James Dupre performs, with Randy Travis, at Brown County Music … – The Herald-Times
Country music’s bass-baritone star Randy Travis will get to you with these famous lyrics (and their corresponding melody):
“I’m gonna love you love you forever and ever forever and ever, Amen.”
Randy Travis and his wife, Mary, will be just off stage
The audience will hear mega-hit “Forever and Ever, Amen” July 22 at Brown County Music Center, this time sung not by Travis but by the lauded James Dupre, with Travis and his wife, Mary, seated nearby.
Travis had one of those old-timey, smooth-gritty, sexy vocal styles, a style that brought him more than 100 Academy of Country Music awards or nominations. He won six Grammy Awards and eight GMA Dove Awards. Dove Awards come from the Gospel Music Association of the United States and honor superior accomplishment in Christian music.
Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz wrote “Forever and Ever, Amen,” which Travis recorded. Released in 1987, it exploded as Travis’ third No. 1 single on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.
More:Chance meeting at Menards leads to side-by-side exhibit for two area artists
Brain surgeons operated on Travis in 2013 following a massive stroke. After almost dying, Travis learned to walk again, although he still works to talk or sing.
According to “Country Thang Daily,” Travis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2016 — and surprised the crowd by singing “Amazing Grace” for the first time since his stroke. His wife, who has remained a major supporter of Travis, spoke for him when he displayed difficulty with sentences.
‘The Voice’ alum James Dupre to sing what Travis would have; Travis to do final ‘amen’
Travis lost patience with missing out on performing and touring. Since 2019 he’s been traveling anyway, with Dupre brought on to sing all 16 of Travis’ hits, and then some, in Travis-Dupre shows.
“It used to be a surprise,” Dupre said over the phone, “but now Randy’s been singing the final ‘Amen’ for awhile, so a lot of people know about it.”
Dupre said Travis and Mary sit on the side of the stage and sometimes greet people after the shows. Travis is there; Travis’ band is there; everything’s the same, except who’s singing.
Dupre brings his own grit and velvet
Dupre suspects one reason he got the honor is the smoothness of his own voice, not a voice just like Travis’ but still with that grit-and-velvet dual texture.
According to theadvocate.com, Dupre was in the 2015 season of NBC reality talent show “The Voice.” The next year, “Rolling Stone” chose him as one of “10 Country Artists You Need to Know.” The magazine mentioned a “grainy gravitas” in Dupre’s style and said he “recalls everyone from George Strait to Gordon Lightfoot.”
Travis and Dupre did the film, “The Price,” together in 2015. Travis’ wife costars as an old girlfriend, who gave birth to the son of a famous country singer. Dupre depicts that child, now as a twenty-something; Travis plays the singer-father.
Dupre said Travis’ wife had seen Dupre and liked his “emotional delivery.”
“I’m not a Randy Travis impersonator,” he said. “Yes, we’re both laid back types, by nature, but I don’t try to sound like him.”
“It’s inspiring to me to see Randy go through this and still be one of the happiest people I know. I don’t know if I could do that.”
If you go
WHAT: The More Life Tour withcountry singer Randy Travis alongside the original Randy Travis Band and guest vocalist James Dupre
WHEN: 8 p.m. July 22WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville
TICKETS: $45 and up, available online at https://tinyurl.com/3647mms7
Source: News
About The Author
