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Randy Travis Reveals Secret Vocal Trick

Country fans get up close and personal with Taylor Swift, Randy Travis, Gretchen
Wilson, Sara Evans, Joe Nichols, Bucky Covington and Jake Owen on June 5, 2008 at
the CMA Celebrity Close Up series, hosted by Lorianne Crook, which will air on GAC
later this year. Photo credit: David Vespie.
July 24, 2008 — Nine days ago, Randy Travis released his first country album in eight
years, and it’s obvious he had a large audience that had been waiting patiently for
new music.
The album, Around The Bend, debuts at No. 3 on the Billboard
country albums charts, the first time he’s ever landed a CD that high after the
initial week of sales. Randy certainly made a lot of appearances to guarantee his
fans knew it was out. Among the places he could be seen last week were "The Late
Show With David Letterman," "Good Morning America," "Regis & Kelly," "The Today Show"
and "Entertainment Tonight."
If that’s not enough to underscore the amount of dedication Randy applies to his
career, consider what he goes through to keep his voice in good shape. Nashville,
to the chagrin of many performers, is a difficult place to live for people who have
allergies, and at least one major artist started recording in another city once he
discovered the air quality made his voice sound better.
Randy has tried different solutions to battle the clogged nasal passages that allergies
create, including Zyrtec and Claritin, but a doctor suggested a more drastic approach.
Randy makes a salt-water solution — table salt doesn’t work, it has to be kosher
salt or canning salt — then pours it through his nostrils into the nasal cavity and
holds it, he says, "as long as you can stand it."
"It’s not fun," Randy laughs. "I mean it burns."
But it works, too.
"I did that once a day for three days," he recalls, "and it was like, ‘Dang, I can
get up to notes I hadn’t hit in a month.’"
Randy discusses health, his family history and his career with Lorianne Crook in
GAC’s
CMA Celebrity Closeup
series. An encore installment of the episode, which also features Gretchen Wilson
and Taylor Swift, airs Thursday at 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. ET.