Travis Tritt

By Chris Gray

published: August 13, 2009

Ever wondered what happened to '80s piano-man cheeseball Richard "Right Here Waiting" Marx? Well, he shared the 2003 "Song of the Year Grammy" for co-writing Luther Vandross' "Dance with My Father," and, perhaps even odder, co-wrote two songs with Travis Tritt on the Georgia-born longhaired outlaw's 2007 LP The Storm. What's more, they're actually good — bluesy and funky, but very much still country.

But that's not exactly new for Tritt. He may not be the hitmaker he was in the early '90s. Back then songs like "Country Club," "The Whiskey Ain't Workin'," "Help Me Hold On," barrelhouse Elvis cover "T-R-O-U-B-L-E" and the brilliant kiss-off ballad "Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)" competed with Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson for airplay. But although tastes have changed, Tritt hasn't, and this show should add an extra mouthful of grit to some of the orneriest, most outspoken songs of country's "New Traditionalist" era.