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Tag: George Strait

  • Trump awards medals to the Kennedy Center honorees in an Oval Office ceremony

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    WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees with their medals during a ceremony in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he was deeply involved in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.

    This year’s recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.

    Trump said they are a group of “incredible people” who represent the “very best in American arts and culture” and that, “I know most of them and I’ve been a fan of all of them.”

    “This is a group of icons whose work and accomplishments have inspired, uplifted and unified millions and millions of Americans,” said a tuxedo-clad Trump. “This is perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class of Kennedy Center Honorees ever assembled.”

    Trump’s takeover of the Kennedy Center

    Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican has instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman of the board.

    Trump also has criticized the center’s programming and its physical appearance, and has vowed to overhaul both.

    The president placed around each honoree’s neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.

    It’s a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center’s image and rainbow colors. The honoree’s name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree’s shoulders and chest and had been used since the first honors program in 1978.

    Trump honors the honorees

    Strait, wearing a cowboy hat, was first to receive his medal. When the country singer started to take off the hat, Trump said, “If you want to leave it on, you can. I think we can get it through.” But Strait took it off.

    The president said Crawford was a “great star of Broadway” for his lead role in the long-running “Phantom of the Opera.” Of Gaynor, he said, “We have the disco queen, and she was indeed, and nobody did it like Gloria Gaynor.”

    Trump was effusive about his friend Stallone, calling him a “wonderful” and “spectacular” person and “one of the true, great movie stars” and “one of the great legends.”

    Kiss is an “incredible rock band,” he said.

    Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby for Trump to begin the ceremony.

    The president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.

    It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.

    “These are among the greatest artists, actors and performers of their generation. The greatest that we’ve seen,” Trump said. “We can hardly imagine the country music phenomena without its king of country, or American disco without its first lady, or Broadway without its phantom — and that was a phantom, let me tell you — or rock and roll without its hottest band in the world, and that’s what they are, or Hollywood without one of its greatest visionaries.”

    “Each of you has made an indelible mark on American life and together you have defined entire genres and set new standards for the performing arts,” Trump said.

    Trump also attended an annual State Department dinner for the honorees on Saturday. In years past, the honorees received their medallions there but Trump moved that to the White House.

    Trump said during pre-dinner remarks that the honorees are more than celebrities.

    “It gives me tremendous pleasure to congratulate them once again and say thank you for your incredible career,” he said. “Thank you for gracing us with this wisdom and just genius that you have.”

    Trump to host the Kennedy Center Honors

    Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute speeches and performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.

    The president said in August that he had agreed to host the show. At dinner Saturday, he said he was doing so “at the request of a certain television network.” Trump predicted that the broadcast would garner its highest ratings ever as a result. No president has ever been the host.

    At the White House, Trump said he looked forward to Sunday’s celebration.

    “It’s going to be something that I believe, and I’m going to make a prediction: This will be the highest-rated show that they’ve ever done and they’ve gotten some pretty good ratings, but there’s nothing like what’s going to happen tomorrow night,” Trump said.

    The president also swiped at late-night TV show host Jimmy Kimmel, whose program was briefly suspended earlier this year by ABC following criticism of his comments related to the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk in September.

    Kimmel and Trump are sharp critics of each other, with the president regularly deriding Kimmel’s talent as a host. Kimmel has hosted the Primetime Emmy Awards and the Academy Award multiple times.

    Trump said he should be able to outdo Kimmel.

    “I’ve watched some of the people that host. Jimmy Kimmel was horrible,” Trump said. “If I can’t beat out Jimmy Kimmel in terms of talent, then I don’t think I should be president.”

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  • Watch: Trump announces Kennedy Center Honorees, takes questions

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    President Trump visited the Kennedy Center Wednesday to announce this year’s honorees: Country-music artist George Strait, singer Gloria Gaynor, actor and singer Michael Crawford, actor Sylvester Stallone and the rock band KISS. Following the announcement, Mr. Trump took questions on several topics.

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  • Music Review: On ‘Cowboys and Dreamers,’ George Strait’s traditional country is still a heart warmer

    Music Review: On ‘Cowboys and Dreamers,’ George Strait’s traditional country is still a heart warmer

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    George Strait’s 31st studio album, the feel-good “Cowboys and Dreamers,” marks five decades of record releases; a titanic career for a Texas troubadour whose greatest ambition seems to have always been the same: Make pretty, plain-spoken songs about life’s true pains and pleasures, and listeners will find their own resonance within them.

