''Beyond the Blue Neon'' is the ninth studio album by American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

George Strait George Harvey Strait Sr. (born May 18, 1952) is an American country music singer, songwriter, actor, and music producer. Strait is considered one of the most influential and popular recording artists of all time. In the 1980s, he was credited for ...

and 12th overall. It was released by

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

on February 6, 1989. It is certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Platinu ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

, and it produced the singles "Baby's Gotten Good at Goodbye", "What's Going on in Your World", "Ace in the Hole", and "Overnight Success". While the first three singles all reached Number One on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country charts in 1989, "Overnight Success" was a #8 for Strait in 1990. "Hollywood Squares" also charted at #67 in 1990 based on unsolicited airplay.

Content

Two of this album's tracks were previously recorded by other artists, while two more were later covered by others. "Leavin's Been Comin' (For a Long, Long Time)" was originally cut by

Gene Watson Gary Gene Watson (born October 11, 1943) is an American country music singer. He is most famous for his 1975 hit "Love in the Hot Afternoon," his 1981 No. 1 hit " Fourteen Carat Mind," and his signature 1979 song "Farewell Party." Watson's lo ...

on 1983's ''Little By Little'', and the title track was originally recorded by its co-writer,

Larry Boone Larry Eugene Boone (born June 7, 1956) is an American country music artist and songwriter. Between 1985 and 1993, Boone recorded five major label studio albums, in addition to charting several singles on the '' Billboard'' Hot Country Singles c ...

, on his 1988 ''Swingin' Doors, Sawdust Floors'' (the title of which also references this song). In addition, "

Oh Me, Oh My, Sweet Baby "Oh Me, Oh My, Sweet Baby" is a song written by Michael Garvin and Tom Shapiro. It was first recorded in 1989 by George Strait and featured on his album ''Beyond the Blue Neon''. Diamond Rio version It was later recorded and released as a single ...

" was later recorded by

Diamond Rio Diamond Rio is an American country music band. The band was founded in 1982 as an attraction for the Opryland USA theme park in Nashville, Tennessee, and was originally known as the Grizzly River Boys, then the Tennessee River Boys. It was foun ...

on their 1992 album ''

Close to the Edge ''Close to the Edge'' is the fifth studio album by English progressive rock band Yes. It was released on 13 September 1972 by Atlantic Records, and is their last album of the 1970s to feature their original drummer Bill Bruford. After scoring ...

'', from which it was released as a single. Finally, David Ball covered "What's Going On in Your World" on his 2007 album '' Heartaches by the Number''.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals *

Floyd Domino Floyd Domino is an American musician known for his work in the genre of Western swing. Biography Born a native of California, Domino was introduced to Western swing by way of the musicians who had migrated from Texas and Oklahoma in the 1930 ...

– pianos * Steve Gibson – acoustic guitars, electric guitars *

Reggie Young Reggie Grimes Young Jr. (December 12, 1936 – January 17, 2019) was an American musician who was lead guitarist in the American Sound Studio house band, The Memphis Boys, and was a leading session musician. He played on various recordings with ...

– electric guitars * Paul Franklin –

steel guitar A steel guitar ( haw, kīkākila) is any guitar played while moving a steel bar or similar hard object against plucked strings. The bar itself is called a "steel" and is the source of the name "steel guitar". The instrument differs from a conve ...

David Hungate William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his T ...

– bass *

Eddie Bayers Eddie Bayers (born January 28, 1949) is an American session drummer who has played on 300 gold and platinum albums. He received the Academy of Country Music 'Drummer of the Year Award' for fourteen years, has three times won the Nashville Music ...

– drums * Steve Marsh – saxophone *

Johnny Gimble John Paul Gimble (May 30, 1926 – May 9, 2015) was an American country musician associated with Western swing. Gimble was considered one of the most important fiddlers in the genre. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999 i ...

–

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

* Curtis Young – backing vocals * Liana Young – backing vocals

Production

* Jimmy Bowen – producer * George Strait – producer * Bob Bullock – recording * Tim Kish – overdub recording, second engineer * Russ Martin – overdub recording * Ron Treat – overdub recording * Julian King – second engineer * Sheila Mann – second engineer * John Guess – mixing * Milan Bogdan – digital editing * Glenn Meadows – mastering * Masterfonics (Nashville, Tennessee) – editing and mastering location * Don Lanier – pre-production * Jessie Noble – project coordinator * Robert Jones – design * Steven Pumphrey – photography * Erv Woolsey – management

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1989 albums George Strait albums MCA Records albums Albums produced by Jimmy Bowen