maintaining, uh, the love for the, for the music, but being able to, you know, when the, when the, when the show is over, it's almost like you put on.
00:14:28.420You, that's going to sound bad to say, but it's almost like you put on this, this suit that is Travis Tritt.
00:15:14.300They're banging each other in the head with their helmets and they're firing each other up to go out there on this field, man.
00:15:21.480There is nobody on this planet that's going to do better at what we're about to do on this field today than us.
00:15:30.940And that's exactly the kind of thing that I have always had to do in order to be able to get up enough nerve to go out on stage.
00:15:40.740And backstage, I would tell myself, I started doing this as a ritual and I still do it to this day.
00:15:46.060If I'm backstage and the lights are going down and they're getting ready to, you know, fire off the band and I'm getting ready to run out there.
00:15:53.280I am backstage jumping up and down and firing myself and I'm telling myself in my head, there's no other time that I think this way.
00:16:05.820But at that particular moment, I'm thinking to myself, there is nobody on this earth living or dead that is going to be able to do a better job of entertaining these people than what I'm about to do right now.
00:17:38.540You know, so, but they're both very talented and, you know, kind of makes you feel good when your kids come along and want to be a part of the family business, you know.
00:18:30.620And, um, it's your chances, once again, your chances of being successful in this industry or being successful in sports or whatever are minute.
00:18:47.020They're minuscule to reach that success level.
00:18:51.180So, um, it's, it's always a thing, but I, I have to tell them because I raised my kids, all three of them from the time they were born.
00:19:00.720To believe that the only limitations that you have on yourself are the ones that you put on yourself.
00:19:07.080Uh, you can do anything, you can accomplish anything, but the biggest part of, of, of being successful, I think is just showing up every day and constantly try to work to move yourself forward.
00:19:22.160Constantly try to do something, constantly try to learn something, constantly try to make yourself better.
00:19:28.020Um, so that you, and I think when you do that, you appreciate it more of when it does happen.
00:19:35.300Was there moments where you had to trust your instincts over what other people were telling you or anything like that?
00:19:40.120Was there moments where you kind of like just had to follow like an inner voice or inner vibe, uh, where maybe the market or the, you know, there's a lot of technicians that are also in every business.
00:19:51.900You know, was there, was there, was there times like that along your path?
00:19:55.160I started out, uh, I came out with that first single, which was country club in 1989.
00:20:01.500And I'm a member of, is that, that's it, that's it.
00:20:07.680And then we came with the album in 1990 and the second single was helped me hold on.
00:20:14.580Third single was, I'm going to be somebody all, all those were huge.
00:20:18.400And then the fourth single, I released this song called, put some drive in your country that I had written at, uh, Dwayne Allman's gravesite down in Macon, Georgia, down at Rose Hill Cemetery years ago.
00:20:34.040No, I just, that's where they used to hang out.
00:20:36.000That's because that song memory of Elizabeth Reed, that was on, on a gravestone that's right down at the bottom of the cemetery where they used to go down there and hang out.
00:20:45.280So, uh, I just used to sit by the grave and just try to soak up some of that vibe, that energy.
00:20:52.460And because that's, that song had all these distorted rock guitars on it and it, it was a throwback to that Leonard Skinner to Allman Brothers kind of thing, man, everybody in Nashville, Tennessee that was involved in the music industry and everybody at radio in country radio, all of a sudden they just came out, man, claws out and they started angry.
00:21:22.460Cause you had what, taken their sound?
00:21:24.180No, because I was not following the rules at the time of country music, which were, you can use pedal steel guitar and you can do this and you can do that, but we don't allow that kind of stuff, you know?
00:21:40.300So, uh, all these writers in these country music magazines, man, they start trashing me.
00:21:47.580And I turn on the radio and I hear some disc jockey or some program director talking about, oh, well, he's just trying to be a rebel or he's, he's a, he must be hard to get along with.
00:21:58.720And some of them actually came out privately and said it, he's an asshole.
00:22:55.380And, yeah, you kind of got accepted by, like, the, you got that dirty thumbs up from the bad boys in a weird way, you know, which was, what was that kind of like, you know?
00:23:06.800And I guess what role did kind of Waylon play in that?
00:23:26.88020-something years, 30-something years.
00:23:28.880So do you, is it like when you were spending time with him, is it, I mean, it's almost like, it's like a seventh grader being around a ninth grader, I'm assuming.
00:23:44.380But one of the things I loved about him was he was not afraid to do things his own way.
00:23:49.740And he sat me down in his dressing room that first time we ever met.
00:23:55.060And he said, listen, I've been, listen, Hoss, I've been hearing all the stuff that they've been saying about you in Nashville and on these radio stations.
