George Strait Ropes in Vegas Honors

George Strait at rehearsals for the 43rd Annual ACM Awards Show in Las Vegas. Photo provided by the Academy of Country Music.

April, 6, 2009 — With the "44th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards" out of the way, many of Nashville’s stars will continue hanging around in Las Vegas on Monday as the ACM puts together a future CBS package, "George Strait: Artist Of The Decade, An All Star Concert Special."

Brooks & Dunn, Blake Shelton, Toby Keith, Miranda Lambert, Jamie Foxx and Alan Jackson are among the stars slated to pay tribute to George, who’s been a beacon for traditional country ever since his debut with "Unwound" in 1981.

The "Artist Of The Decade" special airs May 27, and it makes George the fifth performer to earn the honor from the Academy, which cited Marty Robbins as the Artist of the Decade for the 1960s; Loretta Lynn, the ‘70s; Alabama, the ‘80s; and Garth Brooks, the ‘90s.

Several of the artists performing Monday night talked to Suzanne Alexander on the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville about why George continues to hold a spot at the top of the country music business:

• Keith Urban: "He knows exactly his voice, he knows what songs work for that, he knows the kind of records he needs to make, he knows the kind of way to perform, the kind of band to put together. Everything is clear and makes sense. And I don’t know of any other artist that’s had that for their entire career — had such clarity and consistency. And there’s a purity about it that is sort of timeless. You know, some artists you want them to keep changing, you don’t want to hear the same thing over and over again. And then there’s artists that you don’t want them to ever change. And George has been able to find that perfect place where it just connects. He’s just an anomaly."

• John Rich: "I grew up in Amarillo, which the only reason that town has any population whatsoever is just ‘cause I-40 rolls through it and all the truckers go through there. But it’s all cows and wheat fields and hardworking West Texas people. But then I turn on the country [radio] station there — it was 98.7 KMML — and I’ll never forget it. I heard a song by George Strait called ‘Amarillo By Morning.’ When I heard that, as a kid I felt, ‘My town’s pretty cool all of a sudden.’ [I went] out and spent my allowance on George Strait records my entire life, had a poster of him hanging in my bedroom, knew all of his songs, got my first kiss singing ‘The Chair’ to a girl at a rodeo when I was a kid. So, hey man, George Strait’s the man. We all know it."

• Lee Ann Womack: "I like George because he doesn’t go in for all the nonsense that a lot of times you see, that surrounds this job. There’s just a lot of ridiculousness that I see that he never buys into, never participates in, and what he does is he provides great, solid music. That just doesn’t always happen. And then he’s a great guy, just personally, and he puts his family first, which is so important, and he does the kind of music I love ... traditional country music."