George Strait

Heretofore the man in the white hat has been a little too bland to open up the honky tonks or bring off any but the most perfect extended metaphors. This time he sings with such an ache that it was five plays before I noticed that one song equated "redneck" and "hillbilly" and the next was lifted from How to Pick Up Girls. No such peccadilloes sully the tearjerking glory of "Haven't You Heard" or "I've Seen That Look on Me (A Thousand Times)." And thus George earns "Lefty's Gone." (Grade: A-)