George Strait announces final tour

Country music icon George Strait has announced his last concert go-round, but stressed that he was not going to ride into the sunset after two years "The Cowboy Rides Away Tour" ends in 2014. "Think not that I am retired, because I'm not," Eng, who turned 60 this year, said at a news conference Wednesday at the Country Music and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee. "If a particular event happen somewhere out what I want to do, by all means, I'm going to do it," he said. "I hope a lot of that in me." A likely prospect, as his future at all resembles his past. Strait lays claim to 59 number one hits - at least one per year for 30 years - and 65 million albums sold, according to the press release announcing his last tour. 

George Strait announces final tour

Straight broke into stardom with his 1981 album "Strait Country" and has cranked out an album almost every year since - in some years two, according to his discography on allmusic.com. To say that the country star is extremely popular would be an understatement: with 13 multi-platinum, 33 platinum and 38 gold records, according to the Recording Industry Association of America, only the biggest names in popular music, the likes of The Beatles and Elvis have surpassed him in album sales in the United States. In recorded music, Street, with its smooth Texas accent and traditional provincial style, has even outsold The Rolling Stones stateside, which RIAA lists with 11 multi-platinum, 28 platinum and 42 gold albums. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006, a rarity for a more active recording artist. The music icon was no stranger to 1960 musical phenomenon known as the British Invasion, The Beatles and The Stones to America, according to the hall of fame Strait's biography. Growing up in a small town south of San Antonio, Texas, it was the music he listened. In an almost clichéd country music scenario, Strait's mother took her daughter and left Strait and his brother "Buddy" with their father, a teacher of mathematics, to increase, according to the singer biography on allmusic. Street was a Sod Buster, but also a rock musician. He helped the work of the family 2000 acre ranch and garage bands came in high school, the hall of fame wrote. After walking away with his high school sweetheart, he enlisted in the army, where he was a country singer in a band on his base in Hawaii. He stuck with her when he arrived back home, and while playing with country band "Ace in the Hole," promoter Erv Woolsey, who later Strait's manager, discovered him and gave him a record deal with MCA. More than 30 years later, the first year of his last tour kick off and wrap in his home state of Texas. "We start in Lubbock and go and go there for a couple of Red Raiders play," said Strait. "That's always fun." A list of 21 sites for 2013 can be found on Facebook page of the singer. Popular female country artist Martina McBride joins him as a guest artist for the first year of the tour. The tour is named after one of the many hits Strait, The Cowboy Rides Away, a sad song about a woman breaking someone's heart. "It's a song that we show ended with for many years," said Street, who is also a reminder of playing for President George Bush at Camp David, a week before he left office shared. Strait was important to stop, while ahead and not wait for the public to the relationship to an end one day, leaving him crooning before dwindling audience. He has no intention of maintaining itself as a Las Vegas casino act. "I did not feel like I ever want to do that," he said. When the stress of traveling has evaporated two years down the road, Street said he plans to spend more time golfing and fishing to spend with a particular partner. "I have a new grandson, so I will definitely spend time with him," Stait said. "I will try to steal it away from his parents for a while and maybe take him fishing." But he could not stop repeating that he was not through with music and even announced that he will soon be recording a new album. "I think it's been the longest time now between the records for me since '81, so I'm pretty afraid of something. "He even left a back door - well, maybe just cracked - the possibility of exploring again in the coming years." In 2016, I would say "what a dummy," "Strait joked, drawing snickers from the hot public, "and if that's the case, maybe I'll reconsider, but right now, I'm pretty sure I won 't." It seems that for the cowboy, as his tour theme song says: "Oh the last goodbye's the hardest thing to say" And this is where the cowboy rides away. ' Or not.