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(MCA Nashville)
CLEVELAND, Ohio - The hardest part about reviewing George Strait's surprise new album, "Cold Beer Conversation,'' is deciding which of the 13 tracks to gush over first.
Should it be the title cut, a great little ditty about "a couple of ol' boys'' just sharing a few brews, reminiscing about high school football, worrying about aging parents and trying to figure out the world?
And it's just getting started:
How about "Let It Go,'' a great tune co-written by Strait and his son, Bubba - really, George Jr. goes by Bubba - and Keith Gattis? Or "Goin' Goin' Gone,'' which talks about the stress everybody who lives paycheck to paycheck knows?
Or "Take Me to Texas,'' potentially a new "Texas national anthem?'' Or "It Takes All Kinds,'' another tune co-written by the Strait men that happens to sound like it would be at home on a Bob Wills Texas swing album? Or even "Stop and Drink,'' where a son wishes he'd stuck a phone in his father's suit pocket at Dad's funeral, so the son could send pictures of everything the old man had touched in his life.
George Strait has more than 40 albums to his credit, and 60 No. 1 singles - more than any artist in history. And that includes Elvis, the Beatles and whoever else you can name. That's 60 No. 1s so far. It's probably unrealistic to think that if MCA - Strait's label for his entire career, a rarity in and of itself - releases all the "Cold Beer Conversation'' tracks as singles, that will be 73 No. 1s.
Unrealistic but not impossible. More likely it'll be 65 or 66, which ain't too shabby.
So why does it work so well? It's like my friend John Hardy, who fronted the local country groups Lawless and the John Hardy Band, said: "George is so smooth and effortless. Nothing is forced, and you believe everything he sings. THAT is why the man is the King.''
Plus, it has some of the best songwriters in the genre, above and beyond Strait and his son: Jamey Johnson, Brandy Clark, Bill Anderson, Buddy Cannon and more.
The downside is that Strait has retired from touring. His April 2014 show at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, AT&T Stadium, which set a record for indoor concert attendance with 104,973 fans, was the end of his "The Cowboy Rides Away'' tour, which - sadly - did not include a stop in Cleveland.
We all thought he was headed off into the sunset, to fish, to work on his golf game, to enjoy his "golden years'' raising horses and cattle on his West Texas ranch. He earned the rest, so nobody begrudged him that. But admittedly, we felt sorry for ourselves, especially with the current state of mainstream country.
Now, with this surprise record release - only Strait and his label knew it was coming -- and the announcement Tuesday that he's going to Las Vegas in April and September 2016 for four shows, we've learned Strait's idea of retirement merely meant surrendering the keys to a tour bus.
Let the gushing resume!
Grade: A+++++++++
"Cold Beer Conversation''
MCA Nashville