MARCH, APRIL, MAY 2010 VOL. 28 NO. 1 Clock Is Ticking For The 28th Annual GSTRC San Antonio, TX---The clock is ticking and Palace stall as no portable stalls are allowed. Kioti Tractors, Bill Miller Bar-B-Q, H.E.B. time is drawing near for the 28th Annual The 2010 GSTRC is Sponsored by Caven- Food Stores, Brake Check, Tractor Sup- George Strait Team Roping ply Co., Wrangler, Justin, Classic that will be held in Cactus Ropes, Resistol, San Antonio Texas at the Capital Farm Credit, Clas- San Antonio Rose Palace sic Ropes, Frost Bank and on March 12th & 13th. Gist Buckles. Registration for this Chad Masters and Jade year’s event has been Corkill won the 27th An- expanded to three days nual GSTRC and drove and new phone numbers away in their Cavender will be used. Registration Chevrolet duallies pulling will take place on Monday, their Bruton 3-horse Strait March 1st, Tuesday, March Extreme trailers loaded 2nd and Wednesday, March with a total of $277,686 in 3rd from 5-10PM Central cash between them along time. Ropers wanting to with their Twister saddles register can call 505-270- and Gist buckles. 9340 and 505-270-8332 Entries in 2009 included during those times. 485 and 2010 could even The entry fee is $1000 see more. Long lines of per team and ropers may rigs and horse trailers enter up to three times with will be arriving beginning different partners. Rop- Thursday afternoon for ers may start paying their the event. The event was entry fees between 5 and started by George and his 10PM on Thursday, March brother Buddy as a small 11th and all entry fees must family roping in Kingsville, be paid by 8:30 AM on Friday, March 12th. der Chevrolet of Boerne, TX, Bruton Trail- TX and has become the most prestigious All horses must be in a San Antonio Rose ers, Wayne Wright Lawyers, Hill Country/ open roping in America. Hours: Monday-Friday 8:30 am-3:00 pm Call Your Merchandise Orders In: 1-615-824-7176 • Fax: 1-615-826-7052 STRAIT TALK Living Legends: George Strait, Reba, & Lee Ann Womack at First Mariner Arena In the 1980s, before they were declared middle of the First Mariner Arena's floor; she's not just one of the best-selling female hipster heroes by Rick Rubin and Jack the bands formed a circle in the middle, and vocalists in country history but also one of White, Johnny Cash and Loretta Lynn were the singers strolled from corner to corner, the best. When she sang Ronnie Dunn's bal- more or less ignored by non-country audi- giving each side of the arena a close-up lad, "Keep on Loving You," or Kim Fox's ences as they served out the tail end of dis- view alternating with a view of the singer's crackling rockabilly romp, "Nothing To tinguished country careers, playing mid- backside seen through the drummer's cym- Lose," both from her new album, all the sized halls and competing against young- bals. show-biz trappings fell away and she was sters such as George Strait and Reba With a black cowboy hat, cinnamon cow- an Okie ranch girl once again. McEntire. Now Strait and McEntire are in boy boots, and a jaw seemingly chiseled out The evening's best set, though, came from a similar position, competing against of marble, Strait kicked off his set with Jim opener Womack. Wearing a shiny purple youngsters such as Dierks Bentley and Lauderdale's "Twang," a song that cele- dress and propped up on four-inch stiletto Taylor Swift as they work the circuit and brates its own sound, one perfectly suited to heels, she established her rural Texas back- await their own coronation as living leg- Strait's miraculous tenor. He's as good at ground by swinging her way through Bob ends. phrasing to the swing of a two-stepper like Wills' "San Antonio Rose." But she remind- They deserve such a crown. Strait and "Honk If You Honky Tonk" as he is at ed everyone of her own important contribu- McEntire may not have the outlaw cred of crooning creamily over steel guitar on a bal- tions to that legacy by belting out "Last a Cash or Merle Haggard, but they have the lad like "Where Have I Been All My Life," Call," the anguished lament of a mistress sterling voices and deep roots of a Lynn or the kind of clever pun that he frequently who is always her lover's last resort. George Jones. You can see them now while transforms into something more. No matter Womack concluded her short set with a their voices are still in great shape or you what the