"Double Trouble" Tour - KORD's Got 'Em

On the evening of Saturday, September 14, 1996, don't be alarmed if you notice the windows in your house vibrating, the ground shaking or the Columbia River flowing upstream. These won't be the results of an earthquake or some other natural phenomenon. Instead, these might be due to a man-made phenomenon occurring at the Tri-City Coliseum, Travis Tritt and Marty Stuart will bring their DOUBLE TROUBLE concert tour to town that night. This high-energy duo, along with Lari White, will have the entire region tipping the Richter Scale.

Tritt and Stuart first met in 1992 after Marty had written "The Whiskey Ain't Workin' Anymore" and passed it on to Travis to record. Marty was asked to play guitar on the record and then was asked to sing the second verse. That is, as they say, history. The song went #1, won a CMA (1992) Vocal Event of the Year award, a Grammy (1993) Vocal Collaboration award, a TNN/Music City News (1993) Vocal Collaboration award and kicked off their huge NO HATS Tour in 1992.

Both performers are very successful on their own merit and took slightly different routes to obtain that success.

Thirty-three year old Travis Tritt from Marietta, Georgia made his recording breakthrough in 1989 with his first Top 10 hit "Country Club." As a side note, several other performers became "known" in 1989: Garth Brooks, Clint Black, Alan Jackson and Tracy Lawrence. Travis released his first album Country Club in 1990 followed by It's All About to Change (1991), t-r-o-u-b-l-e (1992), A Travis Tritt Christmas: Living Time of the Year (1992), Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (1994) and the current Greatest Hits From the Beginning. His new album, The Restless Kind, is due out August 20.

Travis was awarded the CMA's Horizon Award in 1991. He has appeared in two theatrical movies, The Cowboy Way and Sgt. Bilko, co-starred in the made-for-TV movie Rio Diablo and made several acclaimed videos including A Celebration - A Musical Tribute to the Spirit of the Disabled American Veteran.

Marty Stuart, 37, from Philadelphia, Mississippi started in 1972 playing mandolin in the Lester Flatt Band at the age of 13 in Nashville. After Lester Flatt's death in 1979, he released his first album Marty on Ridge Runner Records. In 1980, Marty joined Johnny Cash's band to play electric and acoustic guitar and mandolin. He released the album, Busy Bee Cafe in 1982 and Marty Stuart in 1986. 1989's Hillbilly Rock was followed by Tempted (1990), This One's Gonna Hurt You (1992), Let There Be Country (1992) Love & Luck (1994), The Marty Party Hit Pack (1995) and the current Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best.

Marty became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1992, 20 years after his first appearance on the Opry stage at the age of 13.

Last year, while he was touring Europe, Marty was on a 24-hour bus ride form Milan to Madrid and wrote "Honky Tonkin's What I Do Best." He says it was a fun kind of song," and decided to record it with Travis. During the recording session, they also recorded "Double Trouble" which will be on Travis' new album.

Southern rock and rockabilly don't collide when these two get together, it just steam rolls full speed ahead. But the real reason they are touring together again is as Stuart said, "Travis is trying to raise enough money to start a barber shop in Georgia, and I'm trying to pull together enough dough so I can finally get my VCR repair business off the ground. After all, what are brothers for?"