The artist: George Strait

The album: Twang (MCA Nashville)

The spin: One day country radio programmers could realize that George Strait, at 57, doesn’t fit their perceived demographic.

Strait stands alone. His new album, Twang, already has a Top 10 single with the saloon ballad, “Living for the Night”, a contemplative, if routine, tune the singer cowrote with his son, Bubba. Strait hasn’t written any of his hits since 1981.

That isn’t the only fresh twist to Twang. The album, recorded at Jimmy Buffett’s Shrimpboat Sound Studio in Key West, boasts Strait’s first mariachi performance sung entirely in Spanish and with a full horn section. “El Rey”, popularized by ranchera icon Vicente Fernández, translates to “The King” — Strait’s nickname in Nashville.

The King’s in fine voice with another consistent collection of mature ballads and frisky honky tonkers. Twang feels even stronger than last year’s Troubadour, the Country Music Association’s Album of the Year.

Twang’s highlight, “Arkansas Dave”, has the loping beat, acoustic framework and twist-ending tale of an old gunslinger reminiscent of a Kenny Rogers or Johnny Cash hit from the 1970s. In his straightforward manner Strait is as convincing on a story song like “Arkansas Dave”, written solely by his son, as he is sincere on wise ballads like “Where Have I Been All My Life”, a track that notches the passage of time without lapsing into modern country’s penchant for sappy sentimentality.

Maybe this type of quality control is what allows Strait to buck the odds that say his kind has no place on shallow mainstream radio.

The grade: B

– Howard Cohen

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