Randy Travis Surprises Texas Country Singer Cody Jinks Onstage [Watch]
Texas country artist Cody Jinks had one very famous fan in the crowd during a recent show: none other than Randy Travis. The country icon greeted Jinks onstage after Jinks covered Travis' hit "Diggin' Up Bones."
The special moment happened during Jinks' Friday night (Jan. 25) show at Heritage Hall in Ardmore, Okla. Accompanied by his wife, Mary Davis, Travis came out onstage to say hello.
"When George Jones said, 'Who's gonna fill their shoes?' he said Randy Travis," Davis told the crowd, who greeted Travis with chants of "Randy! Randy! Randy!" "And I just want to tell you tonight, when people ask us who is gonna fill Randy Travis' shoes, [it's] Cody Jinks."
"I'm just glad I didn’t screw the song up with him sitting right there," Jinks remarked from stage. "When I was a kid, there were three artists I wanted to sing like: One of them was Merle Haggard. One of them was Keith Whitley. And the other was Randy Travis."
Travis' appearance at Jinks' show is one of many he's made since his 2013 stroke. Although he has yet to fully return to the stage and perform, he has popped up at a number of events, lending his support to younger acts simply by being in the audience, and joined an all-star cast of artists onstage during the 2016 CMA Awards' opening medley. Travis is also readying a memoir, to be released in May.
An independent artist since 2008, Jinks recently signed with Rounder Records to release his newest album, 2018's Lifers. The record hit No. 2 on the country albums chart. Travis has included Jinks' music on his Diggin' Up Songs Spotify playlist.
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