While it doesn’t quite have the impact of the previous year’s Blue Clear Sky, Carrying Your Love With Me displays George Strait’s ability to deliver a diverse, quality collection of songs even as he approaches his 20th year of recording. “Carrying Your Love With Me,” “She’ll Leave Your With a Smile,” and “Today My World Slipped Away” combine emotional climaxes with catchy choruses, proving that Strait is a master of the modern country ballad. “Won’t You Come Home (And Talk to a Stranger)” and “That’s Me (Every Chance I Get)” are perfectly crafted and resolutely old-school slices of honky-tonk, while the splendid “I’ve Got A Funny Feeling” is the kind of song that makes you wish Strait would make an all-bluegrass album. As usual, the magic isn’t only in the material, but how it’s delivered. Every song rings with a maximum of conviction and sincerity, yet everything Strait does has a low-key, easygoing air about it. The secret to Carrying Your Love With Me, and Strait’s career in general, is his ability to remain humble and his refusal to sing any song he doesn’t believe with his whole being.