When songwriter Sanger D “Whitey” Shafer and his spouse of the time, Darlene, got here up with a track known as “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind,” it was an affectionate reference to his residence state. Nation star Moe Bandy heard its potential and launched it as a single in 1977.
However when George Strait not solely coated the tune, however made it the opening single and title track of his fourth album, the eye of nation’s hottest new star assured it a brand new viewers. If Fort Price hadn’t crossed their minds earlier than, it might now.
Common enchantment
Shafer was from Whitney, Texas, an hour or so’s drive down from Fort Price. Strait hailed from a small city even additional south within the state, Poteet. However the track was positive to enchantment to a proud southerner such because the nation entertainer, who was at all times looking out for songs about actual life and relationships in his distinct type. He knew {that a} quantity wherein the narrator is questioning about his previous flame, and her new love in Dallas, would have common enchantment.
Positive sufficient, “Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind” served because the flag-bearer for the brand new album, and prolonged Strait’s already formidable stretch of No.1 singles. Launched in early September 1984, the one arrange the album’s September 26 launch, and went on to spend the primary week of 1985 at No.1. It was George’s fifth nation chart-topper in a row, and already his sixth in whole.
A disarmingly easy strategy
Three years into his hit profession, Strait was now acknowledged far and huge because the modern-day consultant of an older, extra conventional nation sound, wherein fiddles, pedal metal and a frequent Western Swing really feel weren’t solely welcome however important. It paired him for the primary time along with his co-producer Jimmy Bowen, the previous recording artist whose Nashville fame as a document man was second to none, each within the studio and the boardroom.
The pair’s strategy was disarmingly easy: discover George the best-sounding materials, document it with Music Metropolis’s high musicians, preserve it fast and watch the outcomes. Reggie Younger on electrical guitar and Randy Scruggs on acoustic had been among the many studio dependables, as was grasp fiddle and mandolin participant Johnny Gimble and pedal metal man Hank DeVito. Does Forth Price Ever Cross Your Thoughts runs for exactly 28 minutes and ten tracks, but it surely is aware of its viewers completely. What’s extra, these ten tracks embody three which can be among the many best-loved of Strait’s whole distinguished reign.
An ever-expanding fame
Simply after the title observe spent its week at No.1, MCA Nashville went to nation radio with an irresistible and typical depiction of the tip of a relationship, “The Cowboy Rides Away.” Written by the prolific Sonny Throckmorton and Casey Kelley, it rose to No.5 on Billboard’s Sizzling Nation Songs chart and, to this present day, stays the track with which Strait closes his reside set.
The album’s third single, additionally a No.5 hit, was one other signature Strait tune, “The Fireman,” a vigorous quantity written by the late duo of Mack Vickery and Wayne Kemp. Vickery’s songs had been additionally recorded by the likes of Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Money, whereas Kemp introduced his personal expertise as a recording artist who went on to a complete of 24 chart entries, essentially the most profitable being 1973’s “Honky Tonk Wine.”
Kemp additionally contributed “I Should Have Watched That First Step” to the album, which made frequent references to dances, honky tonks and the opposite artefacts of Strait’s singing world. John Porter McMeans and Ron Moore’s romantic “You’re Dancin’ This Dance All Wrong” was one other spotlight, whereas “Whitey” Shafer additionally supplied “I Need Someone Like Me.”
The CMA Album of the Yr
Within the days when non-pop albums had been typically marginalized within the mainstream charts, Does Fort Price Ever Cross Your Thoughts solely reached No.150 on the Billboard 200. However within the nation world, the place its predecessor, Proper Or Unsuitable, had spent 5 weeks at No.1, the album not solely managed three on the high spot – and 70 weeks in whole on the chart – however went platinum and received the CMA Award for Album of the Yr.
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As Does Fort Price Ever Cross Your Thoughts burnished George Strait’s ever-expanding fame, the house state he honoured in its title repaid the praise. On November 3, 1984, his alma mater, Southwest Texas State College, in San Marcos – from which he had graduated in 1979 with a level in agriculture – offered him with the college’s President’s Excellence Award.
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