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Father and son as “header” and “heeler,” George and George Jr. (left), work together as a team at a roping competition.
Buddy Strait, who helps coordinate the event. "Out
there you'll find world champions warming up next
to amateurs. It's like being able to golf in the Mas
ters tournament.”
This year, a well-practiced Strait and his son Bubba
competed together in the event. They ended their two
rounds with a time of 15.88 seconds, less than three sec
onds shy of making the top 50.
The bond between lather and son is something that
goes back to Strait and his own lather, John, who taught
him how to ride and schooled him on cattle. A native of
Pearsall, Texas (pop. 7,490), he grew up helping out on
the 2,000-acre family ranch in nearby Big Wells. "My
dad was raised on a ranch and later became a school
teacher in a town about 40 miles from where I was
raised,” Strait says. "On weekends and
summers we spent most of our time
there. He worked us pretty hard at
times, but at the end of the day you
always felt like you accomplished some
thing, whether it was fixing a fence or
working cattle.”
These days, Strait is busy on his own
ranch, where in addition to practicing
roping, he also raises quarter horses and
roping cattle. The knowledge he's accumulated about
horses, cattle, and ranching has academic ties as well.
Strait graduated from Southwest Texas State University
in 1979 with a degree in agriculture education. “I never
really thought I'd be a teacher, but I did think that I
would forever be involved in some kind of agriculture
activity, and I am," he says. "When I first graduated, I
wanted to ranch, but I wanted to sing more. I think
things have worked themselves out pretty well.”
Pretty well, indeed, coasidering he has more Num
ber 1 singles (50, to be exact) titan any single artist of any
genre, he sells out arenas across the United States, and his
newest album, Honkytonkville. is destined for million-sell
er status. For Strait, the idea of a music career material
ized in the early 1970 s after he signed up for a three-year
hitch in the Army. Stationed in Hawaii, he bought a
cheap guitar and some old Hank Williams songbooks,
and began learning his craft. He soon got a band togeth
er and started to entertain his fellow troops. After the
Army, he and wife Norma—his high school sweetheart
and now bride of more than 30 years—returned to Texas.
Looking to make music a career, he posted a notice on a
campus bulletin board, stating, "Country Singer Needs
Band.” Thus came the first incarnation of The Ace in the
Hole Band. They quickly built a regional following in
Texas dance halls and eventually Nashville took notice.
In 1981, Strait released his debut album, Strait Coun
try, and the rest is history. 1
Since then, he's won every masic award imagi- J
nable, he's sold more than 58 million albums, and M
his hits (Amarillo By Morning. Unuound. Six'll
Lean Sou With A Smile) have become the sound
track to small town Saturday nights. His latest
To hear a sampling of
Honkeytonkville,
and register for a chance
to win your own
copy, go to j
www.amencanprofiie.com. .
album's first single. Tell Mt Somethin,: Bad About H
Tulsa , has already become a staple on country H
radio. H
But it’s still that time he spends on horse-
back, practicing his roping on his homestead
that seems to put it all in perspective. “You learn
to appreciate a good horse," Strait concludes. "You
learn about having good cattle and how to take care
of them. You learn how to take care of the land and
its needs so that it takes care of you. It makes you
appreciate more of what God gave us."
In January, Strait was inducted into the Texas Cow
boy Hall of Fame. 7)*
Richard Al cVey II is managing editor at Music Row
Magazine in Nashville. Term.
album, Hankytonkville,
continues that tradi
tion, with songs of love
(Infinite Love), heart
break (Desperately ), and
jukebox classics in the
making (Honk If You
Honky Tank). It seems fans
can’t get enough of the
charismatic cowboy. The
Wj ßff * v
M - ■
“We try to practice
every day we’re
home. We usually
ride three horses
apiece and rope a
pen of cattle on
each one.”
-George Strait
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