Randy Travis, Las Vegas Sun, Dec. 12, 1997

Travelin’ with Travis Lisa Ferguson Friday, Dec. 12, 1997 | 9:49 a.m. Seems like everywhere you turn these days, Randy Travis is there. On the silver screen, the country crooner-turned-actor was most recently featured in a small role in the adaptation of John Grisham's "The Rainmaker." He's plays a disgruntled juror who gives Jon Voight's character a knuckle sandwich. "I get mad and jump out of the (jury) box and take him to the ground. Then, of course, the bailiffs and lawyers get involved. It was a lot of fun to do," said Travis on the phone recently from Wilmington, N.C., where he was filming his next flick, "Black Dog," also starring Patrick Swayze and Meatloaf. It's scheduled for release in May. This time, Travis plays a Georgia native named Earl who teams up with Swayze's ex-con character to transport weapons and explosives into the Big Apple. "He's very much a redneck guy who also fancies himself a songwriter, but boy, he writes terrible stuff," he says. He also appeared in the Steven Seagal action movie, "Fire Down Below," "Maverick" and "Boys Will Be Boys," a family flick directed by Dom DeLuise, among a handful of other movies. Rick Taylor, senior editor of Country Weekly magazine, has liked what he's seen so far of Travis' film work, saying he's "been able to straddle both fences" much like his country counterparts, Dwight Yoakam ("Slingblade') and Reba McEntire ("Tremors"). Those are artists, Taylor says, "who have been able to pursue Hollywood and maintain their country roots and that's very vital and important to these artists, that they don't lose their identity ... yet they still want to be able to be able to successfully delve into other areas and Randy has been especially successful." On the small screen, Travis lent narration and his songwriting skills to the animated feature "Annabelle's Wish," which aired recently on Fox. He'll also appear on the Christmas episode of "Touched By An Angel," airing Dec. 21 on CBS. "Yeah, I've been busy, for sure," says Travis, whose three-night singing stint at the Las Vegas Hilton wraps up Saturday. "I enjoy (acting), that's why I'm doing it." Admittedly, days on the set are much longer than he's accustomed to. "Music is a lot easier to plan," Travis says. "I know right now that I'm going to be at the Hilton and I know what times the shows will happen and they're not gonna vary more than 10 minutes (in length). Here, there's no schedule. It's just take it as it comes each day." Aside from his new gig, hosting the "Country Guitar Hour" radio program, about the only place you haven't heard much from Travis is, actually, on the radio. And that's a touchy subject with the entertainer, who has had dozens of hit singles ("Forever and Ever, Amen," "Too Gone Too Long," "It's Just a Matter of Time") and won a slew of music awards since his recording career began 15 years ago. But since the release of his "Full Circle" CD last year, all's been quiet on Travis' musical front. "I haven't had anything played (on the radio) in quite a while, as far as new material, I mean," he says. "I'm going through withdrawl. I'm used to having new material (out) on a fairly regular basis." Travis recently became the first artist to sign on with the DreamWorks Records Nashville label. A new album is due out in the springtime. Count on it to feature more of the same "traditional-sounding country songs," which he is adamant about preserving. In 1995, Travis spoke to the SUN about the downward spiral of country music's popularity -- and integrity. "As far as research goes, the cycle of going down has already started," he said. "It's gotten to the point where (record companies) are signing anybody who looks good in a pair of jeans and a cowboy hat. Some of these groups and individuals are really great. But I could come up with 10 people and put them on a record, and you couldn't tell who was signing what." The result, he says in retrospect, was that "we began to see a really bad drop in record sales and with that lack of success, people started to worry, and they tried to figure out exactly what caused it." His personal theory: "When you over-sign, there is not room for that many people to be played on the radio every day. You can't throw out that many artists and build careers. You can't find that many great quality songs to put out that many singles and you also can't find that many great singers. "We started drifting too much back toward the pop influence too much," he adds. "We gained that really broad audience ... by doing good, traditional country music. Some people would probably argue that point with me, but I would stand my ground and point out that in the mid-'80, that traditional sound is really what turned this business around." But the genre seems to be headed for a comeback. "I think we're going back to what we should be doing again," Travis says. "There's room for everything on the radio. But we are country entertainers, country singers, it's country music and I'm glad to see it swinging back in that direction."