A Conversation With George Strait

EW When you recorded "Murder on Music Row," your duet with Alan Jackson, in 2000, you unnerved radio programmers with lines like "Someone killed country music/Cut out its heart and soul." Were you more worried about the survival of "real country" when you recorded it, when you first heard the song?

Strait No, I just died laughing when I first heard it. I'd just talked to Alan hours before--we'd discussed doing a duet. And then I went over to my manager's office and he played it for me. [Laughs] I thought it was a pretty neat song; I thought that this would be a great duet for me and Alan. So anyway, I asked him if he'd heard it, and he had. I never dreamed [laughs uproariously]that it would be so controversial in the country-music business. It says what it says, but I just thought, Well, it pokes fun at Nashville; it's not an in-your-face slap at the industry. It's just a discussion that I've heard since '81, and that we're still hearing today.

EW You've been clear about wanting to do the music you believe in, but you've also never been shy about wanting to make those styles into hits.

Strait You can sing songs to yourself all you want. And probably the shower is where you should do those.

EW Do you still get a kick out of being on stage?

Strait I always enjoy it when I walk on stage. There were some times when I was working so much in the '80s, and I felt really burnt-out. But I'd be up there singing and not be 10,000 million miles away, you know, just opening my mouth and the words coming out. When the audience is really with you, there's nothing better than that.

EW How does it feel to be a legend?

Strait I couldn't answer that, because I don't consider myself a legend at all. You know, legends are people like Haggard and Jones and Wills and Sinatra. Those people are legends. I'm just a young buck out here trying to keep in that same circle with the rest of 'em.

"I did all that stuff earlier in my career," says Strait about

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"I did all that stuff earlier in my career," says Strait about his reluctance to talk to the press.

"I just don't do it a lot....Country music is important to me, and I love it. But it's not my whole life."