Country star Tracy Lawrence reflected on the life-altering trauma he endured more than 30 years ago.
While recording his debut album “Sticks and Stones” in May 1991, Lawrence was walking a girlfriend back to her hotel in Nashville when they were mugged by multiple gun-wielding assailants. The “Stars Over Texas” singer was shot four times during the robbery and required major surgery to remove the bullets.
He didn’t know it then, but Lawrence — who is kicking off his 2026 No Alibis Tour this year — admitted that he now knows he should have sought professional help after surviving the shooting.
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“I was angry back then,” Lawrence exclusively told Fox News Digital. “I felt like… they were trying to take my opportunity away from me, and I didn’t get the mental help that I needed. I’m much more aware of the consequences, whether it’s, you know, if you go through a physical altercation or family trauma or whatever those things are.”
“I’m a big believer in taking care of your mental health these days, and I didn’t do that at the time. That was a very traumatic experience for me.”
He added, “I just suppressed it and shoved it down, and it caused me a lot of problems in my personal relationships, problems in my career.”
The “Can’t Break It to My Heart” musician acquired a “bit of a God complex” following the incident, something that also created pain in his life.
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“When you overcome a life-altering experience like that, I think there’s a little bit of a God complex that comes with it when you survive something that you probably shouldn’t have,” Lawrence said. “It caused me to push things to the edge a lot more than I would have if that had not had happened to me.
“I try to make it a point when people bring that up, and I talk about it now to make people aware that one of the most important things you can do when you go through something like that is to talk to somebody about it. Don’t suppress it. Purge that thing out and get it out and deal with it and confront it, because if you don’t, eventually it’s going to come out in a way that you can’t control.”
Lawrence spent days in the hospital at Vanderbilt Medical Center where he underwent multiple surgeries to remove a bullet from his knee. Doctors decided against removing a bullet that was lodged in his hip.
WATCH: Tracy Lawrence says ’91 shooting had an impact on his faith
“Once I got past the realization that I wasn’t going to die, the next thing that I worried about was, was I going to lose my leg… I didn’t know how severe the bullet impact was on my leg because I got shot right through the joint in my left knee,” Lawrence said. “I really thought there for a while that they were going to have to amputate my leg and that was pretty traumatic in itself and I still struggle with that injury too.”
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He added, “I’ve had a total knee replacement and once I got past that, it’s caused me to have ankle issues. I’m probably going to have ankle surgery at the end of this year that I’ve been putting off for a while, so that’s caused residual issues over the years that just had to linger that I’ve never really been able to completely get over.”
Lawrence was a rising star in the industry at the time of the near-death experience, and could have let the incident change his trajectory, but his love for music and trust in God kept him going.
WATCH: Country star reflects on life-changing trauma which nearly derailed his career
“I’m blessed that I found something like this that I’m so passionate about in life that I’ve been able to enjoy for the better part of my life,” Lawrence said. “I think I’ve started this dream when I was about 12 years old. And I just turned 58 and still love it and am as passionate about it now as much as I was when I was a kid. I think that’s a pretty rare thing.”
He added, “I’ve had a roller-coaster relationship with my Creator more than once.
“I still have the highs and lows of it. I’m still a struggling Christian, and it’s something that I counsel with my pastor on a regular basis about. But I know that God’s always there. He’s had his hand on me since I was a little child and I’ve been blessed to have a lot of prayer warriors. My mother and ladies from the church where I grew up, and even people in my life today that are praying for me constantly. I feel very blessed to have them in my life. It’s definitely had an impact on my relationship with God.”
With more than a dozen albums under his belt and dozens of hit songs, Lawrence brings all his best lines to the road this year on his headlining 2026 No Alibis Tour.
“I think it’s a good time to go back out there,” he said. “You know, I’ve never really stopped touring, but you know, to reconnect with some of those fans that I haven’t seen in 25 years, and folks that followed me in the early ’90s, and just to reconnect with that audience out there.”
Lawrence’s 2026 No Alibis Tour kicks off in March and will run through August, with Lawrence stopping in his hometown of Nashville at the Ryman Auditorium.
