In 2004, Randy Travis released “Angels” shortly after he scored a comeback hit with “Three Wooden Crosses.” The song was part of Travis’ sixteenth studio album Passing Through and peaked at No. 48 on Billboard country charts.
At the beginning of the song, you might not think of “Angels” as a song about mothers. It begins with the story of a group of friends sitting around, talking about the terrible September 11 attacks, and how much misfortune there is in the world. The conversation led some of the friends wondering if there are really angels on Earth until one guy has spoken up and said he’s never seen one. That’s when the song’s narrator jumped in.
Randy Travis then sang some of the most touching lyrics about mothers in all of country music:
“Are you telling me that you’ve never seen an angel? Never felt the presence of one standing by? No robe of white? No halo in sight? Well, you missed the most obvious thing. Man, are you blind? Just look in your mother’s eyes,” the song goes.
The Angel in Randy Travis’ Life
It has been said that Randy Travis got his deep-set eyes and square jaw from his mother, Bobbie Traywick. Bobbie and her husband, Harold, also passed on their love of country music greats such as George Jones and Hank Williams. Travis and his brother, Ricky, were encouraged by their parents to pursue their musical talents. Bobbie and Harold had the boys take music lessons, entertain business friends, and perform at community events.
In his first album’s liner notes, Travis expressed gratitude to his parents for introducing him to country music.
“It’s the first thing I was introduced to, something I’ve always listened to and never really cared for anything else,” Travis wrote.
Bobbie Rose Tucker Traywick was born May 16, 1937, in Anson County. She settled in Union County in the late 1950s, where she and her husband raised six children, including Ricky, the oldest, and Randy, born the second.
As Randy Travis hit it big in the middle of the 1980s, recording No. 1 hits and multi-platinum albums and winning nearly every country music award imaginable, the Traywicks settled in Marshville.
“She’s been here over half her life,” Ricky Traywick said. “She loved it. These were her roots, more or less.” However, in 1998, Bobbie died of an apparent heart attack at her Marshville home.
Well, without a doubt, the mother of one of country music’s leading singer-songwriters is smiling up above every time her son, Randy Travis, performs “Angels.” You can listen to Travis singing the touching song in the video below.
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Randy Travis
Beautiful song!