Twang [8/11] * by George Strait Review

It's a testament to his iconic status that George Strait, at age 57, has the same number of number one hit singles as his age.  Hell, most artists aren't even getting airplay at that age. But, George Strait isn't just any artist.  No sir, he's King George, and, ask around all you want, but you won't find a single knowledgeable person who will dispute that title. Since 1981 and his first single Unwound,  George has been a mainstay at the top of the country music charts while guys like Garth Brooks and Randy Travis (both GREAT artists, by the way) have come and gone.  And with 38 albums going gold or platinum during those 28 years, he's had more hit records than anyone but Elvis and the Beatles. Oh, and 57 number one singles?  That's more than anybody. ever.  ANYBODY.

Twang is Strait's 38th album and it continues his long streak of excellence with a few surprises.  The thing about a George Strait record, you see, is you know you're gonna get a bunch of good music with a traditional feel and just enough slick  to appeal to all country fans.  And, that's how he's done it all these years.  Not only is his smooth baritone simply irresistable (with apologies ot the late Robert Palmer), but Strait has impeccable taste when it comes to selecting songs for his albums.  Go back over the past 28 years and find me a bad George Strait album.  Can't be done.  George Strait always, always, always delivers a George Strait album.  Occasionally he will venture out on a musical limb (Murder on Music Row comes to mind), but mostly, he delivers good country music that just stays in your head.  Not a big risk-taker, King George, but when nobody's been able remove your flag from the top of the hill for 28 years, why would you change?

And, starting with the lead and title track, Twang, one would have no reason to think we were in for anything but another solid Strait outing here.  Except, we are.  Yes, there are honky-tonk tunes and warm ballads he breathes countrfied soulful life into like Where Have I Been All My Life, an almost certain future hit single and a reflective song any middle aged man can identify with, with lines like "Some years are clear and some a little blurry" and "I heard What a Wonderful Life by Louis Armstrong/ It brought a tear to my eye/After all these years I finally get that song"

The Breath You Take is just a typically gorgeous and touching song co-written by usual Strait suspect Dean Dillon about making sure you stop running the race long enough to stop and take in the view.

Strait then brings the roadhouse down with Delbert McClinton's Same Kind of Crazy, a foot-stomper about new romance.

But, just when you think you've pegged Twang as another sturdy George Strait album that shoots right to number one with a couple of hit singles, King George refuses to rest on his laurels.  Instead, he does something he hasn't done since 1982.  He writes a song.  Or three.

In fact, the very first single, Living for the Night, was penned by Strait and his son, Bubba, along with Dean Dillon.  That song currently is perched at number 7 on the Billboard Country Songs chart, resulting in something entirely new for this elder statesman of country music, charting as a songwriter.

Out of Sight Out of Mind is another potential single co-written by George and his son, a forlorn ballad with a little twist on that particular phrase. 

He's Got That Something Special completes the trilogy of songs written by Strait and the son who was but a baby when George had his first hit.  And it's another of those songs he wraps his voice around so well, the mid-tempo lament of a man seeing the woman he still loves with someone else.

Son Bubba shines hisownself as a songwriter with the obvious Johnny Cash influenced  Arkansas Dave.  With that distinct chick-a-boom sound made popular by Cash's Tennessee Three, Budda's daddy tell  the story of a murderer getting his comeuppance.

And that's not all the pleasant surprises.  Strait just tears it up on the rockin' Hot Grease and Zydaco and by the time it's over, that joint's just burned down.  And finally, ending the album on a Mariachi note, King George covers  El Rey  a tune by one of the all-time great Mexican composers, José Alfredo Jiménez.  And he sings it in Spanish.

THE BOTTOM LINE

You might think a guy with nothing left to prove would choose to rest on his laurels and stick with the formula that sold 68 million records in almost three decades and mostly, he does.  And you might think even the king would have a hard time following the CMA and Grammy Album of the Year winning Troubadour, but not so.  In fact, he may have actually stepped it up a notch.  Not many folks can do that this far into a career.

George Strait has stayed on top of the heap so long not by being new or different, but by being good.  Really, really good. It's like dinner.  I can eat cornbread for dinner every single night, as long as it's good.  When you start messing with the recipe too much, that's when I might push it away.  Strait's been with the same record company and producer for years and they've perfected the recipe. They might throw a new little twist in there once in a while, but it's always a good one, one that makes you hunger for more of that good cornbread.  Twang is a slice of that same good cornbread, but with a little spice thrown in to make you sit up and take notice that it's still good.  Just as good as ever.  GRADE: A