Wikipedia Genre: Country, neotraditional country, Western swing revival, honky tonk Home: Poteet, Texas Poster Position: Headliner! Day: Friday at 8 on the Lady Bird Stage Both Weekends.
Thoughts: King George. The King of Country. One of the most popular recorded artists of all time. Brought country back from the pop country brink in the early 80's. More wins than any other artist for the CMAs and ACMs. More number one hits on the Billboard Country Songs chart than anyone ever. Sold more than 100 million albums. Big time.
Back in 2014, when I was still feeling out this blog and what I would write about when it wasn't ACL Festival season, I wrote some long entries about artists that I loved, or albums that I thought were classics, or entire genres of music. After writing a post about my entry into country music, a friend and I had a long exchange about old country music and Joseph threatened to "punch me in the D" if I insulted 80's and early 90's George Strait.
My experience with George Strait started right at the end of that period, when I left camp on a day off and bought the four disc box set called Strait Out of the Box. It came out in 1995, so that was probably summer of 1995. The Hastings in Kerrville received a lot of money from me that summer. I was still just trying to figure out what I liked in country, but enough people had proselytized about King George to me that I figured I should give it a shot. This box is a ridiculous treasure trove of absolute classic country from Strait's earliest songs through 1995. And it is truly ridiculous. The guy has more than 60 No. 1 charting songs, apparently the most of any artist in any genre. And the vast majority of these songs are on this box set and are tunes you have heard before.
If you tried to go back and actually listen to all of his albums, starting with 1981's Strait Country, I think you'd need like 7 months to do it. Wikipedia lists 30 albums, but those are just the studio discs. Wikipedia also mentions that he has 12 multiplatinum certifications, 33 platinum, and 38 gold albums.
Back in 2014, I realized that "Amarillo by Morning" might be one of my favorite country songs of all time. Such a classic combination of story-telling, western-city-name dropping, and the cowboy spirit. Chris LeDoux spent like 10 albums trying to tell us all that was already packed into that one tune. I know Strait didn't write it, I don't think he wrote many of his songs at all, but this one is just the right blend. HIs second-most streamed hit at 114.9 million.
That song came out in 1982, on Strait from the Heart (the dude loves his puns involving his last name). But, just a perfect song. I've used it as a lullaby for my kids for years.
Now don't get me wrong. Strait had a few missteps with covers or terrible Music Row songwriting. Key example is "Hollywood Squares." "I got so many X's and O so much, I oughtta be on Hollywood Squares." Ugh. Come on, man. "The Love Bug" is also pretty painful. "Aww, that, teenie little itty bitty thing they call the love bug!" Whoowee! Let's dance! The other ones that were hits, but still don't work so well for me, are where he goes for maximum schmaltz - strings or synth with cringe-inducing lyrics. "Marina Del Rey" is the one that comes to mind, but there are others. Surprisingly, at least to me, his top streamer is actually "Check Yes or No," which is not a top track to me at all. Kinda cheeseball. 129.2 million streams.
I mean, "do you luuuuuv me, do you wanna be mah friend" is just schmaltz. Apparently thats the stuff that people dig, but he's got much better love songs in his quiver than that one. "Carrying Your Love With Me," "I Cross My Heart," "I Can Still Make Cheyenne," "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," "The Chair." He's got plenty of love songs that crush that one. Also, "The Chair" is another absolutely great song.
Uh, what's with those three ladies holding their chins at the start of that video? Holy shit. The female acting in that video is horrific. Almost as bad as George's acting in the movies he's been in.
And I also spot the double standard I have going on here - "The Chair" is deeply cheesy if you think though those lyrics as a person who has never heard them before. It's too clever by half. With the big reveal at the end - like an M. Night Shamalamadingdong move - "oh shit! it wasn't his chair after all!" Woooooahhhh. But for me, that song brings back good memories of dancing and both of us singing along.
But I took yesterday and most of today to go back and listen to all of his original albums. 1981's Strait Country, 1982's Strait from the Heart, 1983's Right of Wrong, 1984's Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind, 1985's Something Special, 1986's #7, and 1987's Ocean Front Property. I mean, good Lord, man. He put out an album a year (not including multiple greatest hits collections) since 1981 and each one has a handful of hits that most other musicians would kill to have under their belt. It is pretty damn amazing. Even the non-hits from these albums are good - he took a lot of classic cues from Bob Wills, Merle Haggard, Hank Williams to make the gold standard for country music for the next four decades. Pretty amazing.
