On This Day in 1986, Randy Travis Released His Debut Album After Years of Being Told “No” by Nashville

On this day (June 2) in 1986, Randy Travis released his debut album, Storms of Life. It was the first of many No. 1 albums for Travis. More than that, it solidified his role as one of a handful of artists who helped push country music back to a more traditional sound. This set the stage for the boom in popularity the genre enjoyed in the early to mid-1990s.

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After years of trying to get his career off the ground, Travis finally got his foot in the door in the late 1980s. After inking a deal with Warner Bros. Records, he released his debut single, “On the Other Hand,” in July 1985. He followed that with “1982” in December of that year. Then, Warner reissued “On the Other Hand” in April 1986.

[RELATED: On This Day in 1986, Randy Travis Gave an Unsuccessful Single a Second Life and Scored His First No. 1]

Upon its initial release, “On the Other Hand” saw very little chart success, peaking at No. 67 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. After “1982” was a top 10 hit, “On the Other Hand” became Travis’ first No. 1. Those singles had country music fans across the nation eagerly anticipating Storms of Life. Less than two months after its release, Travis’ debut album reached No. 1 on the Top Country Albums chart on August 9. It stayed there for eight consecutive weeks.

Randy Travis Heard “No” Countless Times Before Releasing Storms of Life

Today, Randy Travis is hailed as a country music legend. However, in the early 1980s, he was a singer who was too traditional for Music City. He recalled the early days of his career with Bible Gateway.

”When my first album was finished, we played several of the songs around Nashville for various record executives, hoping that some might catch a vision for our music. None did,” Travis recalled. “Everybody turned us down flat, some twice, some three times, some more emphatically than others,” he added.

Travis recalls being told, “You’re too country. That sound will never sell,” by labels. “I was disappointed by not discouraged. After all, I’d been hearing that remark for nearly ten years, ” he said. “Throughout those years, I never said, ‘This isn’t going to work,’ but I believed I’d make it eventually. The ability to withstand was a gift, and having a certain amount of knowledge from the Word of God certainly helped,” Travis added.

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