Tritt’s personal life began a transformation seven years ago with his marriage to Theresa and their evergrowing family that now numbers .ve. Professionally, the new millennium marked a turning point as Tritt’s relationship with his first label Warner Bros. deteriorated precipitously, and the singer soon found a new home with Sony/Columbia.
The aptly titled Down The Road I Go, released in 2000, spawned four top ten hit singles and returned him to platinum stature. The 2002 follow up, Strong Enough, entered the country album chart at #4 with strong sales out of the gate. However, only two top twenty singles resulted from that disc. Which brings him to the current project, My Honky Tonk History.
Introduced by barroom piano and a shotgun blast, the album speeds into the aforementioned title track. The outlaw theme runs through to the fatalistic gospel of “Too Far To Turn Around,” co-written by label mate Gretchen Wilson, who also lends backing vocals. First single “The Girl’s Gone Wild” features Tritt’s hardestdriving backbeat since “T-R-O-U-B-L-E.”
“What Say You,” a duet with John Mellencamp and featuring Bela Fleck on banjo, af.rms traditional values but stops well short of being jingoistic. The album’s .rst ballad, “Circus Leaving Town,” is a little-known gem from singer/songwriter Philip Claypool that, through metaphor, explores the touring life’s toll on a relationship. A cover of Delbert McClinton’s “Monkey Around” is high-test blues, powered by what might be the most explosive recorded vocal performance of Tritt’s career. Even a traditional cut like “I See Me” follows the album’s theme as the lament of former renegade who sees himself in his son.
The sole self-penned cut is a tender ode to lifelong love titled “We’ve Had It All,” co-written with pal and former tour mate Marty Stuart. “When Good Ol’ Boys Go Bad,” “It’s All About The Money” and “When In Rome” crank up the attitude again, while the stone country “Small Doses” finds heartbreak leaning on a familiar crutch.
Taken as a whole, My Honky Tonk History is far from a rehash of past glory, nor is it an attempt to return to previous successes. But why would an artist who has written the bulk of his own material only record one of his own songs? Why would someone whose talent has continually de.ed pigeonholing create such a laser-focused album? Why would a committed family man return to sounds that evoke images from a much more turbulent time in his life?
The answer might just be found in that startling confession at album’s open. With nothing left to prove, personally or professionally, perhaps Travis Tritt .nds himself unencumbered enough to revel almost exclusively in the sounds and themes of the music at his very core. Maybe, just maybe, the sound of outlaw music really has set him free.