When Randy Travis came out of a coma in 2013, the doctors found that the “Forever and Ever, Amen” singer had suffered a stroke. This has badly impaired his left brain’s whole central region, resulting in aphasia – a condition that has hindered his brain’s ability to understand, speak, and, worse of all, sing.
But through the combination of rehab, determination, and the never-ending support of Randy Travis’ wife, Mary Davis, Randy never stops making impressive strides in his recovery and odd-defying progress.
The couple is currently weathering the pandemic in a quiet setting, with lots of opportunities for fresh air —their Texas ranch, which Mary described as a place packed with “wide open spaces and beautiful sunsets.”
And though life as we know it has changed so much for everyone amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought chaos to everyone’s day-to-day life because of social distancing and quarantine, “it was not that much of a transition” to the couple who are handling it with grace.
“Randy and I were talking about it, reflecting on how our world kind of shut down and came to a screeching halt seven years ago, when the stroke happened in July 2013,” Mary said in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “That’s when we hit a brick wall, and everything changed, and we were isolated from everything we had known before.”
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Given that tragic experience, the abrupt onset of the COVID-19 pandemic all over the world and following quarantine did not faze the couple. However, Mary knows that it’s definitely tough to adjust for people who have not been through any life-changing tragedy “because it was hard for us to adjust to seven years ago,” she said.
She also mentions that their faith in God, which she said has helped and comforted them before, is as important for them these days too.
Still, music remains huge for Travis – “it’s so deep-rooted in the fiber of his soul.” The couple has actually been to Nashville a couple of times to pick up where they left off before the quarantine was implemented.
The big one that did get done over the summer was Travis’ first single since his stroke — “Fool’s Love Affair.” And as expected, it has been so well-received. It was streamed over a million times during the first week of its release and has been picked up by thirty radio stations in the South.
“Fool’s Love Affair” was based on a demo Travis recorded in 1984. It’s just one of many uncompleted or yet-to-be-released projects the country star took part in until his life-changing stroke.
And Mary revealed they would be brushing off some more songs from different times in Travis’ career.
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