Suit, $7,995, shirt, $450, by Ralph Lauren

Randy Travis

Amazing Grace

His whole career, Randy Travis has been a paragon of traditional country music—a secular chart-topper in the 1980s, a spiritualist in the 2000s, a reedy singer with a voice of burnished brass. But in 2013, the stroke hit. It took two and a half years of therapy for him to sing again in public. His first song: “Amazing Grace,” onstage in 2016 at his Country Music Hall of Fame induction. Aphasia now prevents him from saying much, but he exercises his lungs in hopes of vocalizing more. His wife, Mary, says he still has music welled up inside him. “A doctor said that his vocal cords are perfect, they're intact. And when you do hear him sing, he is definitely on pitch. That Randy Travis baritone is sure in there.”

Essential Album

Always & Forever (1987), which includes the wedding anthem “Forever and Ever, Amen.”

On him: Coat, $4,180, shirt, $750, by Prada / Hat, his own

On her: Jacket and pants by Brandon Maxwell Jacket and pants by Stella McCartney / Dress, her own

Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, and their daughter, Mercy

Family Band

For fans of American roots rock, Jason Isbell leaving the Drive-By Truckers in 2007 felt like Syd Barrett leaving Pink Floyd. But Isbell soon evolved into the king of Americana, a hardscrabble songwriter and stellar bandleader. As you might guess, the Isbell-Shires family lives on the road—Amanda plays fiddle and sings in Jason's band and is currently recording her sixth solo album. “You get to a certain point,” Isbell says, “where if you're on a tour bus and not in a van, you are as much of a rock star as you ever need to be.”

Essential Albums

His 2013 solo breakthrough about getting sober, Southeastern. Her wickedly poetic Down Fell the Doves from the same year.