It Just Comes Natural

1	Give It Away 3:30
2	She Told Me So 3:04
3	That's My Kind of Woman 3:26
4	Wrapped 4:09
5	It Just Comes Natural 2:58
6	He Must Have Really Hurt You Bad 2:42
7	A Heart Like Hers 3:27
8	Why Can't I Leave Her Alone 4:16
9	One Foot in Front of the Other 4:16
10	I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore 4:56
11	Texas Cookin' 4:25
12	A Better Rain 3:39
13	How 'Bout Them Cowgirls 3:57
14	What Say 3:54
15	Come on Joe 3:49

Barnes & Noble

Could an album title be more appropriate for George Strait than It Just Comes Natural? This modern-day honky-tonk pioneer has been making it sound that way since his 1981 manifesto, Strait Country. Working with longtime producer Tony Brown again, Strait marshals some of his most emotionally resonant vocals ever in service to a collection of outstanding songs about breaking up, riding away, making up, and living and loving -- familiar turf for Strait, to be sure, but here explored with an edge, a purpose that recalls his early intensity when the future was at stake. The elite group of writers he culls material from include his Texas compadres Guy Clark (a jaunty western swing treatment of "Texas Cookin' "), Bruce Robison (a foot-stomping confessional about obsessive love titled "Wrapped"), and Lee Roy Parnell (a fierce, rocking workout on "One Foot In Front of the Other"), as well as the venerable Bill Anderson, Bobby Braddock, and Dean Dillon, among others. "He Must Have Really Hurt You Bad" takes Strait into territory he rules, as he croons a bartender's winsome lament for a suddenly single woman who's seeking love in all the wrong places. "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore," keyed by a lonely, twanging guitar, a mournful fiddle line and a wash of discreetly crying strings, is a companion piece to Strait's classic "This Is Where the Cowboy Rides Away." With a great band that includes Matt Rollings and Steve Nathan switching around on organ and piano and redoubtable fiddler Stuart Duncan playing with great empathy for mood and texture, Strait is moved to performances that rival and in some cases even exceed his most memorable of the past quarter century -- a natural man, in his element. David McGee

All Music Guide

It's just too easy to say that It Just Comes Natural, the title of George Strait's 29th album, applies to the man himself, but that doesn't mean that it isn't true. Few singers have ever sounded as natural as George Strait. Throughout his long career, it has never seemed like he's had to work hard at his music -- not in its performance, not in the songs he chooses to sing, nor in the records he makes. Over the course of 25 years he's not released one bad album and 2006's It Just Comes Natural keeps country music's longest winning streak rolling. It holds no surprises apart from its sheer strength: at 15 songs, it's a little longer than some of his recent records, yet it feels lean, largely because there isn't a bad song here. As usual, he has an expert ear for material -- whether it's reviving Guy Clark's classic "Texas Cookin'," finding Trent Tomlinson's slow heartbroken blues "Why Can't I Leave Her Alone," or recording the absolutely terrific, slyly funny breakup song "Give It Away," which kicks off the album and gave Strait his annual number one country hit -- and while he may not stretch himself too much, it's hard to think of another singer who knows his strengths so well, it never seems like he's trying. It doesn't seem like he finds songs; it seems like the songs come to him. He and his band have a similarly assured performance, mining the heartbreak in ballads like "I Ain't Her Cowboy Anymore" while kicking into gear on uptempo numbers like "One Foot in Front of the Other." But what might be most impressive about Strait and his band is how they come across as compelling even when they seem relaxed and off-the-cuff as they do many times on It Just Comes Natural, including on the lazy, Tex-Mex-tinged "Come on Joe," the laid-back "Wrapped," or the title track itself, where they do indeed sound natural. After all this time and all these good records, it's hard to see another good George Strait album as an event, but in a way it is: few other artists have been as good for as long as he has, and that's something to celebrate, particularly when the records are as good as this one is. Stephen Thomas Erlewine