George Strait has been one of the biggest stars in country music for decades.
But not everyone in the industry is a fan of the “King of Country Music.”
And George Strait revealed something awful about country music that left fans speechless.
George Strait says the radio won’t play his music anymore
Country music legend George Strait has been one of the most popular and successful artists in the industry since the 1980s.
He’s smashed records right and left during his illustrious career.
Strait had an unmatched streak of having a top 10 single on the Billboard charts for 30 consecutive years.
And he’s turned out 60 number-one hits.
The 72-year-old country star still has a massive following after more than 40 years in country music.
Strait broke the American concert attendance record this year when 110,905 fans attended his show at Texas A&M University’s Kyle Field.
Country music fans still love his music.
But the “King of Country Music” can’t get his songs played on mainstream country music radio stations anymore.
Strait talked about this in the 2017 documentary Tennessee Whiskey: The Dean Dillon Story, about one of Nashville’s greatest songwriters.
“If I cut the best song in the world right now, I don’t think the radio would play it either,” Strait said.
Country music radio has eschewed the traditional country music sound to play more pop country.
“I always said to myself, ‘I’m not going to be mad when that happens to me.’ Because I saw it happen to Merle [Haggard], I saw it happen to George [Jones], and other artists. Radio just quit playin’ ’em,” Strait added.
Strait noticed that he finally joined the list of classic country artists that have been replaced.
“I was going, ‘What the hell? Where’s Merle’s records this month or this year?’ I still wanted to hear ’em. And so that’s the kind of thing that happened to me as well,” Strait said.
Alan Jackson says country music radio doesn’t play country
One of country music legend Alan Jackson’s most popular songs is the 1994 “Gone Country,” which talks about the music carpetbaggers who come to Nashville.
He told GQ in a 2018 interview that the radio isn’t interested in playing country music anymore.
“There’s some good music out there, but there’s not really much at all that’s real country music anymore on the mainstream country charts—what is nominated for awards—and it’s been going that way for years now, and I don’t know if it’ll ever come back,” Jackson said.
He noted that fans looking for real country music had to listen to older artists.
“I’ve got guys that work for me or young guys that I know in their 20s that listen to the old stuff, older than me, because there’s nothing new to listen to. It’s just sad. I’m not bitter and I don’t expect radio at all to sound like Hank Williams in the ’50s, but there oughta be room for all of it out there. Because there’s fans for it out there,” Jackson explained.
Fortunately with the advent of streaming, fans aren’t as dependent on listening to the FM station for country music.
Read All About It will keep you up-to-date on any developments to this ongoing story.