    Across 13 songs in 47 minutes — his first collection since 2019’s “Honky Tonk Time Machine” — Strait plays to his traditionalist country style without ever sounding derivative of his former records. That’s the beauty of his particular songwriting: The songs on “Cowboys and Dreamers” could exist at any point in time across his career, not in a lazy atavistic fashion, but utilizing nostalgia as an effective art medium.

    There are standouts for every mood across “Cowboys and Dreamers,” best heard through an old truck’s speakers while driving down an empty back road: The joyful single “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame,” featuring Chris Stapleton, a cover of Waylon Jennings’ “Waymore’s Blues,” and the Jimmy Buffet-informed vacation stomper, “MIA Down in MIA.”

    Privacy is required for the tear-jerking ballads with pedal steel that sounds like crying: Like on “The Little Things,” “People Get Hurt Sometimes,” “The Journey Of Your Life” or, most severely, “Rent,” written by Guy Clark and Keith Gattis, that begins with Strait offering a spoken-word tribute to the late Gattis.

    “The war took my brother/The good Lord took my mother/And the years, well, I don’t know where they all went,” he later sings in its striking chorus. “Until that roll is called up yonder/All I can do is wonder/If I even did enough to make a dent/But I made a few good friends/And I always paid my rent.”

    Over the last two years, Strait has been on tour with Stapleton and Little Big Town. He’s filled stadiums in states maybe not stereotypically associated with country music, but deep appreciators of the stuff, nonetheless. In June, at New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium not far from New York City, Strait turned a space of tens of thousands across many demographics into something resembling the intimacy of those honky tonks he’s always singing about. Strait performed with a big band and a lot of heart, in a Western shirt and stiff, straight-starched jeans. (The closest a person can get to levitation is singing along to “Amarillo by Morning” in a stadium of tens of thousands, anyway.) There, as on “Cowboys and Dreamers,” Strait’s powers were in full force: Familiar sounds in a modern context. If you love Strait, you love him — and that makes it classic.

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    For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/music-reviews

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  • The best concerts of 2024 so far: AP’s picks include Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, George Strait, SZA

    The best concerts of 2024 so far: AP’s picks include Olivia Rodrigo, Bad Bunny, George Strait, SZA

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    As The Associated Press’ music writer, Maria Sherman has seen more than 40 concerts during the first half of 2024. Here are some picks for the best shows … so far, excluding any one-off performances that cannot be repeated, and where you too can catch these artists.

    Bad Bunny, “The Most Wanted Tour”

    March 14, Los Angeles’ Crypto.com Arena

    Bad Bunny’s show begins with a symphony, transitioning into the unmistakable strings of his monster hit, “Monaco.” “The Most Wanted Tour” highlights El Conejo Malo’s fifth solo album “Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana” (“Nobody Knows What Will Happen Tomorrow”) and his past reggaetón hits, too.

    HIGHLIGHT: There is one moment that can only be described as equine.

    OPENER: When you’re one of the biggest artists on the planet, do you really need an opener? Bad Bunny didn’t.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: This particular run of shows has come to an end, but here’s a reminder to catch him next time he’s in town.

    Bad Bunny performs during “The Most Wanted Tour” at State Farm Arena in Atlanta on May 15, 2024. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP, File)

    Olivia Rodrigo, “GUTS World Tour”

    April 5, New York’s Madison Square Garden

    Rodrigo’s spirited punky-pop warms an arena, as does her irreverent charms and Disney-informed dancing. If women performing their rage has fallen out of vogue, Rodrigo has brought it back, full force.

    HIGHLIGHT: For the fans of her big-hearted ballads — in one moment, she’s lifted into the air and circles the arena in a purple crescent moon to slow things down.

    OPENER: The Breeders — fronted by the Pixies’ Kim Deal — legends of ’90s college radio and indie rock. There’s something completist about hearing an arena discover “Cannonball” for the first time, a song that no doubt inspired Rodrigo’s music.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Rodrigo heads back to the U.S. this month with a new opener, the U.K. hyperpop producer PinkPantheress, before the Breeders return for two final nights in Los Angeles.

    Brutalismus 3000, “AMERIKATRÄUME”

    April 11, New York’s Knockdown Center

    Every generation gets the Crystal Castles it deserves. Or in less niche language: This Berlin duo brings humor to their music, which veers from hyperactive techno to German Neue Deutsche Welle in their acquired-taste electronica. The shows are sweaty, and no matter your age, you will be the oldest person in attendance.

