23 Years Ago Today George Strait Hits No1

With a song Written by Steve Bogard & Jeff Stevens ‘Carrying Your Love With Me’

Twenty-three years ago today (July 19, 1997) was a day of celebration for George Strait: On that date, the singer landed in the No. 1 spot with his song “Carrying Your Love With Me.” “Carrying Your Love With Me” is the title track of Strait’s 16th studio album and was also its first single. Written by Steve Bogard and Jeff Stevens, the song stayed at the top of the charts for four consecutive weeks.

“”Carrying Your Love With Me” is a title Jeff Stevens mentioned to me that we didn’t write until about six months later,” Bogard recalls to Taste of Country. “We pretty much wrote it in a few hours.”

Strait sang the lyrics of “Carrying Your Love With Me” — “I’m carrying your love with me / West Virginia down to Tennessee / I’ll be movin’ with the good Lord’s speed / Carrying your love with me” — in a music video for the tune. It was the Texan’s first single to have an accompanying video since “Check Yes or No,” which hit No. 1 in 1995, and his last until “Write This Down” in 1999.

Strait liked “Carrying Your Love With Me” so much that he included it on several of his compilation albums, including Latest Greatest Straitest Hits in 2000, 2004’s 50 Number Ones and 2011’s Icon 2, and frequently performed “Carrying Your Love With Me” during his farewell The Cowboy Rides Away Tour. The tune also helped Strait earn both an ACM and a CMA for Album of the Year in 1997.