Does Fort Worth Ever Cross Your Mind (CD - 1984)

Personnel: George Strait (vocals); Randy Scruggs (acoustic guitar); Reggie Young, Larry Byrom (electric guitar); Weldon Myrick, Hank Devito (steel guitar); Johnny Gimble (fiddle, mandolin); John Hobbs (keyboards); David Hungate (bass); Eddie Bayers (drums); Curtis Young (background vocals).

Recorded at Sound Stage Studio, Nashville, Tennessee.

DOES FORT WORTH EVER CROSS YOUR MIND was voted CMA Album of the Year in 1985.

Personnel: George Strait (vocals, guitar); Randy Scruggs (acoustic guitar); Larry Byrom, Reggie Young (electric guitar); Hank DeVito, Weldon Myrick (steel guitar); Johnny Gimble (mandolin, fiddle); John Hobbs (keyboards); Eddie Bayers (drums); Curtis Young (background vocals).

Recording information: Sound Stage Studio, Nashville, TN.

Photographer: Jim Shea.

After his somewhat belated commercial breakthrough STRAIT FROM THE HEART, George Strait bobbled things a bit with a rushed, uneven follow-up, RIGHT OR WRONG. However, 1984's DOES FORT WORTH EVER CROSS YOUR MIND? not only righted Strait's commercial prospects, it was a massive success that won the 1985 Album of the Year award from the Country Music Association and cemented Strait's tenure as one of the most successful male country singers of all time. Hailed at the time as one of the signposts of the "new traditionalist" movement in country, DOES FORT WORTH EVER CROSS YOUR MIND? now sounds like a return to the days of fellow Texans like Ray Price, whose signature mix of honky-tonk shuffles and weepy ballads seems to be the primary inspiration of Strait and producer Jimmy Bowen. The album alternates between those two styles; following the tearful lost-love lament "I Should Have Watched That First Step" with the sly roadhouse jumper "Love Comes From The Other Side of Town" shows the full range of Strait's enormous gifts. minimize