Captain Consistent

Troubadour is George Strait's 25th album (not counting greatest hits or live ones) since his debut in 1981, and it plays to his strengths because Strait has been one of the best at picking the right songs. That doesn't mean that over the course of his 25 albums (no, I haven't heard 'em all), that he doesn't fall prey to the Country music tradition of filler. On Troubadour, there are bound to be some that only the die-hards will savor, "River of Love" yuck. But because he's so consistent in his song quality a song called "I Saw God Today" comes off better than the title. Of his contemporaries only Alan Jackson is near his equal in album quality, and unlike Strait, Jackson writes alot of his stuff. If Stait's latest isn't one for all time, don't fear, in 2009 he'll drop another one. A couple classics, a few keepers, some filler and his core audience will eat it all up.