By T. Boone Pickens
Six months ago, I paid $135,000 for a guitar. An impulse buy? Hardly. Let me explain.
Someone once asked why divorces are so expensive. “Because they are worth it,” is the priceless response.
That’s how I feel about my new guitar. Expensive? Yes. But it was signed by the greatest musical talent of our generation, my good friend George Strait.
On top of that, my $135,000 check wasn’t made out to this native Texan. It went to Park Cities Quail. That’s one of the many reasons I’m nominating George for Dallas Morning News Texan of the Year. This guy is a class act. He’s an incredibly talented performer. And he’s all about helping good causes — wounded warriors, kids in need and, as I just mentioned, wildlife habitat here in the Lone Star State.
Did I mention that this guitar came with backstage passes to the final leg of George’s farewell “The Cowboy Rides Away Tour”? Maybe I should have pointed that out. More than 100,000 of us, including a few of you readers, set a national record in June when we packed into AT&T Stadium to hear George’s final arena performance. What a night. What a career. What a man.
That record-breaking performance is one of many reasons I’m nominating the King of Country for Texan of the Year. George is too humble to throw his hat in the ring, but I’m more than happy to brag on him.
I’m sure a lot of you are scratching your heads wondering what a geologist like me knows about the music industry. First off, I’ve got plenty of friends in the country music business (not to mention a son-in-law in the music business in Nashville). I’m proud to call fellow Oklahoma State alum Garth Brooks one of them. At the other end of the spectrum, I had a fairly publicized Twitter exchange with the rapper Drake. But the truth is I’ve spent my entire career in the energy business. Energy is a numbers game. And George’s numbers are stout.
Let’s start at the top — of the charts. The guy has had more hits than any other artist in history. I’m not talking about just country music. I’m talking about performers like Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Hell, George’s 60 No. 1 hits is more than Elvis, the Beatles and the Rolling Stones combined. That’s one of the reasons he was enshrined in the Country Music Hall of Fame eight years ago. In addition to this amazing achievement, George has been nominated for and won more Academy of Country Music awards and Country Music Association awards than any artist in history.
Not that he would tell you about it. You’d be hard-pressed to find a more humble individual than this rancher’s son.
Now George is definitely a man of his word. But I’m not buying the idea that he’s bidding us all farewell. He’s like me. George will retire in a pine box. He might not go on tour again, but he’s going to be making music until the day he dies. To paraphrase one of my favorite George Strait songs, “Baby, write that down.”