A young country singer named Randy Traywick struggled for years to find success in Nashville but came up empty-handed. Then, after catching the right ears, he was convinced to go by the stage name Randy Travis. Not long after that, he launched his first album, Storms of Life, in 1986. After a slow start, he finally found the success he was looking for. Soon, nearly every single he released was a hit. Among those hits was the timeless love song “Deeper Than the Holler.”
Videos by American Songwriter
Penned by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz, Travis released “Deeper Than the Holler” as the second single from his third studio album, Old 8×10. The song went to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. It was his eighth overall chart-topper and sixth consecutive No. 1. In the video below, Travis performs the hit song on The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.
Jerry Lewis hosted the 21.5-hour telethon every Labor Day Weekend from 1966 until 2000. The annual live show started on the Sunday before Labor Day and ran throughout the holiday. It featured a multitude of musical artists, actors, and other celebrities who urged viewers to call in and donate money to the Muscular Dystrophy Association. So, the video above shows a young Travis singing his latest single to raise money for a good cause.
Randy Travis Taps into Country Love with “Deeper Than the Holler”
As the opening lines of the song suggest, many love songs talk about feelings that are deeper than the ocean. However, with “Deeper Than the Holler” songwriters Overstreet and Schlitz—who were from Mississippi and North Carolina, respectively—tapped into the imagery of the Appalachian region. Travis also hails from North Carolina. As a result, the imagery of hollers, rivers, and the songs of whippoorwills were all familiar to him.
According to Songfacts, songwriter Don Schlitz slipped in very personal line into the song. From the back roads to the Broadway shows / With a million miles between was a nod to his wife. She was an actress and a huge fan of Broadway musicals.
Featured Image by Jim Smeal/BEI/Shutterstock
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