um...what was that again?

And the misconceptions keep getting peddled...
Tonight on Rowdy Yates' Country Gold, the music of Randy Travis is being put front and center. I was listening as I was driving back to where I stay from work, and Mr. Travis was billed as "the man who brought the twang back to town," or something like that. And I thought, "uhhhhh, what?"
I've heard this more than a few times over the years and I never quite understood how RT got that reputation. From what I remember about the resurgence of traditional country music in the early-to-mid 1980s, it was George Strait, Ricky Skaggs, and Reba McEntire who were the early players of the role of bringing the music back to the basics. Ricky Skaggs had his first No. 1 in 1981 ("Cryin' My Heart Out Over You") Strait ("Fool Hearted Memory") and Reba ("Can't Even Get The Blues") had their first No. 1 hits in 1982, and finally, Randy Travis hit the scene in 1985. I was thinking the resurgence of the traditional country was more or less in full swing by then, as evidenced by the popularity of those other folks. I'll give him his due, but it's always bugged the hell out of me that he seems to be the one who gets the lion's share of the credit for bringing country music back from the dead...