He grew up in south Texas, living and working a ranch with his Dad who was a math teacher for the local junior high. He was in a rock and roll band in high school, influenced heavily by the Beatles. After high school, he eloped with his high school sweetheart in Mexico (cool!) and joined the Army. After four years in the Army, he reached Corporal and enrolled at Texas State. He graduated with a degree in agriculture. How freaking cool is that back story? I love it.
While at Texas State (well, it was Southwest Texas State University back then) he joined a band called Stoney Ridge and became their new vocalist. They changed the band name to the Ace in the Hole Band and started getting good gigs all over Texas. They tried getting signed in Nashville and struck out over and over until he finally got a shot in 1981. The rest is history.
Other than the big box set, the main two albums that I remember well were the ones that came out when I was in college - the Pure Country soundtrack, Easy Come, Easy Go, Blue Clear Sky, and Carrying Your Love With Me. A couple of those songs absolutely make me think of dancing with my wife at the garbage bar in Sherman, Texas, 25+ years ago. Good times.
In 2012, Strait announced that he was going to retire, and set up The Cowboy Rides Away tour to be his final tour. Of course, that meant that every show sold out in four seconds and people paid a jillion dollars to go see the final shows. Now, you'll see him do one off shows in Vegas or Tulsa or Houston, but no real tours.
But that didn't stop him from releasing new albums! 2018's Honky Tonk Time Machine was the last one I really listened to. What is not to like? The King of Country music making a new album that hews very exactly to his time-honored sound and style? Check. A cover with the Broken Spoke on it? Check. Nostalgia-inducing tunes that are just as cheesy as the old ones were but I still love them anyway? Roger that. "Blue Water" is like something he could have put out in the mid-80's penned by Jimmy Buffett or something, but I don't give a damn, it makes me happy to hear it. Some even cheesier bits to feed the red-meat Country-with-a-capital-C guys on here, like "The Weight of the Badge" (Back the Blue!), "What Goes Up," (Jesus is Comin' Back!) and "God and Country Music," but the overall vibe on this is classic George and I'm into it. The top track is "Every Little Honky Tonk Bar," with 35.2 million streams.
I mean, don't get me wrong, those lines about the individual pieces of a honky tonk bar, and the McConaughey-esque L-I-V-I-N and D-R-A-G-G-I-N lines, are cheese, but you know what? They work - I can see those lines becoming things you sing along to at a show for years to come. They're fun and memorable and easy. Also of note on this album, he finally has a duet with Willie, which is good and all, except that the whole point of the song is singing about the fact that they are finally doing a duet together. It's like the country version of a rapper who can't rap about anything except for his possessions. Before you get sucked into thinking that "Codigo" is good (and sadly, it is a pretty classic George fun-time track that is good), just know that the tequila he is singing about is an actual tequila brand that he invested in. So understand that you are bopping along to a commercial. This album is very good. If you fondly recall the George of old, this falls right in line.
Also, while looking at his music, I realized that he released Strait Out of the Box Part 2! 56 more songs to add to the repeat listening queue!
He had a daughter who was killed many years ago in an auto accident outside of San Marcos, and his son (Bubba) is George Strait Jr. His son was a professional rodeo rider, and also wrote some of the songs his dad sings now.
I also thought I'd listen to The Cowboy Rides Away: Live from AT&T Stadium - the live album from that final tour - to see what it will sound like when the man comes to play for us. This album is a damn abomination. They use freaking auto-tune on it. The title track, his grand finale, sounds like T-Pain or some shit. I'm genuinely aggravated at this. Why in the hell would they use auto-tune in the first place, and even if they did, couldn't they have made it more natural? Sounds so obvious! Go to Spotify and listen to the final song on that album, and your heart will burn like mine.
Final thing I wanted to do is to look at his most recent set-lists and see what we are looking at here for the big show. His last two shows were both in Vegas in August, and they have varied playlists (which is good), and some of the new songs show up (which is bad), but they still manage to mainly stick to the hits. "I Can Still make Cheyenne," "Check Yes Or No," "Amarillo by Morning," "The Chair," "The Fireman," "All My Exes Live in Texas," and "The Cowboy Rides Away" all show up in both shows, so that is good. He also covered Tom Petty in both shows (super dope) and Rodney Crowell and Townes Van Zandt in the second show (cool). I certainly wish the whole show would be nothing but songs on the first Strait Out of the Box compilation, but I think it is going to be a fun time either way. Definitely seeing this show.
No comments:
Post a Comment