The Road Less Traveled (George Strait album)

The Road Less Traveled
Studio album by George Strait
Released	November 6, 2001
Recorded	Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, TN, 2001
Genre	Country
Length	33:47
Label	MCA Nashville
Producer	Tony Brown George Strait
George Strait chronology
George Strait (2000) The Road Less Traveled (2001) 20th Century Masters – The Millennium Collection: The Best of George Strait (2002)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
About.com	[1]
Allmusic	[2]
Chicago Tribune	(favorable)[3]
Country Weekly	(positive)[4]
Entertainment Weekly	A-[5]
People	(favorable)[6]
Rolling Stone	(favorable)[7]

The Road Less Traveled is the twenty-first studio album by country artist George Strait released by MCA Nashville in 2001. Certified platinum for sales of one million copies, the album produced the hits "Run", "She'll Leave You with a Smile" and "Living and Living Well", the latter two of which were number 1 hits on the Billboard country charts. "Stars on the Water" and "The Real Thing" also charted at numbers 50 and 60 from unsolicited airplay.

Cover content

Four of this album's songs are covers: "Stars on the Water" was originally cut by Rodney Crowell on his 1981 album Rodney Crowell; "The Real Thing" by Chip Taylor (as "(I Want) The Real Thing") on his 1973 album Chip Taylor's Last Chance; "Good Time Charley's" by Del Reeves on his 1969 album Down at Good Time Charlie's; and "My Life's Been Grand" by Merle Haggard on his 1986 album Out Among the Stars.

Track listing

1. "She'll Leave You with a Smile" (Odie Blackmon, Jay Knowles) - 2:58
2. "Run" (Tony Lane, Anthony Smith) - 4:05
3. "Stars on the Water" (Rodney Crowell) - 3:43
4. "Living and Living Well" (Tony Martin, Mark Nesler, Tom Shapiro) - 3:38
5. "The Real Thing" (Chip Taylor) - 3:33
6. "Don't Tell Me You're Not in Love" (Tony Colton, Kim Williams, Bobby Wood) - 3:32
7. "The Road Less Traveled" (Buddy Brock, Dean Dillon) - 3:54
8. "The Middle of Nowhere" (Shawn Camp, John Scott Sherrill) - 3:14
9. "Good Time Charley's" (Jerry Chesnut) - 2:31
10. "My Life's Been Grand" (Merle Haggard, Terry Gordon) - 2:38

Personnel

As listed in liner notes.^[8]

Musicians

• Eddie Bayers – drums
• Steve Conn – accordion
• Stuart Duncan – fiddle, mandolin
• Paul Franklin – steel guitar
• Steve Gibson – electric guitar
• Wes Hightower – background vocals
• Chris Leuzinger – electric guitar
• Liana Manis – background vocals
• Brent Mason – electric guitar
• Steve Nathan – keyboards
• Michael Rhodes – bass guitar
• Randy Scruggs – acoustic guitar
• George Strait – lead vocals

Strings performed by the Nashville String Machine under the conduction and arrangement of Steve Dorff.

Production

• Chuck Ainlay - engineer, mixing (& additional overdubs)
• Tony Brown — production
• David Bryant - 2nd engineer (& overdubs)
• Eric Conn - digital editing
• Tony Green - 2nd engineer (overdubs)
• Carlos Grier - digital editing
• Russ Martin - 2nd engineer (overdubs)
• Justin Niebank - engineer (overdubs)
• Jessie Noble - project coordinator
• Denny Purcell - mastering
• Jeff Socher - 2nd engineer (mixing)
• George Strait — production

Design

• Tony Baker - photography
• Virginia Team - art direction and additional photography
• Chris Ferrara - design

Chart positions

Chart (2001)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums	1
U.S. Billboard 200	9

References

1. About.com review
2. Allmusic review
3. Chicago Tribune review
4. Country Weekly review
5. Entertainment Weekly review
6. People review
7. Rolling Stone review at the Wayback Machine (archived June 21, 2009)
8. The Road Less Traveled (CD). George Strait. MCA Records. 2001. 170220.