Playing it Strait

Meet George Strait: Newest Member of the Country Music Hall of Fame
By Vernell Hackett

Christmas came early for George Strait. The newest member of the Nashville-based Country Music Hall of Fame recently won accolades for setting a new record for number one singles in country music, as his total of 53 put him ahead of Conway Twitty, who held that mark for 20 years. It was Strait’s “Give It Away” that gave it to him.

The Texas-born singer also has two new albums out—one of which you can buy just about anywhere great music is sold. The other is a Christmas album offered exclusively through 4,000 Hallmark Gold Crown stores in November and December.

And if that’s not enough, he is celebrating his 25th year as a recording artist in country music.
“ Being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame is the highest honor you can get in this business,” Strait acknowledges. He’s dead earnest but he can’t resist a quip.“To have that happen now, while I feel like I’m still competitive and successful in the stuff we continue to put out and the shows that we’re doing—and while I could still walk up and accept the honor without any help—is just amazing to me.”

Strait was caught completely unaware when the call came that he was being inducted into the Hall of Fame. In fact, he thought someone was playing a joke on him. “ When I finally figured out it wasn’t a joke and it was Ed Benson from the CMA calling me, I really didn’t know what to say. It’s such a big honor....” With a chuckle, Strait added, “I also kinda thought, ‘Well, I’m too young for that.’”

The singer says it took about a month for the reality of being in the Hall of Fame to sink in. “It was one of those things, I would wake up in the morning and think about it. What it means to me personally is hard to put into words [because] it’s so big. You know I might have had something maybe in the back of my mind with this as a goal, but you can’t expect to get inducted into the Hall of Fame. It’s just something that happens and I’m truly honored to be in there.”

Surpassing Twitty’s benchmark 52 number one singles in country music is a huge landmark for Strait. Twitty’s tenure in that lofty po-sition—lasting since his last number one in 1986—seemed like something that was beyond challenge. Fitting, though, that it was broken by Strait—a huge Conway Twitty fan.

Find the rest of this exciting article and more by subscribing to American Cowboy magazine...

<< BACK TO MAIN PAGE