More from the vault.
Country legend Randy Travis is gearing up to put out his first album of original music in over 18 years, called Same Old Way, which is set for release on November 13th. The 12-song tracklist spans Randy’s recording career from 1986 to 2013, and for one reason or another, they simple never got formally cut or released on an album.
Randy and his wife, Mary, say that these songs are from “the vault,” which means that they are all old songs from when Travis was still actively recording music, as opposed to being AI-assisted songs, which Travis has dabbled with before:
“Sharing the love of music for decades with listeners of all ages has been an honor of mine. I feel extremely blessed. Earlier this week, as we announced my new album and played some of the songs for the children and families at St. Jude Children’s Hospital in Memphis, I was reminded of my reason for doing it.
Gratitude and appreciation welled up as emotions I didn’t expect when stories were shared about a particular song’s impact on their lives. I hope these dusted-off songs from the vault touch folks the same old way.”
Kyle Lehning, Randy’s longtime producer, is the one who assembled, remixed, and remastered a number of great songs from throughout their career together. It’s seemingly a similar project to the one Shooter Jennings is working on, which consists of three separate albums of songs he discovered from his father’s vault which were never officially recorded to be released.
Often, these types of “vault” records happen after an artist passes away, though in Travis’ unique case, he was able to be part of the process and seemingly helped make decisions on which songs to release, how they were produced, and all kinds of things of that nature. Due to Randy’s 2013 stroke, he suffers from severe language impairments, and is no longer able to sing, so something like this is very special and unexpected, and he also released another song from the record too in the title track.
And no, for those wondering, it is not an AI voice… these are all songs that were recorded between 1986 to 2013, before his stroke, and were never cut for an album for one reason or another.
He took time to clarify that because of two songs he released over the last couple of years, “Where That Came From” in 2024 and “Horses in Heaven” in 2025, did use some AI, but that is not the case on this album.
All of these songs feature that real, iconic Randy Travis voice:
“‘Where That Came From’ (2024) and ‘Horses in Heaven’ (2025) were singles released previously utilizing AI to give Randy’s baritone sound & voice back to the fans. The upcoming album ‘Same Old Way’ set to release in November is comprised of singles previously recorded by Randy Travis ranging from 1986 to before the 2013 stroke. Artists write and record countless songs – only some end up on the final album!
We’re so blessed to have gone through the vault alongside long-time producer Kyle Lehning and recover tapes to bring Randy’s original voice back in this beautiful way, with never before heard recordings.”
I’m glad he took time to explain this, because it only adds to the authenticity and excitement of the record:
“Set The Blues Back” was written by Travis along with Kyle Lehning and Michael Curtis, and finds him singing about true love that is so unwavering it will “sets the blues back 100 years,” because the feelings of sadness or loneliness are gone and so why would you need to listen to the blues? Even if they don’t have material possessions, they have true love and that’s what really matters:
“If we don’t live in a mansion
Way up high on a hill
We don’t drive a Mercedes-Benz
Never have and never will
But there’s a whole lot of feel good goin’ on around here
Baby, we could set the blues back a hundred years”
It has a really fun production, tons of fiddle, and I love the concept of it too. It’s hard to imagine why any of these songs never made it onto an album before now, but I’m glad they didn’t, because now we get to enjoy that classic Randy Travis sound in 2026.
Check it out:
“Set The Blues Back”
Same Old Way Tracklist:
1. “I Know Where I’d Be Without You”
2. “Fish On”
3. “I Don’t Care”
4. “Just Read The Signs”
5. “Mission Of Love”
6. “I Catch ‘Em”
7. “There’s No Getting Over You”
8. “They Called It A Church”
9. “One Tear At A Time”
10. “Same Old Way”
11. “My Greatest Fear”
12. “Set The Blues Back”
“Same Old Way”
“Fish On”
“I Don’t Care”
More Life Tour Dates:
Sept. 26 – York, PA – Pullo Center
Sept. 27 – Albany, NY – The Egg Performing Arts Center
Oct. 1 – New London, CT – Garde Arts Center
Oct. 2 – Keene, NH – Colonial Theatre
Oct. 3 – Plymouth, MA – Plymouth Memorial Hall
Oct. 4 – Northampton, MA – Academy of Music Theatre
Oct. 14 – Austin, TX – The Long Center for the Performing Arts
Oct. 15 – Dallas, TX – Longhorn Ballroom
Oct. 16 – Beaumont, TX – Jefferson Theatre
Oct. 22 – Lubbock, TX – Buddy Holly Hall
Oct. 23 – Albuquerque, NM – Popejoy Theatre
Oct. 24 – Pueblo, CO – Pueblo Memorial Hall
Nov. 6 – Oklahoma City, OK – Civic Center Music Hall
Nov. 7 – Topeka, KS – Topeka Performing Arts Center
Nov. 8 – Branson, MO – Clay Cooper Theatre
