Ten Favorite Country City Names Songs: Amarillo By Morning (#9)

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It's time to hop in the car and head to another city, courtesy of country music songs with a city's name in the title. And for today's song, you probably can't get more "country" than this in the past 30 years. #9: Amarillo By Morning - George Strait And here's yet another name that "everyone" knows, even if they don't like country music. Without question, George Strait is the biggest act in country music in the last 40 years. Yes, Garth Brooks sold more in a short period of time, but Strait has been more consistent. There aren't any "hiccups" in his career (cough-cough, Chris Gaines). In fact, with all the hype about the upcoming release of the Don Henley "country" album (it's not even close to country) Cass County last September, Strait's album Cold Beer Conversation came out with no advance fanfare and stomped the heavily-hyped Henley album into the ground in terms of sales and chart position! Strait also has the distinction of being one of three acts in the history of the Country Music Association awards (of course, this can only go back to 1967, when the CMA awards began) to win the top prize, "Entertainer of the Year," after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. The first was the first "entertainer of the year," Eddy Arnold (who is the only person who has more Billboard chart status than Strait -- consider that nothing but Eddy Arnold songs were #1 for nearly two years in 1947-49!), and this year Garth Brooks was given the top CMA award. This beautiful, sad song about a man who takes his career of rodeo riding over love ("lost my wife and a girlfriend somewhere along the way"), is relatively early in Strait's career. It remains one of his classic songs, and it's one of my favorites of his. For trivia buffs, the co-writer of this song was Terry Stafford, who had the hit "Suspicion." Remember his name, he'll show up again on this countdown. Amarillo By Morning Written by Terry Stafford and Paul Fraser Recorded by George Strait From Strait From the Heart, 1982 I ain't rich, but lord I'm free: