Music Reviews

Album Review: George Strait – ‘Troubadour’

By Patrick Luce Apr 3, 2008, 12:35 GMT

George Strait’s ‘Troubadour’ demonstrates why the singer is the very definition of country music. The album is filled with the classic country sound that has made Strait one of the genres brightest stars, and lets fans know he has no plans of fading.

The 12-track album kicks off with the title song – which is the perfect beginning and seems to sum up Strait’s entire career in country music. “It Was Me,” “When You’re In Love,” “House With No Doors,” and “River of Love” feature the classic Strait sound and fit comfortably in his catalog of music.

Strait pays tribute to country music icon Johnny Cash and his wife June Carter Cash with the bluesy “House of Cash.” The track (a duet with singer Patty Loveless) chronicles the night Cash’s house caught on fire, but also describes how country music lost two of its cornerstones with June’s and Johnny’s death.

Strait gets spiritual with “I saw God Today” and emotional with “If Heartaches Were Horses” and “Give Me More Time” (one of my favorite tracks on the album).

He lets his “honky tonk” side show with “Brothers of the Highway,” “West Texas Town” (a duet with Dean Dillon), and “Make Her Fall in Love with Me Song” (my other favorite song on the album).

Without a doubt Strait is one of country music’s greatest performers, and ‘Troubadour’ is filled with examples of what gives him the right to claim that title.

Every song on ‘Troubadour’ is a hit, and the album is easy to recommend to any Strait fan or anyone who enjoys real country music.