George Strait announced he was retiring from touring in 2012 and that his The Cowboy Rides Away world tour would close out one of the most significant chapters in country music. Over 10 years after announcing the end of live shows, the “King of Country Music” is still on the road and performing for thousands of adoring fans across the country. The “Amarillo by Morning” singer recently broke a U.S. concert attendance record for the largest U.S. ticketed show when he stepped onstage at Kyle Field at Texas A&M in College Station.
Despite sending out a warning one decade ago that he was hanging up his cowboy hat for good, the award-winning musician shows no signs of slowing down and even has a new album due out this fall. Strait, 72, played to a crowd of 110,905 fans in central Texas, breaking an all-time attendance record previously set by the Grateful Dead nearly 50 years ago. In 1977, 107,019 fans packed into New Jersey’s Raceway Park to catch the Dead show. Strait bested that number by nearly 4,000 tickets sold, according to Billboard.
Sources told Fox News Digital that George opened the packed show with “Stars on the Water” and closed with his classic “This is Where the Cowboy Rides Away.” One insider told Fox News Digital, “The energy was absolutely incredible. We felt like we were making history, even before the record-breaking attendance was announced. Kyle Field is already an amazing place, and this just took it to another level. So many Texans grew up on George Strait, so to have him perform in the heart of Aggieland, where he is so beloved, was something really special. From packed floor seats to the top rows on the highest deck, everyone was all in for George.”
They added, “On top of that, the way that he honored American heroes throughout the show was so inspiring – from ‘The Weight of the Badge’ video featuring local police officers, firefighters, and first responders – to honoring a veteran on stage by giving her a new home – you could feel the patriotism radiating throughout the stadium!” Strait was born and raised in Texas, and he grew up ranching on his family’s 2,000-acre cattle farm. British Invasion rock groups inspired him in the ’60s, and he began playing in garage bands in high school, where he met his longtime love, Norma.
George and Norma eloped in Mexico after graduation in 1971, and Strait enlisted in the Army, but it wasn’t until he was stationed in Hawaii that he found his true calling in music when he auditioned for and won the role of singer in an Army-sponsored country band, “Rambling Country.” While stationed in Hawaii in 1972, the couple had their first child, Jenifer Lynn Strait. Nine years later, they welcomed a son named George “Bubba” Strait Jr. in 1981. That same year, George scored his first charting single with “Unbound,” followed one year later with his first No. 1 single with “Fool Hearted Memory.” The couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 2021.