When George Strait's "She'll Leave You With a Smile" moved to the top of the country charts in early 2003, the handsome Lone Star crooner bested Conway Twitty for the most No. 1 singles by a solo artist. This collection of 50 chart-toppers, spanning 22 years, showcases the Cadillac of country singers at his best, blending traditional and contemporary stylings, but never straying too far from the core of his Texas barroom sound. "Fool Hearted Memory," from 1982, proves that Strait had his uncluttered production and straightforward vocal approach down from the start, no matter how many producers guided him to his peak. Through the years, the path to superstardom dictated that he trade the crisp Western swing of "Right or Wrong" and "Ace in the Hole" for squishy, mid-tempo crowd pleasers like "Check Yes or No" and "Write This Down." But he redeemed himself with such poignant heartbreakers as "So Much Like My Dad" and "…Smile." This retrospective's one new track, "I Hate Everything," about a man in a bar who's besotted more from pain than whiskey, doesn't match up with the singer's best material, but it's still got that irresistible Strait hook: average-guy sincerity wrapped in a down-to-earth heart. --Alanna Nash
The follow-up CD to George Strait's platinum selling and CMA Album of the Year, IT JUST COMES NATURAL, is TROUBADOUR. George Strait truly is a modern day troubadour - now in his 28th year of making music,George continues to be an artist driven by his passion to make music of the highest quality.
TROUBADOUR features the smash single "I Saw God Today".
George Strait has amassed so many charting singles that his record company has nearly run out of compilation titles. Now, fresh from Strait's 2007 CMA Album of the Year Award (for It Just Comes Natural), here comes 22 More Hits, a collection of singles that stopped short of number one but which built his career. "The Fireman," "When Did You Stop Loving Me," and "Lovebug" are fine reminders of his bar-stool-hugging days, when Strait spoke the honky-tonk gospel in a flat Texas drawl. That, of course, was before he waved goodbye to George Jones and Buck Owens (let alone western-swing master Bob Wills) and shaved off most of his rough edges for overwhelmingly smooth, mid-tempo fare like "How `Bout Them Cowgirls." An appreciative nod to females everywhere, if not all the girls he's loved before, it's a perfect example of how Strait, the consummate country crooner, can elevate average material to glory. But it's also an indication of just how perilously close he could come to being the Julio Iglesias of Nashville if he doesn't watch it. Spin a song like "If You're Thinking You Want a Stranger (There's One Coming Home)" and you'll remember when Strait could be downright--gasp--dangerous! --Alanna Nash
When the hits come as effortlessly as they do to Strait, it's easy for an artist to lose interest. The man who ushered in country's hat-act era has spent a career bouncing from lifeless and fluffy to hard and soulful. This four-CD box tells the story from 1976 (when he cut the first of three singles for Houston indie D Records) through 1995. At his best--"Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind," for example--he defines the modern heart song, but lightweight stuff such as "Hollywood Squares" won't win him new converts. --John Morthland
