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Country singer Randy Travis has apologized after being arrested on a charge of public intoxication outside a North Texas church.
Denton County sheriff’s spokesman Tom Reedy says police in the town of Sanger arrested Travis early Monday after spotting a vehicle parked in front of a church and finding an open bottle of wine and Travis smelling of alcohol.
Reedy says Travis (whose hits include “Forever and Ever, Amen”) was brought to the Denton County jail about 1:30 a.m. and released six hours later.
The singer (who lives in the small town of Tioga near Sanger) apologized in a statement to The Associated Press “for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl.”
Travis (who launches a concert tour Friday) says he’s “committed to being responsible and accountable.”

Randy Travis.

Country singer Randy Travis was arrested in Sanger Monday morning on a charge of suspicion of public intoxication.
According to Sanger police – an officer noticed a 1998 black Pontiac parked in front of the First Baptist Church of Sanger early Monday morning and, thinking that was unusual, stopped to talk to the driver.
The officer soon realized the man in the car was country superstar Randy Travis. The officer also realized there was a strong odor of alcohol was coming from the vehicle and an open wine bottle on the passenger seat. The officer went on to report that the longer they talked, the more slurred Travis’ speech became.
Travis told the officer he’d had an argument with his girlfriend and was trying to get back to his ranch in Tioga, which was about 20 miles away.
“Mr. Travis was unaware of his location and kept asking me to take him home” – the officer stated.
Tom Reedy with the Denton County Sheriff’s Department said Sanger officers took him to Denton where he was booked into the county jail at 1:30 a.m. Monday.
“They take you to jail for at least four hours, time to sober up” – Reedy explained about the Class C misdemeanor, for which Travis was cited.
Travis was released a few hours after he was booked.
“I apologize for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl. I’m committed to being responsible and accountable, and apologize for my actions” – Travis said through his publicist Monday afternoon.

The 52-year-old, who has since been released, apologized in a statement to The Associated Press “for what resulted following an evening of celebrating the Super Bowl” and also said he is “committed to being responsible and accountable.”
On Monday, Feb. 6, Just after midnight, an officer noticed a black, 1998 two-door Pontiac car parked in a lot near the First Baptist Church in the town of Sanger. The driver, Travis, told him that he and his girlfriend had had an argument and he was trying to get home, according to a police report obtained by OnTheRedCarpet.com. The singer owns the Chrysalis Ranch outside Tioga, about 20 miles away.
The officer said he “detected an odor of alcohol” and “noticed an open bottle of wine in the passenger side of the vehicle.”
“I asked the subject his name and he stated ‘Randy Travis’ ” – the officer said in the report. ” ‘Mr. Travis’ speech was slurred and I was beginning to have a hard time understanding what he was saying.”
The officer said he called for backup and asked the singer for a form of identification. Travis tried to produce some but was unable to find any, he said, adding that the singer kept asking for a ride home. The second officer than arrived.
“We had Mr. Travis step out of the vehicle and as he did, he stumbled as he tried to walk” – the report stated. “I advised Mr. Travis he was being taken into custody for public intoxication. I placed handcuffed on him … and placed him into the back seat of my patrol unit.”
The singer was then arrested and taken to a local jail. He was released within hours.
Travis, known for hits such as “Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart” and “Forever and Ever, Amen,” and his first wife, Elizabeth Hatcher, also known as Libby, divorced in 2010 after about 19 years of marriage.
Travis, a North Carolina native who dropped out of high school at age 15, had struggled with drugs and alcohol as a teenager and had during that time been to jail for offenses such as drunk driving, stealing a van, breaking and entering, larceny and drunk and disorderly conduct.
Hatcher met him in 1977 at a nightclub she managed in North Carolina. He was 17 then and was facing another prison sentence for breaking into a convenience store. Hatcher convinced a judge to release him into the custody of her and her then-husband instead.
Travis then became more religious and started to turn his life around.
“I went to bed one night and just started reading the Bible” – he said in an interview with The Pentecostal Evangel in 2007. “I’m sure I had a buzz going at that time because I was still drinking and doing drugs. But I literally felt a peace of mind the next morning. From then on, I read the Bible regularly. After Elizabeth and I married, we moved to Nashville, Tenn., and started going to church.”