Hal Ketchum Back with "I'm the Troubadour" After a Time of Sickness; Listen to His New Song Here

By Timothy Yap Oct 08, 2014 03:54 AM EDT

Though he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis fifteen years ago, the symptoms were starting to catch up with Hal Ketchum, who is now 61 years old. As a result, Ketchum took a long hiatus after his 2008 Curb Records "Father Time" was relased. "I went through some really serious bouts of paralysis, blindness and the fear that goes with all of that. I was in kind of a dark place," he says. "I didn't write, didn't perform. I was just laying low, living in a cabin out in Wimberley, TX."

Furthermore, Hal Ketchum had also lost his musical way. Crediting God for his recovery, Ketchum says, "I just kind of lost my powder for a while. I just didn't feel like playing or writing. One day I just said, 'This is a gift that God has given me, so I better get back to it.'"

After focusing on his health for several years, his strength began to return, but Ketchum soon realized he would never really be himself without returning to his lifelong art form. "I came to the realization that I had gotten to this deep level of depression, and I finally said to myself, 'I can still do this. I can still write.'"

Ketchum began to write again, jotting down song ideas in the notebook he carries with him at all times. "The key for me was getting up every morning and having something real to do. Some days, my hands don't work as well as they should, I'll get a little wobbly on occasion, but I just keep going." Soon, he had a handful of songs and demos, which he sent out to friends in the music industry.

"I wasn't really planning on doing another album," says Ketchum, who has produced fifteen Top 10 singles and sold more than five million albums in his career. "The whole Nashville scene is extremely competitive. You're as good as your last record. People are always showing you spreadsheets on how much money you owe for videos and tour support and everything else. I think there's a certain level of resentment that comes with that."

But when Jimmy LaFave and Kelcy Warren of the small Austin, TX label Music Road Records heard his songs, they knew they had to convince Ketchum to write another album. "We had a great talk, and they said 'Hal, you've made these great country records, but we really want to challenge you to reach outside of your comfort zone and write from your heart," Ketchum recalls. "So that was my goal."

The result is Hal Ketchum's first full-length studio release in 6 years, 'I'm The Troubadour,' out October 7 on Music Road Records. In contrast to the pure country hits he's famous for, 'I'm The Troubadour' finds Ketchum letting his songwriting expand into folk, blues, rock and soul.