Rediscovering Forgotten Gems

This is my debut blog entry for My Kind Of Country. I want to thank J.R. for inviting me to become a contributor and look forward to discussing country music with all of you.

In everyone’s CD collection, there are inevitably discs that go unplayed for long periods of time while others are constantly in heavy rotation. Last night I was looking to break out of the musical rut I’d recently found myself in and searched through my collection for something I hadn’t played in a while. I ended up choosing This Is Me by Randy Travis. I’ve been a huge Randy Travis fan since the first time I heard “Diggin’ Up Bones” and “On The Other Hand” back in 1986. I dutifully bought every album he released. After four excellent albums in the ‘80s – Storms Of Life (1986), Always & Forever (1987), Old 8×10 (1988 ) and No Holdin’ Back (1989) – his career began to slow down in the ‘90s. He continued to put out quality music, but nothing that had the impact of his ‘80s work. By the time This Is Me was released in 1994, Randy was no longer country music’s hottest commodity. The neotraditionalist movement had run its course, and Nashville was very much centered around Garth Brooks. Although I was still (and am to this day) a huge Travis fan, This Is Me was an album that didn’t see the inside of my CD player very often.

Last night while listening to the album for the first time in a very long time, I was struck by the realization that it was actually  very solid. The opening track “The Honkytonk Side Of Town” and the Bobby Braddock-penned “Small Y’all” are filler, but the remaining eight tracks are real gems. The album produced the #1 hit “Whisper My Name”, as well as three other top 10 hits – “Before You Kill Us All (#2), “The Box” (#7) and the title track (#5). The closing track “Oscar The Angel” is a real keeper. As I listened to it, I found myself wondering why this album didn’t make more of an impression on me when it was first released. It was no commercial failure, having earned gold certification from the RIAA, but that was a far cry from the multi-platinum level sales Randy had enjoyed in the ‘80s. It definitely deserved more attention than it got from both myself and the general public, and I made a mental note to start playing this one more often. It’s also motivated me to take another look through my collection for more forgotten gems.

What are the some of the forgotten gems in your collection?