Randy Travis “First Impressions” Live Album Unearthed
Any time “new to us” music is unearthed from Randy Travis, it’s cause for attention and celebration. Afflicted with Aphasia after his stroke in 2013, it’s unlikely new music will be forthcoming from the Hall of Fame singer and songwriter anytime soon. But having amassed such a legendary career, there are always extra tracks and unearthed recordings to be had if you dig deep enough. In 2021, Randy Travis released expanded editions of his debut album Storms of Life, and his holiday album An Old Time Christmas with previously-unheard bonus tracks.
Now, a previously-unpublished live album has appeared without any fanfare or explanation that is definitely worth checking out. Populating at the end of November/early December exclusively on YouTube (see below), the 13-track album recorded live at the legendary Gilley’s night club in Pasadena, TX in 1986 captures Randy Travis in peak form right as he was breaking out nationally in country music.
Along with some of Randy’s most signature songs from early in his career such as “On The Other Hand,” “Storms of Life,” and “1982,” the album also includes Randy Travis covering songs many have never heard from him before, including “Louisiana Saturday Night,” George Strait’s “The Chair” written by Hank Cochran and Dean Dillon, and “American Trilogy” made popular by Mickey Newbury.
Taken from a Westwood One radio broadcast with announcer and all, what makes this recording unique is it includes all kinds of stage banter, stories, and jokes from Randy, and it comes from a legendary spot in Gilley’s during a really important time in Randy’s career. It really captures Randy’s personality, not just his music.
There is no question these recordings are a great addition to the Randy Travis catalog. The question is where exactly they came from, and why now? The 13-song album was actually released in two separate album forms, even though both albums include the same exact music. The first is called My Wandering Ways: Live Pasedena ’86 Syndicated Broadcast, and was released on November 30th, 2021 by “Carnival.” The second is called Randy Travis First Impressions: The 1986 Pasadena, Texas Broadcast and was released December 3rd by “Fast Draw.” These are not bootleg recordings uploaded by a random user, but official recordings auto-generated for YouTube by publishers.
Saving Country Music reached out to Randy’s representative to attempt to find out more about the recordings and their release, and didn’t hear back. But poking around, there doesn’t seem to be any record of these albums being released previously in the internet era, or if they were, they were only in a very limited capacity. Again, they’re only available on YouTube, though you can find Spotify listings for both My Wandering Ways and First Impressions, but all the tracks are grayed out and unavailable.
There was also another live recording of Randy Travis released from Gilley’s in 1989 by Westwood One, but this appears to be more for radio broadcast than something for public consumption, which this 1986 was likely too originally, but has now been turned into a proper album.
Either way, it’s a great recording of Randy Travis live and with professional, radio broadcast quality, and one you wouldn’t find unless you went actively looking for it on YouTube. If/when more information is unearthed about these recordings, it will be updated here. And if you happen to know more, pipe up below in the comments.
January 3, 2022 @ 12:02 pm
We all know Warner Bros. has enough material to put together some kind of Randy Travis album of recorded music that was cut from records, much like Garth Brooks did with “The Lost Sessions”. So, why aren’t they? Could be the only way to hear “new” music from that one of a kind voice.
January 3, 2022 @ 1:07 pm
I don’t know this for sure, but it feels to me like the strategy from Randy’s label and his estate is to probably release deluxe editions of the old albums, adding the additional tracks originall left over from those sessions to them. That way you can string out the process for years as opposed to one big release, and re-promote the older albums at the same time. Speaking of Garth Brooks, he is the master of selling the public the same songs over and over in repackaged material. I don’t know that I would advocate for that, and of course it’s different for Garth since he can still record new material too. But pairing up archive tracks that were left off original releases with reissues, and releasing them once or twice a year like Randy did this year, might not be a bad strategy moving forward, even if it’s frustratingly slow for fans.
January 3, 2022 @ 12:28 pm
Gold.
January 3, 2022 @ 12:38 pm
It sure is. Randy was singing hungry.
January 3, 2022 @ 12:34 pm
Completely off the subject…vur Outsiders Radio on Sirius XM was so good this week. It had speeches and songs from the Hall of Fame induction ceremony, really good. Worth a lesson
January 3, 2022 @ 12:36 pm
I’m gonna be honest; it made me feel sad to listen to that. What a great time that was.
January 3, 2022 @ 12:39 pm
What an incredible find! It pays to keep one’s eyes peeled on these digital spaces for hidden gems that suddenly emerge. It also pays to save anything from them that might suddenly vanish without prior warning; if these albums were posted in error, and if some rights holders suddenly come out of the woodwork, the fresh attention could get them disputed and pulled. Have you checked with Westwood One about the albums?
