He\u2019s been crowned country-music royalty and is enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now the King, George Strait, is set to embark on a two-year tour that will, he says, be his last. The Cowboy Rides Away tour will kick off Jan. 18, 2013, and is set to run through 2014. The 40-city trek begins in Lubbock, Texas. (See the first set of tour dates below.)<\/p>\n
At a press conference at the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum\u2019s Ford Theater Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 26), George Straight<\/strong> expounded on the already obvious significance of the tour name, christened after his 1985 hit.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s the song we\u2019ve closed our show with for years,\u201d he told the audience. \u201cI\u2019ve done a lot of neat things in my career. My band and I went to Camp David with President Bush before he left office and Clinton came in, and we played it for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n I didn\u2019t want to book a tour where nobody came.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he\u2019s retiring from touring at the end of the two years, George added, \u201cIn 2016, I might say, \u2018What a dummy.\u2019 If that\u2019s the case, I\u2019ll reconsider.\u201d<\/p>\n Joining the Texan on his tour will be his previous tour mate, Martina McBride, who was also on hand for the event.<\/p>\n \u201cThe good news for me is get to see 20 George Strait<\/em> shows next year,\u201d she said, adding that when she\u2019s not onstage, she\u2019ll probably be found in the audience with George\u2019s wife, Norma, drinking wine.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cI\u2019m a huge fan, you know that,\u201d an emotional Martina told George Strait<\/strong>, acknowledging that she was holding back tears. \u201cBeing part of this tour is really a career highlight for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n George stressed that he isn\u2019t retiring, and that as long as Mike Dungan, the head of his record label, Universal Music Group, wants him to record, he has no plans to stop making new music. In fact, George plans to return to Nashville in October to begin work on his next album, explaining that it has been his longest time between recording projects since 1981, so he\u2019s anxious to get back in the studio.<\/p>\n He also said that other special guests may join him on the tour from time to time.<\/p>\n With 59 No. 1 hits to his credit thus far, he may have a hard time deciding what to do during his final concerts, but once the tour is over, he has a few ideas with regard to what will fill his days.<\/p>\n \u201cI have a new grandson so we\u2019ll certainly be spending a lot of time with him. I\u2019ll try and steal him away from his parents, maybe take him fishing.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n He noted, however, that the 8-month old may still be a little young for fishing.<\/p>\n Jan. 18, Lubbock, Texas, United Spirit Arena Additional markets will be announced for 2013 and 2014. For more information on George Strait and for tour updates, please visit www.GeorgeStrait.com.<\/p>\n P.S. Hey, my name is Amy Findley , and I just wanted to share this with you.\u00a0 I am a huge fan of George Strait so it\u2019s sad that he\u2019s stopping with touring but I am going to go to one of his concerts\u2026I promised myself I would.<\/p>\n P.S.S Leave your thoughts in the comments below, and be sure to share this on Google Plus, Facebook, and Twitter. I\u2019d really appreciate it and thanks so much! If you can\u2019t comment, it means that we\u2019re still in the middle of our Facebook Protest (click here), and we invite you to join us, in keeping free speech alive!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" George Strait 2013 Tour Will Be His Last! He\u2019s been crowned country-music royalty and is enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame. Now the King, George Strait, is set to embark on a two-year tour that will, he says, be his last. The Cowboy Rides Away tour will kick off Jan. 18, 2013, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":560,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38,1],"tags":[624,625,626,627,628],"class_list":["post-265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-uncategorized","tag-george-straight","tag-george-straight-farewell","tag-george-strait","tag-georgestrait","tag-tour"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/560"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=265"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/265\/revisions\/308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowernetwork.com\/dreamer12\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
As to the timing of the tour, the entertainer\u2026George Strait<\/span> who turned 60 last May, said, \u201cI always had it in the back of my mind, when I turned 60 it might be the time to start thinking about it.<\/h2>\n
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George Strait, The Cowboy Rides Away 2013 Tour Dates:<\/h3>\n
\nJan. 19, Oklahoma City, Okla., Chesapeake Energy Arena
\nJan. 25, Salt Lake City, Utah, Energy Solutions Arena
\nJan. 26, Nampa, Idaho, Idaho Center
\nJan. 31, Sacramento, Calif., Power Balance Pavilion
\nFeb. 1, Fresno, Calif., Save Mart Center
\nFeb. 2, Las Vegas, Nev., MGM Grand Garden Arena
\nFeb. 15, St. Paul, Minn., Xcel Energy Center
\nFeb. 16, Grand Forks, N.D., Alerus Center
\nFeb. 22, Buffalo, N.Y., First Niagara Center
\nFeb. 23, Hartford, Conn., XL Center
\nMar. 1, Knoxville, Tenn., Thompson-Boling Arena
\nMar. 2, Lexington, Ky., Rupp Arena
\nMar. 17, Houston, Texas, Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo*
\nMar. 22, Greenville, S.C., Bi-Lo Center
\nMar. 23, Greensboro, N.C., Greensboro Coliseum Complex
\nApr. 5, Albuquerque, N.M., The Pit
\nApr. 6, Las Cruces, N.M., Pan American Center
\nApr. 12, N. Little Rock, Ark., Verizon Arena
\nApr. 13, New Orleans, La., New Orleans Arena
\nJun. 1, San Antonio, Texas, Alamodome**
\n*previously announced tour date featuring Martina McBride and the Randy Rogers Band.
\n** On Sale TBD<\/p>\n