| George Strait Remarkable. It's the best word to describe the continuing development of George Strait, who's written a personal history so unique he's creating new, record-breaking plateaus that have simply never been reached before. He already owns the all-time record for the most No. 1 singles in any genre. He has more career nominations than any other artist in both the Nashville-based Country Music Association awards and the California-bred Academy of Country Music honors. He has more gold and platinum albums than any other country artist. His last album, It Just Comes Natural, was so solid that it brought him the CMA honor for Album of the Year, an award he's won four different times and in three different decades. And the "King of Country Music" joined the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, making him the only performer who's earned a plaque in the hallowed halls while still consistently racking up hits. With Troubadour, Strait's 37th album, he continues to raise the standard. From a numerical view, the album's first single, "I Saw God Today," already set a personal mark when it debuted at No. 19 on the country radio charts--higher than any other song he's released in his career. From a creative vantage point, the album as a whole is, again, remarkable. Strait explores new musical turf with the calypso R&B in "River of Love"; opens up to meaningful--and rare--guest appearances by Patty Loveless, Vince Gill and songwriter pal Dean Dillon; and delivers the 12-song set with a voice that continues an extremely graceful evolution. "He's always good," co-producer Tony Brown says, "but he sang really good on this album." "His vocal tone has progressed very, very nicely in the last five or six years," observes Dillon, who should know: One of Strait's golfing and fishing compadres, he's written 13 of Strait's hits, dating back to the first, 1981's "Unwound." "He's got a real mellow thing goin' with his voice right now."
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