January 3, 2022 @ 12:56 pm
Also, if you need proof of Trigger’s superior SEO skills, do a Google search of “randy travis first impressions”, and this hour-old SCM article ranks first, even above Spotify and Apple Music!
January 3, 2022 @ 1:17 pm
Yes, Google likes me because I write in-depth stuff, cite sources, and follow the rules.
I did not check with Westwood One, which is basically Cumulus, but since this is 35 years removed, I think it would be hard to find anyone over there with any clue about this. I may shoot them an email though. I did reach out to Randy’s peeps. Since this was originally released in 1986 and numerous publishers have picked up on it, it might be something that was placed in the public domain. 35 years is the expiration date for certain copyrights, and since these are live radio broadcast recordings, they could fall under certain rules.
I just happened to stumble upon them basically by accident looking for something else. Before I posted this, I don’t think any of the tracks had receive more than about 35 spins or so.
January 3, 2022 @ 1:29 pm
I have a vinyl copy of the ’89 show and absolutely love it, but would love to find a copy of this one now! Been collecting the old radio copies of these Gilley’s shows for years and they’re 100% gold – the bands are always tight, the banter rich, and usually some great covers – Earl Thomas Conley opened with a version of “Me and Bobby McGee” on one I love, an ’85 Strait one where he kills with a “Cherokee Maiden” cover. If they could ever reconcile the rights issues, it’d be a treasure trove to officially release more of these.
January 9, 2022 @ 8:05 am
Hey Cody, could you upload that 89 album to Youtube? I’m very interested in hearing it!
January 3, 2022 @ 3:13 pm
https://www.discogs.com/artist/205019-Randy-Travis
This site has the original artwork for the ones mentioned above.
January 3, 2022 @ 4:17 pm
I’m just deep diving into Randy’s catalog. Blown away. P.S.: There’s a Jerry Reed Pasadena recording that recently popped up on Spotify.
January 3, 2022 @ 5:30 pm
A website that deals with live recordings of concerts has had someone come thru lately and drop a ton of these old Westwood One/Gilley’s recordings. Like a ton. Apparently the recordings were largely supposed to have been destroyed after they were played but it seems like many of them got squirreled away. I’m not familiar with the “labels” that uploaded these but I’d guess they’re not real legit labels and they are coming from those recordings. I’ve seen names pop up on these recordings from Lacy J Dalton and the Kendalls all the way up to George Strait and Reba.
January 12, 2022 @ 12:40 pm
Yeah, and it’s very suspicious that this exact show was uploaded to that site right before this appeared. This seems to be sourced from that Vinyl.
January 3, 2022 @ 7:57 pm
All songs are available in Spotify. I’m from Europe
January 3, 2022 @ 8:01 pm
Interesting.
January 4, 2022 @ 1:49 am
I have them available on Spotify in England
January 4, 2022 @ 3:30 am
Also Australia
January 4, 2022 @ 12:13 pm
Good Stuff
January 5, 2022 @ 9:59 am
His recordings from his Austin City Limits performance were once online. They should release that too.
January 5, 2022 @ 12:33 pm
Trigger,
What is the deal with greyed out songs on Spotify? Is mainly a rights issue? Because I have seen albums or songs come and go.
January 5, 2022 @ 4:10 pm
It can be multiple things. Yes, it’s usually tied to rights disputes of some sort. In this case, it appears the tracks are available in other countries, but not in the United States, yet the metadata is still populated, so the listings still appear. Behind the scenes, there is always legal wranglings going on, similar to what we’ve seen with Loretta Lynn and Dwight Yoakam, and this is often the culprit.
January 5, 2022 @ 6:24 pm
There was a radio station I used to listen to when I was younger and they played played Westwood One Live From Gilley’s all the time. I actually had some I put on cassette. Ouch! That was 3 formats ago.
January 7, 2022 @ 11:44 am
One album of unreleased tracks would be my favoured option. I would buy it. I have all his albums and I am unlikely to buy them again for a few extra tracks at significant expense and I don’t like downloads.
January 8, 2022 @ 2:05 pm
In the uk there was a radio show called country club. Every now and then they would play recordings of artists live. This is where I first heard of Randy Travis. Well before the release of storms of life album. I had this show on cassette . So it’s great to hear it again. I can remember the late Keith Whitley was also featured. Wish I still had those cassettes
January 23, 2022 @ 10:10 pm
My father worked in radio during the 1980’s and I remember these shows. Live from Gilley’s was sent weekly on transcribed disk. There would be a major sponsor such as Sears for the Randy Travis appearance, with time allocated for the local station to sell advertising to sponsors. The disks were thrown in the trash after airing. Similar programs were sent on 5″ reels that had to be first rewound. The Wheeling Jamboree for example. Pretty cool to see this!