Troubadour

iTunes Review

In the sentimental title track to Troubadour, George Strait recollects his hell-raising heydays of age 25 while singing seasoned harmonies over parlor pianos and the warm pedal steel notes of a moving honky-tonk ballad. It's a great way to set the tone for an album that follows 2007's award winning It Just Comes Natural. The romantic "It Was Me" follows "Troubadour," recalling the melodies of Richie Adams and Alan Bernstein's "After The Lovin'." Picking things up, the country rocking "Brothers Of The Highway" shifts gears to reveal a newborn trucker's anthem. With its boot stomping roadhouse rhythms, easy-on-the-ears vocals, driving guitar lines, and a chorus that triumphantly sings, "Sailing for the setting sun/ Freedom's your best friend/ Brothers of the highway/ Children of the wind," it's surprising that "I Saw God Today" was chosen to be the first single off Troubadour instead. The sultry voiced Patty Loveless duets with Strait on "House Of Cash," a gripping tribute to the late, great Man In Black and his beloved June. Dean Dillon also lends his velvety pipes on "That West Texas Town," a delightfully anachronistic little western swing revival of a song.