Travis Tritt has spent almost 30 years working in country music, all the while never wavering in his traditional country style. These days, the singer says that he feels it's his mission to preserve the traditional sounds that first drew him to country music, when he was just a little boy growing up in rural Georgia.

"The songs that I grew up on were songs that were so important, because they talked about all of the things that normal, everyday, average, working people go through on a day-to-day basis," Tritt tells The Boot. "How you feel about somebody that you care about, somebody that you love; how you feel about your position, your social status, or your job, or the country that you live in -- and all of those songs from the era that I grew up in talked about all of those different things. And they meant something; they weren’t just little ditties that you could tap your toe to and go out and dance to. They were songs that were meaningful, and they had a message that I think resonated throughout the entire country."

Tritt is determined to continue being an ambassador for traditional country music -- he's also not afraid to voice his thoughts on social media, as he did when Beyonce performed at the 2016 CMA Awards -- even as other influences infiltrate the genre.

"I think it’s important to always be able to point to your roots and be able to say, ‘You know what? If it hadn’t been for these people opening up the doors for people like me, you would never have a continuation of the music that we’ve all come to love and respect so much over the years,'" he explains. "So I think that’s the biggest reason for always pointing back to the roots, for me, and I think that’s something that a lot of people out there, the listening audience, can relate to."

Tritt recently released a new live album and DVD, A Man and His Guitar — Live From the Franklin Theatre, which is available for purchase at Amazon and iTunes.

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