Tritt still making music, having a 'blast'

While James Brown was known as "the hardest working man in show business," country music artist Travis Tritt makes a compelling argument that he can carry the mantle. Tritt and his band will take the Genesee Theatre stage Friday in Waukegan and prove the point with another marathon performance.

After more than 26 years in the business, two Grammy awards, membership in the Grand Ole Opry and chart-topping hits like "Here's a Quarter," "Bible Belt" and "Anymore," Tritt shows no sign of letting up. He's barnstorming across the country with more than 100 dates still slated through the end of the year.

"Every night is a blast ... when I get on stage, get an opportunity to play and perform, it's the easiest thing I'll do all week, and the most fun," said Tritt, during a phone interview. "The tour's been great and you'd think after all this time I'd get tired or not have something to say. But it's my job, I still get butterflies, and it's a blessing to play music, even if no one paid a dime."

His career as a honky-tonk rocker, along with an award-winning collaboration with Marty Stuart, also weaved through a crossover appeal in different musical genres including duets with the legendary Ray Charles. Charles, in fact, gave Tritt an interesting perspective about life on the road.

"We were talking, and he says, 'Travis, I play for free, always for free. What I get paid for is the travel, being away from home, musicians, rooms and food ... but the show, I play for free.' That's so true, and fans don't really see the other part with all the nuts and bolts."

The Genesee show will run approximately 21/2 hours. Besides a setlist of his hits, and surprise cover songs done in the Tritt style, an acoustic set performed midway through the show continues to draw comments and praise for its intimacy and improvisation.

"The acoustic songs make it seem less like a venue and more like my living room playing for friends ... an opportunity to play songs that we never did live," Tritt said. "I like the free-form nature of it, and pulling things out of my head to play. We like doing some instrumentals, or take a stab at someone else's song. It's just a wide gamut to draw from, and classic country songs are always great to play."

Tritt has also noticed that his audiences have followed and expanded over a wide gamut through the decades. "There's younger fans, older fans, ages from 8 to 80, and that's a testament to the different genres we play, not just country. I've worked with Ray Charles and Patti LaBelle ... what a blessing.

"You know, I've never played Waukegan, or the Genesee, and I hear it's a great venue. We have a lot of fans up that way, and we're looking forward to it, definitely."