It's easy to take George Strait for granted. After all, every year he comes out with another album of Texas dance tunes and honky-tonk ballads, both delivered with that smooth baritone purr and a rhythm as seductive as it is slippery. The quality is always incredibly high--as high as it gets in American music--but the level of surprise is always very low. Typically, Carrying Your Love with Me is as good as country music gets these days. It's different from his previous albums in only the most subtle ways: his vocal tone has a little more butter on it, and his phrasing coils and uncoils with a little more spring. But, those nuances are the key to his art. --Geoffrey Himes