The gospel according to Randy Travis

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- The opening sounds like a line from a dirty joke: "A farmer and a teacher, a hooker and a preacher."

But the one laughing is Randy Travis, who has his first No. 1 country hit in nine years singing those lyrics in the gospel song, "Three Wooden Crosses."

"It feels pretty good, it feels wonderful," Travis, 44, says from his home in Santa Fe, N.M. "It's especially rewarding seeing that it came from a gospel album."

He was drawn to the lyrics, written by Doug Johnson and Kim Williams, the moment he heard them.

"Look at this song lyrically, how many things are going on in 3 minutes," he said. "There are a lot of twists and turns."

In the song, a preacher tells his congregation about a farmer, teacher, hooker and preacher who are on a bus bound for Mexico when it collides with an 18-wheeler.

Of the four, only the hooker survives, and in the chorus, Travis sings in his warm, soothing baritone: "There are, three wooden crosses on the right side of the highway, Why there's not four of them, heaven only knows."

The next verse advances the story with the dying preacher handing his bloodstained Bible to the hooker. The final verse reveals that the hooker read that Bible to her young son, who grew up to be the preacher telling the story.

The song ends with an altered chorus: "Why there's not four of them, now I guess we know."

"It's the classic example of a great story song," says Wade Jessen, director of country, Christian, gospel and bluegrass charts for Billboard magazine. "It's also a bit of a 3-minute morality play, and that plays well in light of current events."

Country and religious music have been bright spots in a slump for music sales during economic hard times, Jessen said.

"I think country radio and country music is really the place people go when they want something more familiar, more meaty, more personal, more relatable and that speaks more to the human condition," he said.

A number of current country hits contain religious references, including Diamond Rio's "I Believe" and Brooks & Dunn's "Red Dirt Road."

Travis' "Rise and Shine" album, released last year on the Word Records label, is by Travis' own admission more a collection of country songs with a spiritual message than traditional gospel music.

The title cut, for example, has steel guitar and fiddle backing lines such as, "As sure as there's a heaven, the Son's gonna rise and shine."

Travis, who co-wrote six of the 13 tracks, said the label had reservations about releasing a single for mainstream country radio because of the strong religious content.

"But everybody was in agreement that if we were going to do it, then 'Three Wooden Crosses' made the most sense," the singer said.

With the song's success, Travis wants to release more singles. He has a good feeling about "When Mama Prayed," a narrative that hits close to home. "Seventeen and wild I hit the bottle, Doing anything I dang well pleased, Burning down life's highway at full throttle."

Travis' teen years were marred by drug and alcohol abuse and run-ins with the law. At 18 and on the verge of going to jail, he was rescued by Elizabeth Liz Hatcher, then the manager of the Charlotte, N.C., nightclub where he performed. She took him in, helped him clean up his act, managed his career and married him.

Travis said he began reading the Bible in his 20s and found peace. Years later he would publicly profess his Christian faith.

He moved to Nashville in 1981 and five years later released "Storms of Life," an album of old-school country that sold 3 million copies and placed him firmly in the "new traditionalist movement" with singers such as George Strait, Ricky Skaggs and Reba McEntire.

From 1986 to 1994, he had 15 No. 1 hits, including "Diggin' up Bones," "Forever and Ever, Amen" and "Honky Tonk Moon." He won three Grammys and launched an acting career in films and television.

His success on the country charts waned, though, and Travis veered toward gospel a few years ago with the album "Inspirational Journey."

The music fit with his hard country roots and religious convictions. He says the material allows him to share his faith with people who might not otherwise be exposed to the Bible.

"The first night I did any of these songs was in a showroom in a casino," Travis said. "I came to the point in the show where we were going to do the gospel section and I was shaking like a leaf."

But after he finished the first song, people began yelling requests.

"The one I heard most loud and clear was a song called 'Doctor Jesus,"' he said. "I felt much better at that point."