Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Strait from San Antone!

George Strait, that is!

You know, it's about time I had something to say about one of my favorite institutions of San Antonio and area. A living institution. I mean the Strait man!

Well, from all of this you should figure out that I'm a great devotee of THE BEST SINGER from Texas, THE BEST country music artist still performing (if not best ever!), THE BEST role model for any man of my age! George Strait!

My man George got inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame during the CMA Awards Show last nite. Certainly, there isn't a more deserving inductee than he. And I've watched, indeed, followed, his progress from rising star to superstar and now legend.

But I must confess it was a slow beginning. When in 1981 his first radio release, "Unwound", hit the airwaves, I at first tho't it was another hit from Johnny Paycheck. And when the artist was identified as George Strait, I said, "George who?" His vocal on follow-up release "Down and Out" also hit my ear as sounding like Paycheck.

However, THEN George's songs started to sound like he had "found" his own inimitable smooth baritone voice. And THEN my ears began to really enjoy the listening! (Not that "Unwound" and "Down and Out" were unenjoyable, they just didn't hit my "hot" button.) With every new song George got better, both in delivery and in content.

I clearly remember the song that truly first got my attention: "Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind?" Living in Fort Worth was my introduction to Texas; "Cowtown" also introduced me to my wife-to-be, Ellen. And so, whenever I'd hear George singing the song on the radio, I'd respond, "Yup, just 'bout every day!"

And as I say, with each subsequent radio hit George just seemed to get better and better! Gr-r-r-reat songs that come to my mind right now, not necessarily in the order they hit the airwaves, are "Ocean Front Property", "Am I Blue?" and "Nobody in His Right Mind (Woulda Left Her)". And THEN, after a decade of gr-r-r-reat hits, George reached THE TOP in my book with the song that I've ever since considered to be THE BEST country song of all time: "Love Without End, Amen".

One cannot get any better in the country music field, than this song about the love of any REAL earthly daddy, which concludes with the unconditional and all-forgiving love of our Heavenly Daddy.

. "Daddys don't just love their children every now and then,
. It's a love without end, amen. It's a love without end, amen."

Well, even tho' that song was the absolute best in my book, not only of George's songs but also of all country songs of all times, don't get me wrong! I keep on listening to the new hits of my man George, and enjoying them. "I Cross My Heart", to name just one, comes close to "Love Without End, Amen" in being an excellent song.

And then there was George's duet with Alan Jackson, "Murder on Music Row". As much as I'd come to love Nashville, Tennessee, and appreciate the key role fo Music City in the early and on-going saga of America's own style of popular music (i.e., country music), I recognize that the powers that be in country music production seldom do their best for the genre, and they usually ignore the wishes of the die-hard devotees of the genre (e.g., yours truly). So I truly HEAR the message of this mournful song, and truly am grateful that George and Alan sang together on it.

So-o-o-o, the Strait man is now a legend! And enshrined into the Country Music Hall of Fame!

Hip! Hip! Hooray!!! Go, George, Go!

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