    HIGHLIGHT: The duo samples Dido’s soft-pop hit “White Flag,” while waving a white flag. It works.

    OPENER: The techno-punk LustSickPuppy, whose abrasive rave music is presented as a kind of nightmarish clown show.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Brutalismus will be hitting a few festivals in Europe this summer and fall.

    Nicki Minaj, “Pink Friday 2 World Tour”

    May 1, New York’s Barclays Center

    She will run on club time, and she will not disappoint. Nicki Minaj’s “Pink Friday 2” is almost a retrospective of her chart-toppers, shifting alter-egos with incredible ease.

    HIGHLIGHT: At this particular show, Minaj brought out Cyndi Lauper to duet “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” after 1 a.m.

    OPENER: Monica has joined Minaj for this tour, and in Brooklyn, Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa opened the show.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Minaj is hitting the European festival circuit this summer, then heading back to the U.S. in September.

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    Nicki Minaj performs during the MTV Video Music Awards on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023, at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J. (Photo by Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File)

    Sum 41, “Tour of the Setting Sum”

    May 6, New York’s Brooklyn Paramount

    Canadian pop-punk band Sum 41 has called it quits — and they’re going out in a blaze of glory, a farewell tour that has the immediacy of their youth.

    HIGHLIGHT: Sum 41 does not want to exit quietly — they prove their endurance with an explosive set, fireworks and mosh pits and all. There’s also a giant, blow-up skull.

    OPENER: The Interrupters, a ska-punk band that revitalized the genre, are worth arriving early for. At future dates, Sum 41 will be joined by Gob, Pup, Neck Deep and the Bronx.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Sum 41 is zigzagging across Europe and North America through early 2025.

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    Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 performs during Sonic Temple Art and Music Festival on Friday, May 17, 2024, at Historic Crew Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP, File)

    Megan Thee Stallion, “Hot Girl Summer Tour”

    May 21, Madison Square Garden

    Not every artist can sell out Madison Square Garden on her first tour, but Megan Thee Stallion is not every artist. On her stage, Megan is an athlete and a dancer who delivers her fierce bars with an incredible crispness.

    HIGHLIGHT: “WAP” is a can’t miss moment, of course — particularly if Cardi B makes a surprise appearance, like she did at MSG.

    OPENER: Tennessee rapper GloRilla, who was most recently featured on the great, braggy “Accent” from the headliner’s third album, “Megan.”

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Europe will get to catch her in July, before she heads back home for a few festivals.

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    Megan Thee Stallion performs during the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Manchester, Tenn. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

    The Rolling Stones, “Stones Tour ’24 Hackney Diamonds”

    May 23, East Rutherford, New Jersey’s MetLife Stadium

    The Rolling Stones ran through 60 years of hits across two hours, including cuts from their first album of new material in nearly two decades, “Hackney Diamonds.”

    HIGHLIGHT: When it comes to The Rolling Stones, the entire show is the highlight — but for this audience, it was likely the rollicking rendition of “Wild Horses.”

    OPENER: The soulful Jon Batiste, an award-show staple for a reason.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: The Stones’ North American tour continues through July.

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    Ronnie Wood, from left, Mick Jagger, Steve Jordan, and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones perform during the “Hackney Diamonds” tour at Soldier Field on Thursday, June 27, 2024, in Chicago. (Photo by Rob Grabowski/Invision/AP, File)

    George Strait

    June 8, MetLife Stadium

    They call him the King of Country for a reason. Live, George Strait can transform his one-off stadium shows into a honky-tonk; he performs with a big band and a lot of heart.

    HIGHLIGHT: The closest a person can get to levitation is singing along to “Amarillo by Morning” in a stadium of tens of thousands.

    OPENER: Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town, with Stapleton joining Strait for a new song called “Honky Tonk Hall of Fame.”

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Strait has a two more stadium dates in July — in Detroit and Chicago — and another in December, in Las Vegas.

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    George Strait performs at the iHeartCountry Festival on Saturday, Oct. 30, 2021, at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP)

    Governors Ball: Chappell Roan, Sexyy Red, SZA, Peso Pluma

    June 7-9, New York’s Flushing Meadows Corona Park

    Summer festivals across the United States tend to have similar lineups. Governors Ball, arriving early in the season, sets the tone.

    HIGHLIGHT: Now is the time to run, don’t walk, to see Chappell Roan. And learn the “Hot to Go” dance.

