~~The story of Randy Travis’ difficult recovery from a near fatal stroke is revealed in The Tennessean.

He’d already flatlined, and was fighting an infection specialists said he had virtually no chance of surviving. Even if he did, they told his wife, he’d likely be confined to a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Three years and three months later, Travis walked on stage last fall to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He stood throughout his induction and then stunned the room, singing “Amazing Grace.”

Now, his wife, Mary is predicting he’ll sing again tonight during an all-star tribute to the seven-time Grammy Award-winning singer at Bridgestone Arena. Garth Brooks, Chris Young and Jamey Johnson are among the 30 artists who will pay tribute to Travis.

Although Travis is still working to regain his conversation skills, he can sing — at least a few songs.

Mary explains, “There is a perfectionist in him that knows he’s not singing exactly like he used to that keeps him from enjoying it like I wish he would. I know the world when they hear him, they can tell it’s Randy Travis, and the more he does it, the better it’s going to get.”

~~ Keith Urban co-hosted the third hour of the “Today” show with Al Roker and Sheinelle Jones.

The singer was asked to play a game of country confessions, where he pulled questions out of a cowboy boot (how very country) and confessed the answers.

The first question: Better accent, Southern or Australian? Keith played it safe by saying “Australia is Southern” before going into his own questionable Southern accent.

The next question: What’s the craziest thing an audience member has ever done at one of your concerts?
Keith recalls, “Someone from way out in the audience yelled out, ‘Will you sign my leg?’ I thought ‘This is great’. I said ‘Yeah, this would be great, come up onstage and I’ll sign the leg.’ She disappeared and I couldn’t see her for a minute. Next minute she lobbed this prosthetic leg onto the stage. It hit the stage with a thud. So I signed it and thought, ‘What’s the proper prosthetic leg returning etiquette?’ Do you throw it back, do you have her come up and get it?”

 

Filed under: ckat, keith-urban, Randy Travis