Remember When George Strait and Alan Jackson Teamed up To Criticize the Direction of Country Music in 2000?

In 2000, George Strait and Alan Jackson teamed up to release “Murder On Music Row“. The song, on Strait’s Latest Greatest Straitest Hits record, is written by Larry Cordle and Larry Shell. Cordle released his own version of the song in 1999 as the title track of his album.

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“I thought I had all the songs picked out for the project,” Cordle tells Bluegrass Today. “I had been focused on putting together the best record I could. Then, one day, my buddy Larry Shell called me and said he had a song he wanted us to get together and work on. It was about two or three days later, and I went to see him. It really came together in just a couple of hours. We came back from lunch and tweaked a few things, but it was pretty much finished.”

But it’s Strait and Jackson’s version of “Murder On Music Row” that country music fans still talk about today. A lament about the direction of the genre, “Murder On Music Row” says, “The almighty dollar and the lust for worldwide fame / Slowly killed tradition and for that someone should hang / They all say not guilty, but the evidence will show / That murder was committed down on Music Row / For the steel guitars no longer cry and fiddles barely play / But drums and rock ‘n roll guitars are mixed up in your face / Old Hank wouldn’t have a chance on today’s radio / Since they committed murder down on Music Row.”

George Strait and Alan Jackson Enjoyed Commercial Success With “Murder On Music Row”

It seems fitting that Strait and Jackson would team up to record “Murder On Music Row”. At the time, both men were having plenty of hits at country radio. Still, as two of the few traditional country singers left standing at the time, the writing could have been on the proverbial wall about their future.

Perhaps that’s why “Murder On Music Row” became such a big hit for them. Although they opted not to release “Murder On Music Row” as a single, it still became a Top 40 hit. The song also earned the men a CMA Award for Vocal Event of the Year.

When Cordle wrote “Murder On Music Row”, he didn’t necessarily intend it for himself. Classic Country Music Stories reports that someone from MCA called Cordle and said that Strait wanted to record “Murder On Music Row” with Jackson. The song was never pitched to anyone else after that.

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