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After Stroke, Country Music Star Randy Travis Returns To Stage With 'Amazing Grace'

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Randy Travis was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame this week, along with Charlie Daniels and Fred Foster, the record producer. He had a long road there - a rebellious childhood in North Carolina, run-ins with the law whom he tried to outrun - before he landed in Nashville and hit the charts with his song "1982" about a lost love in 1985. Randy Travis had many more hits and gold records and is often credited with helping to open a new popular era in country music. But he suffered a stroke in 2013 and nearly died. He's had to learn how to walk and talk all over again. Randy stared death in the face, but death blinked, his wife, Mary Davis Travis, said at the ceremonies. Today, God's proof of a miracle stands before you.

Then Randy Travis got out of his wheelchair, stood on stage of the Country Music Hall of Fame and sang.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

RANDY TRAVIS: (Singing) Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once...

SIMON: Randy Travis, back on stage at the Country Music Hall of Fame.

(SOUNDBITE OF MARK O'CONNOR PERFORMANCE OF E.O. EXCELL'S "AMAZING GRACE") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

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