|
 |
 |
 |
| |
| |
CALGARY- hat warm, classy demeanour. The ever-present smile. The respect commanded, not only within his own field, but well beyond.
And, of course, that irresistibly smooth croon.
You might say George Strait is the country music world's equivalent of Tony Bennett.
As with Bennett, he exudes a huge amount of charm that fills up a room – even one as vast as a packed Saddledome – and that quality certainly endeared him to the crowd of 13,000 fans who turned up for Strait's Calgary Stampede show on Saturday night.
And, like Bennett with jazz, Strait has a cool, natural way with western swing that sets him apart from his overly slick and packaged country peers.
That's something he established definitively at the 'Dome.
Looking every bit the gentleman cowboy the 57-year-old Texan and his Ace In The Hole Band opened up the show with the western swing of Write This Down and the sentimental heart string tuggers I Just Want To Dance With You and Ocean Front Property.
That felt like an oddly subdued choice for the kickoff , pacing wise. A good pair of honky tonks would have gotten things off to a much more jumping jump start. Even so, Strait and his band delivered those opening numbers like pros and it wasn't long at all before they picked up their stride.
The hits and highlights were many from the sort of beloved barn burners he should have opened with like The Fireman and Honk If You Honky Tonk to romantic favourites like I Can Still Make Cheyenne and She'll Leave You With A Smile.
Very few country artists active today do romance the way Strait does. There's a poignancy and a sincerity in his approach that, for the most part, steers clear of the sap that runs through so many modern country tearjerkers.
I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore was another fine example of his formidable powers in this respect, as was a new number, Living For The Night off his upcoming disc Twang, proving that Strait's still got it.
It's not that Strait doesn't touch on the odd bit of overly cutesy Hallmark card wordplay so common in contemporary country. He certainly did so on Check Yes Or No, for example. But again, it doesn't feel so blatantly calculated when Strait does it. There's something so real and unaffected about him as an artist.
Other highlights of Strait's Stampede gig included the rowdy country-rock cooker Heartland, which showed a level of torque that was surprising, and that grand ol' tear-in-the-beer bar stool blues ditty I Hate Everything.
At encore time – before symbolically riding off into the moonlight with his own tune The Cowboy Rides Away – Strait tipped his hat to a couple of his own heroes Merle Haggard and Johnny Cash with worthy covers of Mama Tried and Folsom Prison Blues, respectively.
It was a great finale rife with the class, cool and excellence on which Strait has built his name.
|
|
 |
|
| |
|
|
