Country music “ain’t no picnic,” says Travis Tritt.
While working his way to the top of the country charts, the 32-year-old singer has survived two failed marriages, problems with drugs and alcohol, and a lot of negative press, much of it branding him an “outlaw.”
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“I’ve tried to fit into the clique in Nashville,” Tritt notes. “I have a real tough time with it.
“Maybe it’s because I’m more outspoken. Maybe it’s because of the long hair and the fact that I wear leather while everybody else is wearing blue jeans and starched shirts with cowboy hats. Maybe it’s a combination of all the above.
“No matter how hard I’ve tried to fit in,” he adds seriously, “I just always end up going against the grain.”
As Tritt’s career has skyrocketed over the past five years, he’s found himself on the receiving end of one piece of advice more often then he’d care to hear.
“I’ve had a lot of people tell me I need to move to Nashville,” says the singer, who lives on a 75-acre farm in Hiram, Ga. “I refuse to do so. Nashville just doesn’t feel like home.
“Of all the Georgia country artists – Trisha Yearwood, Alan Jackson, Doug Stone and T. Graham Brown – I’m the only one who still lives in Georgia.”
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These days, Tritt has a new album out, “Greatest Hits – From The Beginning,” and a tour that will take him to Europe in early 1996.
“I’ve had so many fabulous things happen in my life” Tritt says. “So many doors have been opened because of the music.
“I can remember when I was begging people to listen to me perform my music. Looking back – well, yeah, we’re all getting older. But I’ve had more success than I ever dreamed of in my life.”
One of Music City’s most eligible bachelors, Tritt remains cautious about marriage. He’s seen his share of backstage groupies and hangers-on and feels the way some people treat him is in direct relation to the size of his bank account.
“People do treat you differently when you’re successful,” he says. “I think I’ve adopted a credo, if you will. As we get older, regardless of whatever kind of business we’re in, our circle of true friends becomes smaller.
“If you’re in any kind of business where you’re well-known, famous or successful financially, I think that your circle of friends becomes even smaller, because you have to keep everybody at arm’s length.
“The people who I would call in a dire emergency – I can count them on one hand.”
An admitted control freak, Tritt knows his determination to stay on top has affected his personal life.
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“Seven years ago,” he says, “I made about $16,000 in one year playing the clubs. I don’t think you can go from that kind of a figure to making what I make now and not be somewhat affected by that.
“I tell people all the time that money doesn’t buy happiness, but it’s nice to know that I don’t have to borrow money from my Mastercard to pay off my Visa. I used to do that quite frequently.”
“But I try to stay as grounded as I can,” he continues. “That’s why I live very close to where I grew up and where my parents live.
“I love being home and just getting out on a tractor and mowing hay, taking a chain saw out and clearing some land. Those are things that are very important to me because I live a very normal life when I’m not on the road.”
Tritt finds a common thread running from old-time country music – the Appalachian bluegrass and singing cowboys of the past – into some of today’s country, including his own. He believes that artists who carry on these traditions will have careers that far outlast those who are working with a record producer’s formula for manufacturing radio-friendly hit singles.
“Quite frankly,” Tritt says, “when all the boom and fluff in country music is over and a lot of these fly-by-night artists have fallen by the wayside, country music will still keep on going. It won’t become the next heavy metal fad. It won’t become extinct.
“There’s a spirit that’s always been there. And that spirit is based on playing country music where the lyric, melody, attitude and opinions of a people whom we refer to in the South as ‘just plain folks’ are told. They’re what we call the backbone of this country. Those people appreciate country music because it speaks to them about their lives. That’s what I try to do.”
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