George Strait, on the Record with Kelefa Sanneh

George Strait’s career has been remarkable in its steadiness. The artist has cranked out hits so reliably that his catalogue has defined the sound of traditionalist country music since the nineteen-eighties—depending on how you do the charts, he’s had sixty songs reach No. 1. Kelefa Sanneh, who recently profiled Strait for the magazine, is fascinated by some of the quirks of Strait’s records: the zydeco number on one, the mariachi classic on another, and the early experiment with Autotune. Strait has given very few interviews since a family tragedy decades ago, but he sat down with Sanneh to look over his long career and the uncertain future.