On Monday 28 July 2025, Gene Watson reflected on taking part, along with a host of fellow country music artists, in a Randy Travis recording session, which took place on Thursday 13 May 2010.
‘Back in May 2010, a few of us were called to sing on Randy Travis’ 25th anniversary album, ’25th Anniversary Celebration’ (Warner Bros. Records, 2011), for a song titled ‘Didn’t We Shine’.
We met at Sound Emporium studio in Nashville, and ran over the song a few times before recording it.
There to record along with Randy, we had George Jones (Saturday 12 September 1931 – Friday 26 April 2013), Lorrie Morgan, Connie Smith, Joe Stampley and me.
Also, Randy’s longtime producer, Kyle Lehning, and Randy’s then manager, Lib Hatcher.
Ray Price (Tuesday 12 January 1926 – Monday 16 December 2013), unable to be in Nashville, was also added to the song at a later date.
Here are a few photos from that memorable day’
Source
Gene Watson on Facebook
On Tuesday 7 June 2011, Randy Travis saw the release of ’25th Anniversary Celebration’ (Warner Bros. Records, 2011), which was produced by Kyle Lehning; the album was released to celebrate 25 years since the release of Randy Travis‘ debut album, ‘Storms of Life’ (Warner Bros. Records, 1986).
One of the included tracks on Randy Travis‘ ’25th Anniversary Celebration’ (Warner Bros. Records, 2011) was ‘Didn’t We Shine’, which was written by Don Schlitz and Jesse Winchester (Wednesday 17 May 1944 – Friday 11 April 2014), and was also recorded by Waylon Jennings (Tuesday 15 June 1937 – Wednesday 13 February 2002), who included it on ‘Too Dumb For New York City – Too Ugly For L.A.’ (Epic Records, 1992).
Randy Travis’ ’25th Anniversary Celebration’ (Warner Bros. Records, 2011) reached No.4 on the Billboard Top Country Albums Chart in 2011, and No.19 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums Chart in 2011.
