Randy Travis' brother performs in Salisbury

Ricky Traywick will be performing in concert at Stallings Memorial Baptist Church, 817 S. Main St., Sunday at 6 p.m.

Traywick, a 2007 Dove Award winner, is the older brother of country music legend Randy Travis.

His set list includes positive and Christian country as well as original material, all with a unique blues twist.

The concert is free; a love offering will be taken.

Born to Harold and Bobbie Traywick, Ricky Traywick, one of six children, was raised in Marshville, a small town outside of Charlotte. He started playing guitar and performing at a very early age. His father, Harold, sang country songs and coached all six children to pursue their musical inclinations. The three boys were all given guitar lessons and expected to perform on command in the large music room built on the back of the Traywick’s home.

His father encouraged all the children. “My dad was always a big country music fan, so we grew up listening to a lot of the old stuff,” Traywick recalls. “Hank Williams and Patsy Cline were probably his favorites.”

But listening to music wasn’t the only influence he and his brother had. “Actually, my dad took us to guitar lessons together. Afterwards, we would go home and ‘jam’ in the den, learning from each other. We would take turns playing lead and rhythm. We (Ricky and Randy) were always trying to outplay each other.”

Through his father’s insistence, by the time Ricky was 15 and his younger brother Randy was 14, they were regulars in hometown honky-tonks. The two were later joined by bass-playing brother David. With their father arranging the bookings, they played local clubs over a wide area. Within two years, Ricky and Randy formed a duo called the Traywick Brothers. They played in clubs and talent contests and audiences were amazed with their talent.

Unfortunately, both of the brothers had a wild streak and the atmosphere of the rough, rural roadhouses they played in rubbed off on them, which soon resulted in Ricky going to jail after a car chase and Randy running away to Charlotte to escape arrest. Their father had entered the duo in a talent contest in Charlotte; however, Ricky spent his time in jail while Randy participated in the contest as a soloist. He won the event and went on to become a country legend.

Traywick spend many of his later years continuing to pursue a career in the music industry. The hardest thing was to overcome his bitterness toward his brother for escaping arrest and his later success.

Traywick now knows that all of his experiences during his childhood and teenage years have ultimately made him who he is today.

In later years, Traywick married Teresa, and has two children, Rick and April. Ricky and his family live in Red Cross and he continues playing the guitar as well as singing. He has now dedicated his life to Christ and knows that all the events that he lived has certainly made him a strong Christian today. He now performs as a Christian and positive country artist.

“I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for His mercy, His loving kindness, His guidance and for my life, but most of all for saving a wretched ole sinner like me.”