“I hate George Strait” isn’t something you want to say too loudly in a bar full of country music fans, but that’s just what Tim & Taylor are doing. The Vail and Nashville-based country music duo just released their new song with a controversial title on June 12 and it’s creating quite a stir. Big billboards proclaiming the statement filled up Nashville during CMA Fest last week and the website has garnered chatter about this controversy from several media outlets.
Before you get too worked up, here’s a spoiler alert. Tim & Taylor actually love George Strait. In fact, they danced to his music at their wedding a few years ago. Read on as they explain the impetus behind this song about love and love lost.
“I had the idea for a song because of something a friend of ours said. He told me that he hates George Strait,” Tim Gore said. “I couldn’t really believe it and kind of made fun of him. I told him, ‘Man, saying I hate George Strait is probably the worst thing you could say in country music because he’s the king of country music,’ but when I listened to his reasons for saying that, I knew there was a song in there, and I loved the shock value of the title.”
Tim & Taylor, who play regular gigs at the Beaver Creek Chophouse, The Tavern at Vail Square and The Gambit Bar when they aren’t touring or recording songs in Nashville, have been testing out the title on their audience.
“If I tell a crowd, ‘Hey, here’s our new song, it’s called ‘I Hate George Strait, ‘ people boo at us, they take off to go grab a beer or go to the bathroom and Taylor and I have to say, ‘Okay. Well, listen to the lyrics.’ And then they’re giving us a standing ovation after they hear the hook,” Tim Gore said.
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The hook is that the man in the song who hates George Strait is really just heartbroken over a woman he loved and they shared a love for George Strait’s songs. Every time he hears Strait’s music, it makes him think of her.
“I think we all have songs and artists like that in our lives that bring up memories, good or bad, when we hear them. So, I think a lot of people can relate,” Tim Gore said.
In a teaser on the ihategeorgestrait.com website, listeners get exposed to some of the lyrics behind what appears to be a blasphemous title.
“He said, ‘Our first date we danced to ‘Carried Away”/ She knew every word as we swayed / ‘I Cross My Heart’ was our wedding song / I can’t believe she’s gone / Now every time I hear him it hurts / He said, ‘I hate George Strait / Cause he makes me think of her.’”
“Tim literally wrote this song in about 30 minutes,” said Taylor Gore. “It just poured out of him. Then we did the recording in Nashville. It’s completely self-produced as far as the production and the mixing and everything, we wanted to be so hands-on with the way it sounded. We wanted fiddle, we wanted steel guitar, we wanted to embody what a George Strait song would sound like. It sounds like a George Strait song.”
The couple has had fun with social media campaigns suggesting they had no idea how those “I Hate George Strait” billboards got put up in Nashville.
“In one of our videos we say, ‘Hey, somebody’s playing a prank on us. If anybody sees the billboards in Nashville, let us know.” And we’re being sarcastic, but half the people know, half the people don’t. Either way, it’s making a stir and it’s really fun,” Taylor Gore said.
“It’s been a great journey with this song because it means a lot to me because I love George Strait. And George has been one to cut songs like this. He has like funny songs like “I Hate Everything.” “Oceanfront Property” is another. He likes songs that have innuendos that make you think,” Tim Gore said.
“Anybody that we’ve played this song for that knows George have told us that he would love it. I don’t know if he’s heard it yet, but we hope he’ll see the humor in it, once he does,” Taylor Gore said.
“I Hate George Strait” is out on the airwaves now. Hear it on Spotify and most other streaming platforms.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.vaildaily.com ’
