“Give It Away”
“Blue Clear Sky”
“Wrapped”
“Write This Down”
“I Hate Everything”
“True”
“Run”
“Living And Living Well”
“Check Yes Or No”
“All My Exs Live In Texas”

“George Strait isn’t one of my absolute favorite artists either, but I’m absolutely amazed by his longevity. I want to see just how long his career will go. While a lot of his music does sound similar, I can’t help but respect his career.”

I hadn’t seen this touched upon yet and so I will…George Strait purposely looks for songs that fit into his formula and that his audience will appreciate first and foremost and then the hardest part is going beyond that and pin-pointing songs that not only he and his audience like but will also be liked to some extent by the radio listener in general, non-fans, specifically.

In the business that is country music it’s a requirement to be commercial and the label/artist, obviously, want whatever song from an album will pull in the biggest commercial success as a single. This goes back decades…I can tell by some of the comments that a lot of posts are from people under 30? I’m 32 and am a fan of George’s…his last album to date, Troubadour, I felt needed a succession of high charting singles but in reality “I Saw God Today” was the big song, so far, from the album followed by the Top-10 finishes of the title track and “River of Love”.

But the reason for the summarization, or accusation, depending on which way one views the issue as George being a “singles artist” instead of an “album artist” is specifically designed for commercial purposes…at one time radio listeners bought the single that was on the radio at the time…hard-core fans were the ones that bought an entire album because in theory a hard-core fan will enjoy practically anything their favorite sings while the casual radio listener will only be interested in buying the song they hear right at that point in time…when commercial singles stopped being manufactured for consumer purchase the public had no choice but to buy entire CD’s from an artist, even if some of the consumers were just wanting one song and nothing more…so, while I agree that George is a “singles artist” because he has some input into what is released to radio and wants what he feels is the best being played to promote the whole album, in some circles he can be seen as an “album artist” because in his mind and in the mind of the more hard-core fans, a lot of the Texas swing and out of place songs he’s recorded have never been released as singles.

A few years back he recorded one of my favorites “You’re Stronger Than Me” but apparently it was considered too country and wasn’t released as a single…so, while I feel George deliberately looks for songs that can be potential singles, he has had quite a few albums, such as the self-titled George Strait album as well as It Just Comes Natural that contain songs the public at large, if they heard them, would not consider a ‘George Strait song’…you can’t be too risky in country music, or any form of entertainment anymore…because of nearly everyone’s heightened sensitivities toward song content.

The western swing duet with Dean Dillon on his recent Troubadour album, “West Texas Town”, I really hope would be a single…it has all the ingredients…but I fear because it’s western-swing, and it may suggest stereotypes of country singers in general being ready to dance at the drop of a cowboy hat, country radio won’t touch it…even though it’s a neat toe-tapper song and perfect for the upcoming spring/summer months.

Similarily, when he released “We Really Shouldn’t Be Doing This” I was worried that he would be laughed off radio because it was just so unusual given what people expect hearing from him but it turned out to be a big Top-5 hit…so what I see is George and company are consistent…the passive audience can often become annoyed or frustrated by songs they’re expecting from a particular artist and therefore it will affect their over-all opinion of an album because they perhaps are not wanting to hear material similar to the single being pushed at the time, like the accusation of all of his songs or albums “sounding the same”, while a hard-core fan, who generally expects certain kind of material from their favorite artist, will get enjoyment all the same.

Yea George is an artist who really impresses me on his accomplishments, he just has never drove me to get one of his albums, I’d be curious though to see George do something apart from Tony Brown….not that it will happen. There is one song I do like though I can’t think of the title but it’s being sung to his mother… “he said I’m gonna loose her momma…..” not sure the exact title…help!

Even as a child, though, I was in love with “Ocean Front Property.” I don’t know why; something about it just puts a smile on my face.

And now I’d like to list some random album cuts that I greatly enjoy and haven’t seen listed yet:
Too Much of Too Little
Which Side of the Glass
She Took the Wind From His Sails
As Far As It Goes
Is It That Time Again
A Better Rain
Maria
Don’t Tell Me You’re Not In Love
Oh, What A Perfect Day
I Ain’t Her Cowboy Anymore
He Must Have Really Hurt You Bad
Why Can’t I Leave Her Alone

Lastly, I’d like to give a shout out to the song that started it all, “Unwound,” and add “Cowboys Like Us,” because that song always makes me want to ride a motorcycle into the sunset. :)

1. Murder on Music Row
2. House of Cash
3. Seashores of Old Mexico
4. Amarillo by Morning
5. Let’s Fall to Pieces Together
6. Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind
7. I Cross My Heart
8. King of Broken Hearts
9. I Can Still Make Cheyenne
10. Any Old Love Won’t Do
11. When Did You Stop Loving Me
12. I Saw God Today
13. Is It Already Time
14. Fool Hearted Memory
15. Ocean Front Property
16. King of the Mountain
17. Today My World Slipped Away
18. It Ain’t Cool To Be Crazy About You
19. Unwound
20. Nobody In His Right Mind Would Have Left Her