Back to reclaim his throne

Randy Travis

Around the Bend (Warner Nashville)

ESSENTIAL "From Your Knees"

More than 20 years ago, Randy Travis became a star and one of the most enduring voices in modern mainstream country music by spearheading a return to traditionalism, but he's turned his attention elsewhere this decade with a string of gospel records. This new country album, then, is also something of a return for Travis. But it isn't simply a return to what he's done in the past, although it isn't a radical departure, either, notwithstanding the presence of songs like the first single, "Faith in You," a piece of pop piano balladry wrapped in a surfeit of strings. Rather, Travis has incorporated elements that contemporize and vary his traditional sound. He's working similar territory as young'uns like Joe Nichols and Josh Turner via a mix of intense balladry ("From Your Knees," a song that gives voice to an edgy desperation worthy of George Jones), lighter fare [the wry "Everything I Own (Has Got a Dent)"], and uptempo twang ("'Til I'm Dead and Gone," a locomotive of a song that rides a railroad beat and an extended, fierce electric guitar line). His interpretive use of his rich, burnished baritone has never been better, and that remarkable voice is still a force to be reckoned with.