Love Is Everything

George Strait decided he'd retire from the road once he turned 60, so he launched a farewell tour in 2013 that is scheduled to run into 2014. Hanging up his concert hat doesn't necessarily indicate that he's taking a break from recording, so there's no suggestion that Love Is Everything -- his 28th studio album, released in May of 2013, just as the farewell tour began -- will be his final recording. True enough, Love Is Everything does not have the gravity that's required of a final statement, as it glides by with the natural ease that has been Strait's signature since the start. This light touch combined with Strait's unapologetic slowing gait -- there aren't nearly as many breezy numbers as there were last time around on 2011's Here for a Good Time -- make for an appealingly mellow little record, one heavy on ballads ranging from such sweet pieces of sunburnt pop as "Sittin' on the Fence" to such old-fashioned romantic crooning such as "I Just Can't Go on Dying Like This," which woul