You know, a lot of country singers lived their lives like country songs. Hank Williams died in a car on the way to a gig in Virginia at the young age of 29. George Jones’ wife once took his car keys because he was drunk. However, she didn’t take the lawn mower keys and Jones drove it 8 miles to get his hooch.
Some might say you write best about that which you know and if that’s true, country great Randy Travis must have a really big hit brewing up inside of him. Travis has been in the headlines a lot this year and none of it has been good.
Travis divorced his wife of 19 years, Lib Hatcher, in October 2010 and some wonder if she was what was holding the singer together. Without her in his life, things have definitely gone downhill.
This past February, Travis was arrested for public intoxication in Sanger, Texas. To make matters worse, he was sitting in his car in a church parking lot. Travis was put on 90-day probation, which was supposed end September 23.
Before that could happen, he was arrested on August 7 while lying naked in a road in Grayson County, Texas. It is believed that Travis wrecked his truck in a construction zone. He resisted arrest, reportedly threatening to kill the officers. He posted the $21,500 bail and left jail the next day barefooted, in paper clothes.
But, it gets worse, much worse.
Police confiscated security tape footage of that night that showed Travis going into a convenience store to buy cigarettes before the crash. Nothing unusual about that – except he was naked then too. Travis left the store when he realized he had no money for the purchase.
All that sounds pretty embarrassing, especially for a big star. The mug shot (which you can see here at Fox) was not flattering, not that they usually are. You’d think Travis would be shamed, if nothing else, into cleaning up his act.
Nope.
On August 24, before he could even go to court for the earlier charge, Travis was cited with simple assault when police were called to a church parking lot at 1 am. Travis was fighting another man and once again, drunk. The next day, a truck registered to Travis was found wrecked and abandoned in Frisco, Texas.
One has to wonder how many times Travis can be arrested before he hurts himself. Hopefully the judge will impose some sort of court sanctioned rehab. That seems to be the only thing right now that might save the country star from himself.