Review: 'George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert'

Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson and others honor the country music hit maker, and it all makes for good TV.

Honoring elders always has been a cornerstone of country music, a trait that makes for good TV in "George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert," airing tonight on CBS.

The two-hour program, filmed last month in Las Vegas the night after the Academy of Country Music's latest awards ceremony, is packed with current country stars who were in town for that event, among them Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, Taylor Swift, Alan Jackson, Keith Urban, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert and Toby Keith.

They even roped in Jamie Foxx, introduced as "a man who has won absolutely no Academy of Country Music awards," but who turns out to have been a Strait fan as a kid growing up in Texas.

"Black fans too, George; you got black fans too," Foxx says, addressing the evening's honoree in the side-stage box from which he and his family watch the parade of artists who sing his songs. "I'm from a good old town called Terrell, Texas. . . . You came to Terrell, Texas, one time when I was 14 years old, and I told everybody, I don't care what side of the tracks I gotta go over, I'm going on the other side of the tracks to see George Strait.' I took a big risk that night."

Strait was chosen in part because of his unmatched  total of 57 No. 1 country singles dating back nearly three decades.

Read the entire review: 'George Strait: ACM Artist of the Decade All-Star Concert'

-- Randy Lewis

Comments

[George Strait tickets]

G. Strait is not nicknamed king of country music like this, but he’s such a great artist who has the keys to soft hearts. I’m a big fan and I’m waiting to attend his concert. I already saw him on stage but always like his performances.