Strait

After three decades of hits, George Strait announced in 2012 he planned to retire after a final tour. Strait didn't plan to abandon music – he went on record claiming that he still hoped to cut his traditional record a year – but big arena shows were starting to wear on him, so he launched The Cowboy Rides Away tour, allowing all of his fans one final chance to see him in their hometown.

George Harvey Strait is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer known as the "King of Country" and one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. He is known for his neotraditionalist country style, cowboy look, and being one of the first and main country artists to bring country music back to its roots and away from the pop country era in the 1980s. Strait's success began when his first single "Unwound" was a hit in 1981. During the 1980s, seven of his albums reached number one on the country charts. In the 2000s, Strait was named Artist of the Decade by the Academy of Country Music, was elected into the Country Music Hall of Fame, and won his first Grammy award for the album Troubadour.

George Strait may have landed his first number one in 1982, making him an "overnight sensation," but he'd been working for it since 1976. Strait From the Heart boasts "Fool-Hearted Memory," a perfect slow two-step that raged in all the dancehalls in America for half a year and sent folks to the bins in droves seeking out Strait's records. What they found was a singer of uncommon vitality who could sing honky tonk, countrypolitan, and the new traditional sounds that were just beginning to assert themselves after the first wave of "new country." The new Strait fans were interested in the ballads such as "Marina del Rey" and "A Fire I Can't Put Out," but they are hardly the best cuts on the set. In fact, when Strait lets it get on the raw side is when he is at his best. Tracks such as "Honky Tonk Crazy," his cover of Guy Clark's "Heartbroke," the Western swing of his original "I Can't See Texas From Here," and the strutting barroom anthem "The Steal of the Night" offer a portrait of Strait as a man who can do it all.

20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of George Strait is a collection of some of George Strait's greatest hits. It was released in 2002 by MCA Nashville. 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of George Strait peaked at number 8 on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums chart. It also reached number 76 on the all-genre Billboard 200. The album was certified Gold by the RIAA on September 30, 2003, and Platinum on July 29, 2005.[3] It has sold 1,836,000 copies as October 2019.