George Strait
Retro Single Review: George Strait, “Marina Del Rey”
1982 | Peak: #6
“Marina Del Rey” was an early attempt by George Strait at recording a pensive and thoughtful ballad.
He wasn’t quite ready for it, yet. The lyrics are appropriately longing and sentimental for times gone by, but Strait hasn’t yet developed enough as a vocalist to pull off the mature performance required.
Retro Single Review: George Strait, “Fool Hearted Memory”
1982 | Peak: #1
Thirty years ago, “Fool Hearted Memory”, the first single from his second album, was George Strait’s first number one single. And for very good reason. Up to that point, Strait demonstrated great potential, but this is the first time that he fires on all cylinders with overwhelming success.
Summer Single Reviews Round-Up: Luke Bryan, Jake Owen, Jerrod Niemann, Zac Brown Band, Dierks Bentley
We’re halfway through the summer months, which means we’ve heard the handful of summer-oriented singles played on the radio approximately 17,283 times by now. In keeping with CU’s retro theme, let’s hit the singles we missed upon their initial release (sorry y’all!).
Luke Bryan, “Country Girl (Shake it For Me)”
Written by Luke Bryan & Dallas Davidson
Whereas Jason Aldean would likely have soaked this dance number in aggression, Bryan melts away its sexist edge by layering it with goofiness and playful energy. The result is a shamelessly catchy ditty that makes me want to shake it for the squirrels. Filed under: things I never thought I’d say. Grade: B
Retro Single Review: George Strait, “If You’re Thinking You Want a Stranger (There’s One Coming Home)”
1982 | Peak: #3
If Strait’s voice wasn’t so distinctive and familiar, you could be forgiven for mistaking this for Johnny Lee’s “Looking For Love.”
Retro Single Reviews: An Introduction
Despite some amazing album artists – a Willie Nelson here, an Emmylou Harris there – country music has always been a singles format. Over the past seven years, we’ve charted the development of some artists from the very beginning, like Lady Antebellum and Zac Brown Band, just by reviewing their singles.
With Retro Single Reviews, we’re going to go back in time to tell the story of the genre’s biggest artists from the very beginning, by reviewing all of their singles in chronological order.
Here’s how it works: At any given time, we’ll be working our way through the catalog of five artists. When we complete one of them, we’ll add a new one to the rotation.
