Strait man

George Strait has been playing and releasing country songs for more than 30 years. The Texas native has had many top country hits and has won many Country Music Association awards – a country music legend in his own right. Troubadour is the latest chapter in his incredibly successful career.

The album begins pleasantly with the title track “Troubadour.” This adventurous country ballad shows Strait enjoying life with lines like “I still feel 25, most of the time / I still raise a little Cain, with the boys.” While it seems that if you’ve heard one country ballad you’ve heard them all, this song still comes across as heartfelt and enjoyable.
The next track on Troubadour, “It Was Me,” is yet another ballad that sounds like the typical honky-tonk fare, apart from the drifting harmonized vocals in the chorus that seem to bring the song to life. This love song is sure to make any country fan sing along, as Strait shows that, at 55, he can still sing as fine as the day he entered the music business in the late ’70s.

Strait finally breaks the ballad cycle with “Brothers Of The Highway,” the first up-tempo song on the album. This toe tapper has the typical bass and drum rhythm with guitar and honky-tonk piano thrown in. This track, along with the title track, has a legitimate chance of helping Strait add to his incredible stretch of hits.

While this album has its moments, virtually all of the songs on Troubadour sound like the typical songs you would have heard on country radio at any time in the past 20 years. The forgettable “House With No Doors” practically defines the “tear in my beer” cliche that has afflicted country music many times before. “Make Her Fall In Love With Me Song” sounds like the one country song that everyone’s heard 100 times. The main problem is that almost all the songs on this album sound recycled.

Troubadour will likely give Strait a few more hit songs and even a shot at Country Album of the Year, but it lacks in the originality and authenticity that made Strait a different kind of Nashville star.