GEORGE STRAIT TO RELEASE
“SOMEWHERE DOWN IN TEXAS” ON JUNE 28
Nashville, TN (June 14, 2005) – Country music’s reigning King of Country, George Strait, will release his 33rd
album, Somewhere Down in Texas (MCA/Universal) on June 28.
George Strait once said, “I want to reach a point where people hear my name and
immediately think of real country music.’’
Mission clearly accomplished and it didn’t take 20 years worth of albums from
the hard-working ranch hand from tiny Poteet, Texas, to do it. It happened with
his very first. Strait Country was released in 1981, when one of country music’s few real cowboys was just
29 and with each subsequent release and it just got better culling with the release
of his last collection, 50 Number Ones which chronicled his record-breaking string of hits. (Upon its release, the
only new song on the 2-CD set went to #1 and scored him his 51st.)
Some artists might be content to take those laurels into the corral and head
into the bunkhouse for a rest. Not George Strait. He’s back at it again with the
June 28 release of Somewhere Down in Texas, the reticent superstar Texan’s 33rd album for MCA. Close your eyes and listen
to the pool balls clacking in the background as good ol’ boys – and gals – dilute
icy beers with tears for loves lost and found.
To country purists, Strait’s greatest gift is his ability to deliver songs that
fit him like his trademark Wranglers. George Strait continues to prove that skill
and tighten his lock on legend status with Somewhere Down in Texas. From the first rollicking strains of “If the Whole World Was a HonkyTonk,’’
to the poignant refrain of “By the Light of a Burning Bridge’’ this is vintage
Strait.
George Strait also pays homage to one of the greats of country music, Merle Haggard,
with a gripping version of Haggard’s “The Seashores of Old Mexico.’’ Strait’s
so-simple-it’s-complex baritone adds a new layer to the song traditionally delivered
in the Hag’s melodic rasp. Not better, necessarily; George Strait would be the
first to tell you that, but different, almost reverential, as befits a star like
Haggard.
In “Good News, Bad News,’’ Strait unleashes a wrenching duet with Grammy winner
Lee Ann Womack. It’s a tear-soaked lament that anyone who has ever found and lost
love can understand.
A simple tune called “Texas’’ talks about all the things we’d be missing if George
Strait’s beloved home state did not exist. The first line of the chorus is taken
directly from one of George Strait’s greatest and most loved hits. If it wasn’t
for Texas, the song goes, “Fort Worth would never cross my mind.’’
You need no more proof that George Strait succeeded in his early wishes to become
synonymous with real country music. Quite truthfully, George Strait IS country
music.
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