George Strait’s newest album, the excellent Love is Everything, was my album of the week for May 13th, 2013. I am sure Strait is proud to hear it. Well, wouldn’t you be? And he must have been just as proud to discover his latest single “Give It All We Got” was the most played song on country radio last week. A pleasant enough way to celebrate your 61st birthday with your SIXTY FIRST chart topper.
Well, really 60th because nobody takes rock nyc that seriously but that is a pretty amazing run of hits by the man who remains the template for modern country guys. When you see all the Blakes and the Chesneys and the Urban they are all running a variation on the theme.
Strait is great despite being ornery cuss, he has that rare ability to be always always very good and when you are very good that often it is a form of greatness. He is like a classic baseball player –all singles and doubles, always running the bases, always in the middle of the action.
Strait is like the greatest journeyman ever: I can’t think of one song he has done as great as, say, “Tonight The Bottle let Me Down” but his quality is never off, he is always on his game and if he can’t hit a homer, he never goes down looking either.
Strait said: “I didn’t realise we were making history – I just hoped we were putting out music that my fans would enjoy. As always, I’m thankful to the fans and country radio for their support on all 60 of these number one songs as well as my entire career. They are the ones who made this happen.”
Actually, Strait did it through the greatest of quality control.
Congratulations to the great Country star.