E57: Travis Tritt

Andrew Pope (0:00)

Well, it's another podcast. It's called Pickin It Out.

Got the one and only and the legendary Mr. Travis Tritt in the house. Yeah, and we're gonna be pickin it out.

Travis Tritt (0:45)

All right. I love that.

Andrew Pope (0:49)

I gotta do it every time, man.

Travis Tritt (0:50)

That's good.

Andrew Pope (0:52)

Gotta do it every time. People like it. Make the mistake of doing it one time, and then gotta do it always then.

Travis Tritt (1:01)

That's great.

Andrew Pope (1:02)

Well, hey, y'all. Appreciate y'all tuning back in with us here to Pickin It Out. I am super excited right now because, man, this guy right here, I've been a fan of his ever since. I've been a fan of anything, probably.

Like I told him, I still do. Here's a quarter at my little acoustic shows, and I'm going to be somebody. And I mean, the list just goes on and on. So I am, could not be happier to be sitting here, one of my heroes, Mr. Travis Tritt. How you doing, man?

Travis Tritt (1:39)

I'm doing great, Andrew. How are you doing, buddy?

Andrew Pope (1:42)

Been doing good, man.

I love this studio. Been trying to set everything up and can't quit looking around at everything. I mean, can't even stay focused.

Travis Tritt (1:55)

It's so comfortable for me, because I can come up here and just sit when I'm writing or whatever. And I'm surrounded by everything that I love.

Andrew Pope (2:06)

Yeah.

Travis Tritt (2:06)

And great memories too. Great memories.

Andrew Pope (2:10)

You do just demos and stuff in here or you cut some records in here?

Travis Tritt (2:13)

No, we've never cut any records. We just do primarily demos and primarily when I'm songwriting.

Andrew Pope (2:20)

Yeah.

Travis Tritt (2:21)

This is where I come to kind of put everything together.

Andrew Pope (2:25)

Yeah. That's a great little place for writing.

Travis Tritt (2:28)

Thank you.

Andrew Pope (2:28)

You get a lot of inspiration just looking around.

Travis Tritt (2:31)

Yes, sir.

Andrew Pope (2:32)

I was looking at this Waylon guitar back here, and I was wondering if that is the, was that the one in the late 90s that Fender made a few of and they gave Waylon some of them?

Travis Tritt (2:43)

Yep. And Waylon gave that one to me.

I took the pickguard off. I saw that over there. Because Waylon signed the pickguard, and he also signed the back of the headstock for me.

Andrew Pope (2:55)

Oh, man.

Travis Tritt (2:56)

But, yeah, that's a, when we did the last Waylon album that was ever done, which was the live album they did at the Ryman, I played that guitar on that, on that recording and on that show. And, yeah, that's a, that's a special one.

Andrew Pope (3:19)

That's the one that had you and Montgomery Jeantree and I think John Anderson.

Travis Tritt (3:23)

John Anderson. That's correct.

Andrew Pope (3:25)

Yeah, that was a good show. It wasn't long before he passed, was it?

Travis Tritt (3:28)

No, it was just a few months, just a few months before he passed away. And what an honor to be invited to be a part of that show. You know, I performed with Waylon numerous, numerous times over the years, and we've done a lot of shows together, but that was a special one for me.

Really special.

Andrew Pope (3:53)

He seems like he really did take you under his wing from a long time ago and really was a fan of yours too.

Travis Tritt (3:59)

He, Waylon and I clicked for whatever reason.

I met Waylon back in the 90s. As a matter of fact, there's a plaque in there that has the original set list, the times, and a picture of me and Waylon together, singing together, and a picture of when we met, the backstage passes, all that. That was at the Omni in Atlanta back in early 90s. And Jerry Glanville, who was the coach of the Atlanta Falcons at the time, wanted to put together a benefit, a charity, and he got Waylon Jennings to headline, and he got me, Diamond Rio, a couple of others to play on the show.

And he asked me, Jerry called me about a day before the show, and said, Would you like to meet Waylon at that show? And I said, Man, I'd be disappointed if I didn't get a chance to meet Waylon. He said, Okay. So I met Waylon that night, and it was a big group of us from record label and the whole nine yards that came in, and we just took pictures, and the governor was there, Zell Miller was there, and we took pictures together, and it was probably, I don't know, maybe 10 of us in the room. And as we got ready to leave, I was the last one out the door, and I had my hand on the door, and over my shoulder, I hear, hey, Hoss. I turn around, and you're talking to me? Yeah, come here. And I went back in, and he had me sit down, and he just gave me a pep talk, basically. You know? Told me how much he enjoyed what I was doing, and told me, basically, you just keep on doing what you're doing.