No artist can ever be fully certain that a song they release will become a hit that defines their career, let alone that it will one day wake up astronauts floating through space.
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Nevertheless, George Strait found himself with a song that did both following the January 14, 1983, release of his signature track, “Amarillo by Morning”. The song has since become larger than its two minutes and 52 seconds, turning into not only a country standard but also a heartbreaking tribute to a proud Texan and Strait fan who lost his life twenty years later.
Before There Was George, There Was Terry
The first artist to record “Amarillo by Morning” was Terry Stafford, who co-wrote the song with Paul Fraser. According to country music legend, Stafford was traveling from a rodeo gig in San Antonio to his hometown of Amarillo. While making the nearly 500-mile trek home, Stafford began crafting the first lines of the song. With the help of a FedEx commercial he heard recently, which touted its ability to get packages to the city by morning, Stafford and Fraser wrote the rest of it. Stafford’s version was modestly successful, peaking in the 30s on the Billboard and Cash Box charts.
Nine years after Stafford released his version, George Strait put out his rendition of “Amarillo by Morning” in mid-January 1983. The song first appeared on his full-length album, Strait from the Heart, which the country star released the previous June. Strait’s version took off on the charts, peaking at No. 4 on the Hot Country Songs chart. “Amarillo by Morning” remains a beloved Strait song to this day, and its ubiquity has helped it achieve country standard status.
How “Amarillo by Morning” Later Took on New Meaning
Texan country singer George Strait’s wistful ode to Amarillo inevitably became a hit with Texas country music lovers, and Rick Husband was no exception. Husband was born in Amarillo and spent his entire childhood and young adult years in Texas. After entering the United States Air Force, Husband moved from base to base, but he always felt a deep connection to his home state. Even if he was about as far away from Texas as you could get: in space.
Husband was one of seven astronauts on STS-107, the 113th flight of the NASA Space Shuttle program and the 28th flight of the U.S. Space Shuttle Columbia. The crew spent just over two weeks in space, conducting more than 80 microgravity experiments. Before these long research days, music played through the crew cabins to wake up the astronauts. The crew was able to pick out their wake-up music, and according to a close friend of Husband’s, his choice was George Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning”.
Tragically, Columbia never made it back to Earth. A small blemish on the shuttle’s left wing allowed hot gases to penetrate the aircraft during its landing, resulting in catastrophic failure upon atmospheric re-entry. Every crew member on board died. Texans continue to celebrate Husband for his contributions to and sacrifices for the NASA space program. As for Strait’s “Amarillo by Morning”, the lyrics penned by Terry Stafford and Paul Fraser have become even more poignant within the context of STS-107.
Photo by Paul Natkin/WireImage
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