    OPENER: Sexyy Red’s frisky rap is hard to deny.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: Many of these artists will be hitting festivals in North American and Europe this summer. In fact, if you want to catch SZA, Sexyy Red and Chappell Roan in one go, consider Lollapalooza in August. Pluma is currently on his “Éxodo Tour” across North America, running through October.

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    Chappell Roan performs during the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on Sunday, June 16, 2024, in Manchester, Tenn. (Photo by Amy Harris/Invision/AP)

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    Sexyy Red performs during the Governors Ball Music Festival on Saturday, June 8, 2024, at Flushing Meadows Corona Park in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

    CLAMM

    Feb. 18, Melbourne, Australia’s Northcote Social Club

    In the search for thrilling, cathartic underground music — particularly of the indie variety — look no further than the rich scene of Melbourne, Australia. CLAMM, the punk trio, brings a controlled aggression to their live show. It is ferocious noise punk that hits like inhaling hand sanitizer — stinging alert their audience with clever agitation.

    HIGHLIGHT: Later this month, CLAMM will release a new record, “Disembodiment.” Live, they’ve begun performing the chant-along opening cut, “Change Enough.”

    OPENER: At this particular show, the Aussie indie band Scott and Charlene’s Wedding and the rapper Mulalo. A genre-diverse club show is a life-affirming club show.

    SEE IT YOURSELF: CLAMM are headed to Europe for a series of dates this July, and back to Australia in August.

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  • George Strait’s Texas Concert Could Break Records This June

    George Strait’s Texas Concert Could Break Records This June

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    George Strait’s one and only 2024 Texas concert, The King at Kyle Field, is in such high demand that the country star is on track to beat several attendance records, including one he set in 2014. Strait set his all-time highest indoor attendance record of 104,793 fans in June 2014 at Arlington’s AT&T Stadium for the final performance of his farewell The Cowboy Rides Away Tour…

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    Samantha Thornfelt

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  • Eric Church … the Most Underrated Man in Country Music?

    Eric Church … the Most Underrated Man in Country Music?

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    Eric Church was the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year in 2020. He’s won the CMA Album of the Year Award twice. Church has five Platinum albums to his name, multiple others Gold, hit singles for days. His live shows are the stuff of legend – 3-hour marathons that play like sprints.

    Church is even headlining the final day of Rodeo Houston on Sunday, a designation previously reserved for the likes of country icons like Garth Brooks and George Strait.

    So, yeah, Eric Church is a really big deal, one of the greatest musicians (country or no) of his era. Then why does it not feel that way?

    When talk turns to the greatest country artists of the modern era, names like the aforementioned Strait and Brooks come to mind, as do greats like Alan Jackson, Shania Twain, Reba McEntire and Tim McGraw.

    When talk turns to the most noteworthy and commercially successful country acts of the 21st Century, Jason Aldean certainly gets his due. As does Luke Bryan. Same for Zac Brown Band.

    The hottest country acts in the game today? Morgan Wallen. Luke Combs. Zach Bryan. Chris Stapleton.
    Each of the artists above certainly belongs on their respective lists, but when talk comes to each, why doesn’t Church’s name jump to the forefront?

    He’s been a commercial force for the better part of 20 years and is universally respected by country diehards and casuals alike, not to mention the envy of many of his contemporaries. He can craft a radio hit, turn out more rock-like fare in droves and do poignant with the best of them.

    He can do it all. And maybe that’s the problem.

    George Strait produced harmonious, radio-friendly hits for decades. Garth Brooks was a country supernova who crossed over into pop before it was a thing. Shania Twain followed his lead. Luke Bryan sings often of tailgates and tanlines, Aldean of other varieties of country staples. Wallen creates music with enough edge to be cool and enough melody to make him the biggest name in country today.

    Church? Yeah, good luck putting him in a box.
    The guy rocks – see “That’s Damn Rock & Roll” and “Heart on Fire” as recent examples. He makes hits that tell stories and have heart, most notably, “Springsteen” and “Talladega.” He can be just plain fun (“Cold One,” “Drink in My Hand”).

    Oh yeah, he also released what some consider the greatest country album of the 2010s, Mr. Misunderstood,” a stripped-down ode to country music that features some of his best material, in particular, “Record Year,” “Holdin’ My Own” and “Round Here Buzz.”

    Point being, Church may never top any number of lists that designate the best, brightest or most notable artists in country today. Perhaps that’s by design. After all, why do any one thing well when you can excel across the board?

    Underrated though he may be, country music is infinitely better with Church in its ranks. On Sunday, Rodeo Houston fans are going to find out firsthand.

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    Clint Hale

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