Randy Travis goes viral on TikTok as new single hits milestone

“Fools’ Love Affair” was rediscovered 35 years after demo was recorded

Last week, country music icon Randy Travis released “Fool’s Love Affair,” a 35 year old recording that was never heard before. The song quickly reached over one million streams on digital platforms. Travis and his wife Mary also appeared on NBC’s TODAY with Hoda and Jenna Thursday (Aug 6th) morning. This week, the music legend joined the viral app TikTok and has four million views on his first video in less than two days.

“Fool’s Love Affair” not only is the first new Randy Travis music in years, but it also marked the 35th anniversary of his first radio single “On The Other Hand.” Originally recorded as a demo, the song sat in storage until one of the writers, Charlie Monk — who wrote the song with Milton Brown and Keith Stegall — rediscovered it and sent it to Travis and his longtime producer Kyle Lehning. This release was long awaited by country music fans and artists who credit him as musical inspiration. In addition, country radio across the country and around the world truly embraced the song, featuring it on release day along with commentary on Randy Travis’ impact on the genre.

Last summer, Travis released “One In A Row” that was recorded years before the stroke but never widely released to audiences. It showcases Travis’ deep, velvety smooth, signature tone with the traditional country sound that has been a cornerstone of his career since 1986.

“Traditional country music was all I wanted to do — it’s all I knew how to do,” Travis shares in his memoir, Forever and Ever, Amen: A Memoir of Music, Faith, and Braving the Storms of Life, which was released last year and topped Book Authority’s 82 Best Country Music Books of All Time list earlier this year.

Travis’ memoir takes readers behind the music, with candid, never-before-told details, of his troubled youth full of drinking and stealing cars, a tense relationship with his father and the roller coaster ride of more than 40 years in the music and acting industry. With the help of New York Times Best-Selling Author, Ken Abraham, and Travis’ wife Mary, this memoir recounts the singer’s journey of perseverance and redemption from his early childhood memories up until the book was penned, recovering from a life-changing stroke and painful divorce, enjoying the life he was given and learning to “sing a new song.”

With lifetime sales in excess of 25 million, Travis is one of the biggest multi-genre record sellers of all time and a recent inductee into the Country Music Hall of Fame class of 2016. His honors include seven Grammy Awards, 11 Academy of Country Music statuettes, ten American Music Awards, two People’s Choice awards, seven Music City News awards, eight Dove Awards from the Gospel Music Association and five Country Music Association honors. In addition, three of his performances earned CMA Song of the Year honors: “On the Other Hand” (1986), “Forever and Ever Amen” (1987) and “Three Wooden Crosses” (2002).

To date, he has 22 No. 1 singles, 31 Top 10 smashes and more than 40 appearances in feature films and television shows to his credit. He has four gold, four platinum, one double platinum, one triple platinum and one quintuple platinum albums.

In 2004, Travis was honored with his own star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame and is honored on the Music City Walk of Fame in Nashville, TN. He has been a member of the cast of the Grand Ole Opry since 1986. In 2017, he was honored with a wax figure at Madame Tussauds Nashville.

Since his near fatal stroke in 2013, with the help of his wife Mary and rigorous physical therapy, the country superstar continues to make improvements in his speaking, walking, and yes, singing.

@randy.travis

Brand new song out now! #randytravis #countrymusic #foolsloveaffair #legend

♬ Fool’s Love Affair – Randy Travis

Buddy Iahn
Buddy Iahn

Buddy Iahn founded The Music Universe when he decided to juxtapose his love of web design and music. As a lifelong drummer, he decided to take a hiatus from playing music to report it. The website began as a fun project in 2013 to one of the top independent news sites. Email: info@themusicuniverse.com