genre, singing doesn't get much rocking, wailing version of Rodney can wait another 10 years until Rubin or better than this. Crowell's "Ashes By Now," the confession NPR discovers them and they are repack- Reba (she dropped her last name when she of a woman consumed by love and glad to aged for non-country audiences after their launched her one-name TV show in 2001) is be so. voices have already started to decline. It's less committed to the country tradition than It was an evening not just of great singers your choice. Strait; a good portion of her show was but also great pickers. Each of the three art- They were in Baltimore last Friday for a devoted to bombastic numbers that recalled ists brought along a terrific band. Reba's marathon show that began at 7 p.m. with Ann Wilson more than Lynn. But there was was highlighted by Bruce Bouton, one of Lee Ann Womack and extended past 11 no disguising the Oklahoma twang in her the world's great pedal steel guitarists, and p.m. with Strait still mining his enormous alto, and when she got a rootsy number that Strait's by Gene Elders, one of the best hill- catalog. The stage was a diamond in the fit that voice, she reminded everyone that billy fiddlers who ever lived. George Strait at Phoenix's US Airways Center By Martin Cizmar in Concert Review in worth of quarters is the first thing I always it -- the "King of Country," set a laid-back Phoenix New Times do. but celebratory tone perfect for Super Bowl When I get off of work on Friday after For a guy who hasn't filled out a W2 in weekend's Friday night. working like a dog all week, I go to meet 30-plus years, George Strait sure can sing Sure, the "little joint up the street" was the boys for a cold one at a little joint up the working man's music. Opening with reinterpreted as a packed-to-the-rafters U.S. the street. They got a jukebox in the corner "Twang," the title track off his latest studio Airways Center. "A cold one" ran $10 and full of old country tunes, feed it five dollars album -- his twenty-sixth, if you can believe Continued on Collector's Column page STRAIT TALK George Strait & Reba Shattered Ticket Sales Record in Tulsa Sellout Takes Only 57 Minutes Nashville, TN– Tickets to the Tulsa, OK one singles of any artist in history including million albums worldwide and her last 13 for Artist of the Decade George Strait and Elvis (57 To Date). He has sold more than studio albums have all achieved platinum- Entertainment Superstar Reba with special 67 million records and with 33 different plus status. The two-time GRAMMY guest Lee Ann Womack sold out in less platinum or multi-platinum albums has the Award-winner is also an acclaimed film, TV than an hour when tickets went on sale Sat- most RIAA platinum certifications in coun- and Broadway actress. urday, Jan. 23rd... This marks the first time try music and the third in all genres, behind Lee Ann Womack has sold over 6 million in the history of the Bank of Oklahoma The Beatles and Elvis Presley. albums, won two Grammys, numerous other (BOK) Center that over 18,000 tickets have Reba’s latest hit, “Consider Me Gone,” is milestone awards, and received notoriety for been sold for one event. the longest-running #1 single of the super- her last album “There’s More Where That “The demand for this show is phenom- star’s career. With it’s 4th week at #1, Reba Came From”. Released February of ’05 on enal,” states John Bolton, General Manager joins Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood and CD and classic vinyl, There’s More swept of the BOK Center. “It has been as high as Gretchen Wilson as the only female Coun- CMA Award trophies fall of the same year all the shows we’ve had in the past and it’s try artists to log more than 3 weeks at #1 in for “Album of the Year” and “Single of the the most number of tickets sold since the the past 10 years. Reba’s reign of #1 hits Year” (“I May Hate Myself In The Morn- venue opened. “ now spans four decades. The multimedia ing”). She is also recognized for #1 singles Strait, Reba and Womack head to play to superstar was also recently recognized by “The Fool,” “A Little Past Little Rock,” “I’ll the thousands of fans in Tulsa on Febru- Billboard, Country Aircheck and Mediabase Think Of A Reason Later” and the mega ary 20. This marks Strait’s first appearance as the biggest female hit-maker in country smash “I Hope You Dance”.