I started in the radio business in November, 1979. A little over a year later, in 1981, I played a song called
Unwound and it was at that moment that I became a George Strait fan. Damn, this guy from Poteet, Texas was
country - honky tonk sound? Check. Fiddle? Steel guitar? Lyrics about drinkin' and lost love? Check, check and check. My faith in
real country music had been restored. That restoration of faith was confirmed when Strait followed
Unwound with the release of
Down and Out. Here we are thirty odd years later and George Strait is still making hit records. Early in Strait's career, a songwriter named Dean Dillon was the genius behind many of Straits hits. A partial list of those songs include the previously mentioned
Unwound and Down and Out plus:
Easy Come Easy Go,
I've Come to Expect It from You,
Ocean Front Property ,
The Chair and more. I think it's safe to say that George Strait and Dean Dillon made each other wealthy men - and Country Music Legends. The collaboration between these two men is so historic that I couldn't, in good conscience, not link to a Dean Dillon song actually
performed by Dean Dillon.
George Strait has achieved a status in country music reserved for few men and women. He's earned Entertainer of the Year, Song of the Year, Single of the Year, Album of the Year and Everything Else of the Year awards without compromising his integrity and belief in what country music and its traditions are all about for over three decades. I am going to link to a
George Strait YouTube page that features many of his hits, the songs that have set the standard for the Country Music stars of tomorrow. You can read more about George's rise to fame and some of the hurdles, including the death of
his daughter, he overcame to be the man and artist he is today at
this link.