00:24:02.360He said, let me just remind you that everything that they are saying about you now is exactly what they said about me and about Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash and Hank Williams Jr.
00:24:15.420and David Allen Coe, all, he just goes down the list.
00:24:20.620And he said, let me ask you a question.
00:24:22.700He said, are you still selling records?
00:24:34.500And he said, well, are you still drawing people into your shows?
00:24:38.040I said, yeah, man, we're playing huge arenas and they're sold out.
00:24:41.720He said, listen, those are the people you should care about their opinion because all these people in Nashville, they're saying all this stuff about you.
00:24:54.000He said, these people that come out there, he said, those are the people that work hard 40, 50, 60 hours a week to put food on the table for their families.
00:25:04.400And he said, and they're willing to spend a certain amount of that hard earned money to buy your music every time you put out new music.
00:25:15.940And occasionally they'll splurge for a concert ticket to come see you when you play in their hometown.
00:25:23.500He said, those are the only people that matter.
00:25:26.080And as long as you're pleasing them, which you obviously are to hell with all the rest of these people.
00:25:31.380And man, that was like an epiphany for me.
00:25:34.980And it also it took a tremendous amount of weight off of my shoulders because I realized at that particular point, Waylon and all the rest of those guys that were labeled as outlaws, they got that label by simply doing the same thing that I was doing,
00:25:53.080which is just wanting to do my music my own way and do show my influences, all my influences, which were very widespread.
00:26:06.560I grew up country was always my center.
00:26:29.980When I listen to some of your tunes, I'm like, man, this reminds me.
00:26:33.640There are moments where it goes into a guy like a light gospel.
00:26:37.540You know what I'm saying, or a light, it takes me through, like, the different neighborhoods that were, you know, adjacent to the neighborhoods I grew up in.
00:26:52.020I mean, that's so much great blues stuff came out of there, you know.
00:26:57.040And that's one of the reasons why that was always a staple.
00:27:02.160If you take bluegrass and if you take blues and straight-ahead country and southern rock and mix all those together and then sprinkle a little bit of southern gospel over the top of it, that's me.
00:42:14.880Yeah, and such a good, such a rich environment for creating music, I feel like.
00:42:19.840Such a rich environment for creating memories and moments.
00:42:25.940Like, I just remember, yeah, things then, a lot of songs then I felt like had a little bit, and I hate to blanket statement like this, because it's not always true.
00:42:36.640But there was sometimes more story that I could relate to.
00:42:41.140Maybe I was also at an age where I was really just growing up and still coming into life, you know, in your late teens and 20s.
00:42:49.340But, yeah, there's something about, like, moments that are just yours where you can really then create art from them.
00:42:56.620Whereas now so many moments are, they're so manipulated before you ever even put the pen to the paper.
00:43:04.240Because they've been shared so many times or.
00:43:07.200Back in those days, man, I mean, and from its inception, country music has always been, in my opinion, the best genre for storytelling of all music.
00:43:22.520No matter where you're from, what your background is, there's going to be a country music song out there, back in those days there were, that is going to speak to how you're feeling.
00:43:34.920No matter how you feel about your job, your social status, your family, your country, your spouse, your boyfriend, girlfriend, whatever.
00:43:50.060There's going to be a song that's going to relate to how you're feeling and the things that you're dealing with in your life at that particular point.
00:44:01.520And that's one of the things I think I miss the most about a lot of today's country music because I just miss those great stories, man.
00:44:11.080And that's being able to tell those great stories that everybody can relate to.
00:45:23.880That's one of the things about music that's always amazed me.
00:45:26.700It's like, I can remember where I was for very specific moments in my life and exactly what song was playing in the background.
00:45:37.520Like, first time I ever drove my dad's car by myself, you know, or first time I ever went on a date, first time I ever kissed a girl, first time I, you know, all these different things.
00:45:47.700And I knew exactly what song was playing in the background for each one of those individual things because they're not just something that's playing in the background.
00:47:21.980Did you ever want to, did you ever try to cheat genres a little bit?
00:47:25.300Did you ever feel like you were trying to get out of your own, like, because it's like, I know, it's not cheat genres, but did you ever, was there ever a moment where you felt like you were, just sometimes our lives change.
00:47:51.740Now, I've always kind of used the same recipe for making records, and that is that I just want to include a little bit of each one of those different genres that were so influential to me.
00:48:04.360So there's going to be, in the process of just recording this, I just recorded the first album that I've done in studio in 13 years.
00:48:45.100And I said, man, the only way I know how to answer that, it's going to be a Travis Tritt album.
00:48:49.540And that means that every Travis Tritt album that I've ever done has had the same recipe, which is show a little bit of the blues, show a little bit of the Southern rock, rock influence, show a little bit of that straight ahead country stuff, show a little bit of the bluegrass, and just show and sprinkle a little bit of Southern gospel over the top of it.
