an outlaw's living room

What a memorable concert at the Lucas tonight!
Travis Tritt was in town, again, this time for a solo tour.
The Georgia native son just can't stand to stay away, it seems!
Good for him... and good for us, too!

He started with a sure-fire winner from 1990: "I'm Gonna Be Somebody" - oh, yeah!
That got everyone rocking out along with him!
He has his home in Hiram, near where my BFF once lived.
The road is even named after him!
I guess he's definitely "somebody" now, as he has been since his first Grammy, just three years after he started making records.

In fact, his first top-ten hit was "Country Club", back in 1989, when he was just 26 years old.
Good thing that one struck paydirt!
He had a three-singles contract with Warner Records, he told us.
If his first three songs that they recorded had not debuted in the top ten, his career would have been over thirty years ago.
Fortunately, the other two singles, "Help Me Hold On" and his opener, sealed the deal!

I very much enjoyed the stories he told betweeen songs.
I had not known of his great friendship with Jerry Reed, and his great admiration of the man's guitar work and songwriting ability.
We were treated to "500 Miles (Away From Home)", a song Reed recorded back in 1972 - which meant I had known it since my teen years!
That was a very nice video he had to accompany it, too.

Travis had a very nice chat with us about Marty Stuart, too, on this stage that he proclaimed was as comfortable as his "living room".
He made sure to perform "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'", a song that he and Marty sang together (leading to the aforementioned Grammy).
Travis also played a very nice instrumental song, "Pickin' It", after first discussing the merits of having a dictionary.
Hooray for preaching literacy!

I loved the stories he had about Waylon Jennings, one of my favorite country singers.
When Travis was branded as an outlaw, Waylon pointed out that the media folks weren't the ones buying the records - the listeners were and their support of him was all that mattered.
Amen to that!!!
"Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys" - oops, I think I already am!

A bit after that, he was talking about the music he grew up with: Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Neil Diamond.
"Here comes the song I'm waiting for," I thought.
Nope! Instead, we were treated to his first and only time singing "Help!", from The Beatles' library.
He did it with a change-up in the pacing, but I liked it!
I think his younger fans didn't know the song at all.

A few songs later, my faith and my patience were rewarded, though.
The almost 57-year-old Travis had reached the last tune of the concert, having told all his tales and sung most of his hits.
Then, he broke loose with a song made famous by Elvis in 1975:
"T-R-O-U-B-L-E"!
All I needed to hear was the vocals -
I could see the famous swiveling hips in my mind!

And just as we'd begun opening doors, the man returned onstage for an encore!!!
He'd already played for more than two hours, with no intermission, but he couldn't leave without one of his sing-along classics:
"Here's A Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)".
Hahahaha hahaha!
What a fun night of dancing and singing for me!
Thank you, sir!