GEORGE STRAIT

HONKYTONKVILLE

"Lord knows that we've all got memories to burn/And that's why that jukebox plays around the clock" "Honkytonkville"

"True to his Texas roots," reads the message on the video screen behind country music legend George Strait before he comes out for an encore during one of his concerts.

The Lone Star State native, who came from a small southwestern ranch town to become one of the biggest stars in popular music, has shattered several music-business records. He achieved an unprecedented 50 #1 country singles (his latest, "She'll Leave You With a Smile," just last December) and 26 platinum albums (including '95's seven-times platinum Strait Out of the Box and '92's six-times platinum Pure Country). He is second only to Elvis Presley for #1 records by a male artist in any genre.

With his new MCA Nashville album, Honkytonkville, his first studio album since 2001's Road Less Traveled, George reunites with longtime co-producer Tony Brown (working on his 12th Strait record) to once more return to the music of his youth. These 12 songs fit as comfortably as the hat worn by this real-life cowboy, who hosts his own team roping competition. Strait proves equally at home on the barroom, truck-driving, boogie-woogie of "Honk If You Honky Tonk" and the lonesome Hank Williams twang of the rueful "Look Who's Back From Town."

The first single from the album, "Tell Me Something Bad About Tulsa," could very well be his record 51st chart-topper, as it was Most Added its first week at country radio.

"I feel that I am singing as well or maybe better than ever right now and hopefully I've still got a lot left in me," laughs Strait. "If not, 'My Life's Been Grand.'"

"The man never fails to amaze me," says Brown. "He has integrity and a very keen sense of who he is musically."

After more than 20 years and 30 plus albums, all for the only label he's ever called home, Strait hasn't veered from the simple verities that make his sound timeless. For the new album, he has once more chosen songs by some of the top songwriters in Nashville, putting his distinctive mark on every one, making each his own.

"I remember seeing the Merle Haggard album, Merle Haggard Presents His 30th Album, years ago and thinking, 'How could he have already done that many albums?'" muses Strait. "That's the way I feel now. An artist doesn't, or at least I don't, go into the studio and think what number album I'm doing. My career has been long, but it seems short. I've had so many great things happen to me professionally that the saying, 'Time flies when you're having fun,' really rings true for me. The same holds true for #1 records. I really wasn't keeping count until someone told me I was close to breaking the record."

The variety of styles on Honkytonkville range from the classic country croon of "She Used To Say That To Me" to the plunked ivories and sawing fiddles of "I Found Jesus on the Jailhouse Floor."

Using some of the best session players in town, Strait plays the wronged lover who loses his girlfriend to a rich guy in the city on the aching "Look Who's Back From Town." Lamenting, "My old truck could not compare to his Mercedes," he still takes her back, with Matt Rollings' subliminal gospel B3 organ and Paul Franklin's breathless steel guitars providing an audible sigh. The soaring "Cowboys Like Us" once again pays tribute to being home on the range, as George pushes the emotional button, while at the same time roping it in, the strong, silent type who's not afraid to show pain. "As Far As It Goes" features a yearning steel guitar to match Strait's romantic devotion, which is also present on the final benediction of "Infinite Love." But he also demonstrates his lighter side in the tongue-in-cheek whimsy of the Grateful Dead-by-way-of-Merle Haggard "I Found Jesus on the Jailhouse Floor." The clever but warm "Four Down and Twelve Across" finds Strait comparing the vagaries of a love affair to solving a crossword puzzle by finding "a two-letter synonym for lost.that's me."

An intensely private man who grants few interviews, Strait wears his heart on his sleeve in his music, which continues to mine his love of what he's called "pure country."

"I try to outdo myself every time I go into the studio," says the self-effacing superstar. "After I recorded 'The Road Less Traveled,' I really felt it was the best effort I'd had in a while. I feel my new record is even better."

As the Washington Post marveled after George's MCI Concert last February: "What was striking about this career-spanning show was how little Strait's style has changed over the years. Which perhaps hints at the secret to his longevity. He never fell for any fads. in the parlance of politics, he has.something else that's very rare these days: mystique."

But, if you listen closely, you'll discover George Strait's motivations are the same as they ever were.

"My approach to recording this album was pretty much the same as far as putting it together," says Strait. "I listen to hundreds of songs every time I record. I keep what I like, then the culling process begins. I was getting so much good material, it was very tough to let some of them go. I've always done my vocals in Nashville, but with today's modern technology, I decided to do my vocals at home. I really enjoyed the comfort of being able to do that. I think the more relaxed atmosphere comes through on the record. I felt more free to try different things that I probably wouldn't have tried in a studio situation."

As for the seminal influences in his career, Strait credits Haggard, George Jones and Bob Wills as the most important, but adds, "I can't leave out others like Hank, Cash, Tillis, Milsap, Sinatra, Street, Pride, Waylon, Willie, Faron, Price, Conway and Buck. I hope I'm not leaving anyone out. For years, I sang these guys' songs (except, perhaps, for Sinatra) in every bar and honky-tonk that would let us in."

More than two decades after his 1981 debut, Strait Country, he can still be found "Where the future's always bright/In the glow of the neon lights/Livin' high on Barstool Hill in Honkeytonkville."

And you're more than welcome to join him. Although he closed his live album, For the Last Time: Live from the Astrodome, earlier this year with his '84 hit, "The Cowboy Rides Away," Strait isn't about to walk off into the sunset. As he sings in "Infinite Love": "It will live on/Long after we kiss goodbye/Forever by your side." That applies equally to his passion and his music.

"In my career, I've already been given way more than I could have ever asked for," says Strait, in his typically humble way, just another guy in Honkytonkville.