Ten Favorite Country General Questions: When Did You Stop Loving Me (#4)

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It's time for another one of those questions that cause us all to...no, not ponder, but buy records! Here's another song from country music that has a question in its title that is among my favorite "question" songs. #4: When Did You Stop Loving Me - George Strait They call him "King George." I don't call him that, because there's only one "king of country music," and that's Roy Acuff. (And George Strait would be the first one to tell you that!) But there isn't anyone in modern country music history that has enjoyed the enormous career that is unquestionably rarified air for any genre of music. Beginning with "Unwound" in 1981 (which has a little Johnny Paycheck sound to it), Strait was -- and remains --unapologetically country. He didn't go for that Urban Cowboy pop sound of the 80s or the Garth/Shania rock sound of the 90s. He is one of three artists to be awarded the "Entertainer of the Year" award from the Country Music Association after being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame (when most careers are considered "past"). (The other two are the first "entertainer of the year," Eddy Arnold, and last year's winner, Garth Brooks.) When Strait announced he was retiring from prolonged touring (his "the Cowboy Rides Away" tour) the bro-country fans threw a party and the neo-traditionalists threw a farewell party. Strait still has the pull: in September 2015, he quietly released a new album, and it debuted at #1 on the country album charts. And, as a lot of country singers have done over the decades, he appeared in a movie, too: 1992's Pure Country. And, with most movies with country singers it it, the plot was thinner than a dime, but the music was good! This song comes from that film's soundtrack, which was one of the biggest albums of the entire decade of the 1990s in country music. That's saying something, considering the 90s are remembered as being the decade of Garth and Shania. Strait sings as if his heart is breaking, which is part of his charm: regardless of what he sings, he sings it with conviction. When Did You Stop Loving Me Written by Donnie Keys and Monty Holmes Recorded by George Strait From Pure Country, 1992 That night has haunted me for so long: