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. Click here to watch a clip from the series!