Country icon George Strait follows the title track of his latest album, Troubadour, with the new, calypso-laced “River of Love.”
Troubador is light on radio-friendly material, and MCA leaves the Patty Loveless duet (“House of Cash”) and the Jamey Johnson co-write (“House with No Doors”) on the shelf in favor of this fun, yet frivolous song.
The sound of the steel guitar solo gives this song a nice boost, but it’s window dressing to a disappointing lyric. The narrator implores his potential lover to give in to his “stream of kisses ten miles long,” and his persuasion involves the serenade of his sweet voice and the strumming of a ukelele. Strait sells silly quite well, but this is beyond his reach.
Grade: B-
Written by Billy Burnette, Shawn Camp and Dennis Morgan
Listen: River of Love
Buy: River of Love
Just heard it on the radio for the first time today and it really does seem like Kenny Chesney and George Strait switched positions on singles this time around. This Strait song is something I would expect for Chesney, while the Chesney Song is something that Strait could probably make a lot better. As for how it is now, this isn’t my favorite Strait song by any stretch. It just isn’t “him”
Sorry George, I love you, but I do not care for this song. You are better than this song! It definitely sounds like a KC song!
I’m a little disappointed to see Shawn Camp’s name on the writing credits.
I think it’s catchy! I kinda like it! But I’d much rather here “House of Cash” on the radio…but I agree this isn’t his best stuff. He needs to quit following Kenny’s style of music because he can’t quite pull it off.
This song happens to have been writen by a friend of mine, Dennis Morgan. And appearently all of the writers, and artist, seem to think that it was very fitting for George, otherwise he would not have done it. That is just the way it is in the music world folks. If you have the “ear”, it is NOT a KC song.
Well…I does not really matter what the “critics” have to say…the song is a big fat #1 hit! Congrats to Billy, Shawn and Dennis!