George Strait, Symbol For Cowboys

George Strait photo by Vanessa Gavalya, courtesy of UMG Nashville.

Aug. 5, 2009 — He wears a western hat, holds his own team roping competitions and still lives on a ranch deep in the heart of Texas: George Strait stands for all that’s good about the modern-day cowboy.

But it’s not just working cowboys that he represents; after headlining the first-ever concert at Dallas’ new football stadium, he now has a permanent place in the lore of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

"It’s unbelievable," George told Buzz Brainard on on the national radio show GAC Nights: Live From Nashville, when asked about Cowboys Stadium. "I knew it was gonna be somethin', but I didn’t know it was gonna be as fantastic as it was. It’s just incredible. It’s huge, the video screens are huge, everything about it is huge. I’m lookin’ forward to goin’ in there and seein’ some Cowboys games."

George, Reba McEntire, Blake Shelton and Lee Ann Womack delivered the inaugural concert at the stadium in June. Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood were on hand in July when the place held its first soccer game. But the country-music connections to Cowboys Stadium don’t stop there. Nashville’s Tennessee Titans will visit Dallas for the venue’s first exhibition game Aug. 21. The first regular-season contest is Sept. 20 against the New York Giants.

George, who releases his new Twang album on Tuesday, has some other Texas sports venues on the horizon. He plays Saturday at Reliant Stadium — the home of the Houston Texans — with Sugarland, Blake Shelton and Julianne Hough. And George is also looking forward to the start of the NBA schedule, which kicks off for his hometown NBA team, the Spurs, Oct. 28 at San Antonio’s AT&T Center, a venue George has played before. He’s been spotted many times at games there, but he and his son, Bubba, watch many more at home. George doesn’t need a "man cave," he told Buzz, to keep wife Norma happy when the games are on the tube.

"She’s just as big a Spurs fan as we are," George said. "In fact, she goes to more games than we do. She’s a huge Spurs fan, so there’s no man room for me. We all watch ‘em."