When the Eagles’ Don Henley arrived to record More Life with Randy Travis, he refused to perform the duet—opting instead to sing harmony. Henley’s change of heart, however, came from admiration, not displeasure.

“‘I absolutely will not do a duet with Randy Travis on that,’” Randy’s wife, Mary Travis, recalls Henley saying. “Randy and (longtime producer) Kyle Lehning were sitting there, going, ‘what?’ You don’t know how to take it. He said, ‘I’ll sing harmony, but that’s a one-man song. That belongs to you, Randy.’”

Ironically, More Life became one of Travis’s final recordings before a 2013 illness nearly killed the Country Music Hall of Famer. Among other impairments, a stroke left Travis unable to speak or sing — a devastating setback for the neotraditional crooner, who elevated the country music genre to unprecedented commercial heights. 1986’s Storms of Life was country music’s first Platinum-certified debut album, and 1987 successor Always & Forever was certified five times Platinum after spending 43 weeks atop Billboard’s Country Albums chart.

Years of rehabilitation have restored some of Travis’s lost abilities, but his vocal articulation remains limited. Travis was determined to tour again, and More Life became his comeback tour’s namesake. The trek reunites most of Travis’s longtime road band, and vocalist James Dupre covers most of the singing. Randy and Mary Travis are onstage for the entire show, providing commentary across the career-spanning set, which includes all 16 of Travis’s number one Billboard Hot Country Songs.

The More Life Tour returns to Ohio Friday, playing Tiffin’s Ritz Theatre (30 S. Washington Street). Randy and Mary Travis met with WOUB’s Ian Saint via video conference ahead of the show. Randy spoke when possible, responded further with nods and facial expressions, and turned to Mary for elaboration on his behalf. A transcript of their conversation, edited for length and clarity, follows.
Randy Travis accepts the ACM Milestone Award with Mary Travis onstage during the 18th Academy Of Country Music Honors at The Pinnacle on August 20, 2025 in Nashville, TN. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for ACM)
Ian Saint: I love the More Life Tour’s name, and its epilogue to Randy’s harrowing ordeal. Which songs stir the most emotion today?

Mary Travis: More Life was one of the last songs Randy recorded, (not anticipating) the stroke. When it’s played in concert, you can see this veil of emotion over the crowd. They love Where That Came From, the first song we put out (with AI-assembled Randy vocals), because James starts the song, then backs away from the mic — Randy’s voice comes on, and it fills the auditorium with that old sound that’s so warm. (Randy’s voice) found places in all our hearts, because songs he sang wrote chapters of our lives.

When Randy’s voice (returns on that new song), it’s a flood of tears of joy. I might cry again… My prayer for 11 years was “Lord, I just want to hear his voice again.” I think the crowd (can relate) and there’s (often) a standing ovation. I think those are the songs that, outside of his hits — Forever and Ever, Amen, On the Other Hand, Diggin’ Up Bones — I see the most tears of gratitude.

After your miraculous survival, Randy, it must’ve been very emotional to see most of your longtime road band reforming for this tour.

Mary Travis: You know, I think about that often. There are people not able to keep a band together — band members come and go, they’re artistic, and there’s another palette to paint somewhere else. We were off the radar for six years while we went through the stroke, rehab, and seeing where life was going to take us. When we wanted to try to do this tour and take Randy’s music back to the fans, every single one of (Randy’s longtime road band members) were like “Absolutely, we’ll be there.”

With the exception of (lead guitarist) LD (Wayne), who’d been with Randy for 27 years; but his mother had cancer, and he’d just lost his wife. We see him when he’s in Nashville. Their character and commitment to Randy speaks to Randy’s dedication to them over the years. It’s like a family reunion every week we go out.

Horses In Heaven is your latest single with AI-assembled vocals, and I chronicled Randy receiving the Horses for Mental Health Champion Award in Texas for Buddy Magazine. Randy’s horse Preacher has been with him before and after the stroke. How have horses helped Randy’s rehabilitation? Do you feel Preacher could sense what happened, and shifted his behavior with Randy accordingly?

Mary Travis: Horses are therapeutic. It’s just good to be around a horse — their smell, their sense of being, their sense of what’s going on in your life. Randy trained Preacher; he’s like a best friend, there for you through thick and thin. When we came home from the hospital after 5½ months, we drove up the driveway, and — as God would have it — Preacher was standing at the paddock fence. We stopped, got Randy out of the car, went over to the fence, and Preacher just laid his head over Randy’s shoulder; like, “Hey, Dad, glad you’re home.”

Randy couldn’t see well, didn’t know how to work a remote control; but that all came back, thank God. The brain is always trying to figure out how to work with (your body), so (you must) help it along. I’d roll Randy onto the back porch and Preacher would visit. He’d nuzzle Randy and love on him.

My favorite moment in the More Life show is Randy singing the ending of Forever and Ever, Amen live again. In my review of the Grand Ole Opry’s 100th anniversary broadcast on NBC, I wrote that my favorite homage was Carrie Underwood walking down to the pews and having Randy sing that.  

Mary Travis: Carrie and Randy have had such a fun history ever since she was on American Idol. She re-cut (Randy’s self-penned) I Told You So, and their duet won a Grammy Award. Randy said Carrie Underwood has one of the greatest voices in country music; her and Trisha Yearwood. Randy’s the one that invited Carrie to be a member of the Opry.

The producers of the show wanted to do this. We didn’t know how things were going to pan out, but Carrie did it so naturally. I think it shocked everybody when Carrie walked down. I think it’ll go down in history as one of those timeless moments. She has a heart of gold.

I’m glad it was telecast to millions. I bet that’ll be in the Opry’s 200th anniversary highlight reel.


Mary Travis: I think you’re exactly right. I’m tickled to death they broadcast it. So many things that go on in Nashville should be chronicled like that, but seemingly get lost forever.

My mother says she bought all Randy’s albums because she was enamored with his voice, and admired his character, to boot. She’s asking when Randy discovered the timeless beauty in his voice.

Mary Travis: It was clear from the age of nine that Randy had his own God-given voice, when he took guitar lessons from Miss Kate and she said “you’ve got a voice.” They feared that his voice would change so much when Mother Nature took its turn, and it really didn’t.