Genre
Neotraditional country, honky-tonk, and countrypolitan, with elements of Western swing.
Release
Released on June 3, 1982, by MCA Records. It was Strait's second studio album, recorded between September 1981 and April 1982. The album includes three cover songs: "Honky Tonk Crazy," previously recorded by Gary Stewart and Dean Dillon; Guy Clark's "Heartbroke," first recorded by Rodney Crowell in 1980; and "Amarillo by Morning," originally written and recorded by Terry Stafford in 1973.
Production
Produced by Blake Mevis. Engineering and mixing by Bill Harris, with Doug Crider and David DeBusk as assistant engineers. The session musicians included Mitch Humphries on keyboards, Gregg Galbraith and Fred Newell on lead guitar, Sonny Garrish and John Hughey on steel guitar, Rob Hajacos and Buddy Spicher on fiddle, and the Nashville String Machine on strings, with string arrangements by Alan Moore. Recorded and mixed digitally at Music City Music Hall, Nashville, Tennessee.
Reception
The album peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart and is certified platinum by the RIAA. It produced Strait's first number-one single, "Fool Hearted Memory," along with "Marina del Rey" (No. 6), "Amarillo by Morning" (No. 4), and "A Fire I Can't Put Out" (No. 1). AllMusic awarded it five out of five stars. In 2022, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 19 on its list of the 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time, and "Amarillo by Morning" was voted by Rolling Stone readers as their favourite Strait song.
George Strait
George Harvey Strait (born May 18, 1952, Poteet, Texas) is an American country singer, songwriter, actor, and rancher widely known as the "King of Country Music." Credited with pioneering the neotraditional country style of the 1980s, he holds the record for the most number-one hits across all charts and genres, with 60 chart-toppers, including a record 44 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart. He has sold more than 70 million records in the United States, making him one of the best-selling artists in American history. His accolades include 22 CMA Awards, a Grammy Award for Best Country Album for Troubadour (2009), induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame (2006), and the Kennedy Center Honors (2025).
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