Somewhere Down in Texas
Pro-Social Content
The warmth of a sweetheart’s love makes cold, rainy weather ideal (“Oh, What a Perfect Day”). Strait warns young men to avoid a dangerous breed of female (“High Tone Woman”) and recommends making a clean break from a bad past (“By the Light of a Burning Bridge”). The indebted singer salutes his home state on “Texas” and the title track. The hit “You’ll Be There” finds a man striving to live well and secure a place in heaven with a deceased love. However ...
Objectionable Content
It’s another case of sweet spiritual confusion (like his 1990 smash “Love Without End, Amen”) that puts faith in works and cheap grace, ignoring salvation. A guy prepares to drown sorrows in whiskey on “Ready for the End of the World,” while “If the Whole World Was a Honky Tonk” romanticizes life spent bellied up to a bar. A wanted man solicits a prostitute and finds happiness on the lam with another man’s wife (“The Seashores of Old Mexico”).
Summary Advisory
The Lone Star State’s most prolific musical ambassador is back, delivering the same themes in the same style that he has for 24 years. Once again, country cookin’ and pearls of wisdom must compete with honky-tonk havens and subtle nods to sexual irresponsibility.