00:49:12.100And if you are particularly into one genre over another, you may not like every song, but there's going to be something on there you're going to like.
00:51:08.580...host judges, and one of the people that came up in the competition was Larry Fleet.
00:51:15.300And I remember telling him, as soon as he actually won his round, and I remember going up to him after cameras were shut off and just telling him,
00:56:56.960Because if you do anything, I think, over a long period of time, same thing over and over again, it can tend to get a little bit monotonous.
00:57:06.760But if you get a break from it and then you get a chance to come back and look at it through a little bit different perspective, it helped me tremendously.
00:57:18.840I think it helps make me a better artist and a better songwriter and a better entertainer.
00:57:25.840Was there a role ever that you kind of like, oh, this is kind of neat?
00:57:31.660Because acting, one of the reasons that people don't know acting, if you're a touring artist, acting takes a lot of time.
00:57:39.460So, you know, as a musician, you could probably do six shows in a daytime of you would do one set or one scene or half an episode of a TV program or something.
00:57:49.260So that's one of the reasons I think a lot of entertainers don't go over into acting that aren't actors.
00:59:41.780And, man, it was, that was just so much fun to do that particular role because there were, you know, it's always fun to play kind of the bad guy.
01:00:11.940Mecklin had Peepin' Toms and shit when I was growing up.
01:00:14.660Dude, we used to do Peepin' Tomlin when I was growing up, dude.
01:00:17.440We had a guy in our neighborhood who had a ladder and we'd have to like almost sign it out for him because everybody was always borrowing it.
01:00:22.560Or we'd get that bitch on a Thursday, dude.
01:00:24.500We'd get out there, dude, do some Peepin' Tomlin.
01:02:28.620But I knew as soon as I met her that this person is, it wasn't love at first sight, but it was darn sure heavy attraction at the first sight, man.
01:02:38.640Because she, not only was she beautiful, but she was just so down to earth and relatable.
01:02:45.040And that's the kind of people I grew up around.
01:02:47.860So we just kind of gravitated toward each other.
01:02:50.260And it just, and I remember that, how that felt.
01:02:54.060And even though it was, you know, 20 some odd years ago, it's, it doesn't feel like that to me.
01:03:01.340It feels like it was, you know, could have been last week.
01:03:04.400Like, I think some of that is adult love.
01:03:06.840Whenever you kind of get that person that you're just so comfortable being around.
01:20:07.800That's neat to have your family kind of be involved in what you're in.
01:20:10.260And it seems like you guys are able to navigate it pretty comfortably without any too much envy or anything like that.
01:20:16.520That's the thing that I think would be tough.
01:20:18.540Maybe it would seem like from an outsider's perspective if there's like envy from the kids that makes the parenting uncomfortable or something.
01:21:26.360If my wife and I are home watching a movie or something on television, kids come walking through the room and go, hey, what are you watching?
01:21:35.980And they'll sit and watch it with you?
01:21:36.900They'll sit down and watch it with us.
01:22:15.720Do you start to feel that a little bit?
01:22:16.900Yeah, we're starting to see our schedule is starting to open back up for the next few months.
01:22:22.180And it can't happen too soon for me, man, because there is something about, from an artist standpoint, I can tell you that if you love it as much as I do, there is a part of your life that is not complete if you're not able to go out there and do that at some point.
01:22:53.380I've been lucky, luckier than a lot of people.
01:22:57.120I've had the opportunity to do a few shows here and there in different places.
01:23:02.120But the people are just so hungry for it because they've been locked up and cooped up too.
01:23:08.000And there's, as you well know, think about concerts and stuff that you went to when you were young and as you grew up and just the experiences that you had at some of those places.
01:23:19.800There is nothing like being in a live audience and your favorite band or one of your favorite bands doing some of your favorite songs and you've got your fist up in the air.
01:23:32.840You're playing air guitar out in the audience and the lights are going and everybody's drinking.
01:31:41.980But I want to write another one and just tell all of the stories that I've experienced and heard about throughout the years, about all of my heroes, the people that came before me, Waylon Jennings, Charlie Daniels.
01:32:24.540Thank you for, yeah, I think keeping nostalgia and just keeping my feelings alive throughout my life, I think that's something that you and a lot of entertainers of your ilk have done, man.
01:32:35.260It's a real value to be able to, just someone who kind of is running like a, it's almost like you're just running this stitch every now and then through time that kind of holds people just close enough to the world that they're in that makes them feel a part of something, you know.
01:32:48.600Well, I appreciate you listening and I appreciate the fact that you were able to recognize something in some of the music that I did that touched your heart and that's good.