Category Archives: Tim McGraw

When Tim McGraw debuted in the early ’90s, few would have predicted that he would eventually take over Garth Brooks’ position as the most popular male singer in country music. Yet that’s exactly what he did, thanks to a string of multi-platinum albums, a high-profile marriage to fellow superstar Faith Hill, and Brooks’ own inevitable decline. His sound epitomized the strain of commercial country that topped his era: updated honky tonk and Southern-fried country-rock on the uptempo tunes, well-polished, adult contemporary-tinged pop on the ballads. Helped out early in his career by several novelty items, McGraw simply wound up cranking out hookier hits on a more consistent basis than any of his peers. By the late ’90s, he was not only a superstar among country fans, but a mainstream celebrity with a large female following.

Samuel Timothy McGraw was born in Delhi, LA, on May 1, 1967. Though he didn’t know it until years later, his father was baseball player Tug McGraw, a star relief pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Mets who’d had a brief affair with McGraw’s mother. He was raised mostly in the small town of Start, LA, up there with Monroe, and grew up listening to a variety of music: country, pop, rock, and r&b. He attended Northeast Louisiana University on a baseball scholarship, studying sports medicine, and it was only then that he began performing guitar to accompany his singing. He played the local club circuit and dropped out of school in 1989, heading to Nashville on the same day his hero Keith Whitley passed away. He sang in Nashville stages for a couple of years and landed a deal with Curb in 1992. His debut single, the minor hit “Welcome to the Club,” was put forth later that year, and his self-titled debut record appeared in 1993 but failed to even make the charts.

McGraw’s fortunes changed with the lead single from his 1994 follow-up effort, Not a Moment Too Soon. “Indian Outlaw” was embraced as a light-hearted, old-fashioned novelty song by fans but was heavily criticized for what some regarded as patronizing caricatures of Native Americans. Despite some radio stations’ refusal to air the song, it reached the country Top Ten and even crossed over to the pop Top 20. All the publicity helped send McGraw’s next single, the ballad “Don’t Take the Girl,” all the way to the top of the country charts; it too made the pop Top 20. The record kept spinning off hits: “Down on the Farm” hit number two, the title track went to number one in 1995, and the novelty tune “Refried Dreams” also reached the Top Five. Not a Moment Too Soon was a genuine groundbreaking hit, eventually selling over five million albums and topping both the country and pop record charts; it was also the best-selling country album of the year.

McGraw’s follow-up, 1995’s All I Want, immediately consolidated his stardom with the number one smash “I Like It, I Love It.” The record dominated the country charts, reached the pop Top Five, and sold over two million albums. Once again, it functioned as a hit factory thanks to the number two “Can’t Be Really Gone,” the number one “She Never Lets It Go to Her Heart,” and the Top Five “All I Want Is a Life” and “Maybe We Should Just Sleep on It.” Over 1996, McGraw supported the album with an extensive tour, accompanied by opening act Faith Hill. In October, after the tour was over, McGraw and Hill married, in a union of country star power that drew plenty of focus from mainstream media. It doubtlessly helped McGraw’s next album, 1997’s Everywhere, become another crossover smash; it topped the country charts, fell one spot short of doing the same on the pop side, and sold four million copies. The lead single was a McGraw-Hill duet called “It’s Your Love,” which not only hit number one country, but made the pop Top Ten. Three more singles from the album — “Everywhere,” “Where the Green Grass Grows,” and “Just to See You Smile” — hit number one, and two others — “One of These Days” and “For a Little While” — reached number two. Meanwhile, “Just to Hear You Say That You Love Me,” another husband-and-wife duet from Hill’s 1998 album Faith, climbed into the Top Five.

With the multi-platinum success of Everywhere, McGraw was poised to take over Brooks’ throne as the king of contemporary country, a transition that only accelerated when Brooks confounded his fans with the Chris Gaines project. McGraw, meanwhile, just kept topping the charts. His next album, 1999’s triple-platinum A Place in the Sun, hit number one country and pop, and four of its singles also hit number one: “Please Remember Me” (which featured Patty Loveless), “Something Like That,” “My Best Friend,” and “My Next Thirty Years.” 2000 brought McGraw’s first Greatest smashes compilation, a best-selling smash, and another Top Ten duet from Hill’s Breathe album, “Let’s Make Love.” The song later won McGraw his first Grammy, for Best Country Vocal Collaboration. Also in 2000, McGraw had a brush with the law when he and tourmate Kenny Chesney got involved in a scuffle with police officers, after Chesney tried to ride one of the officers’ horses; McGraw was later cleared of assault charges and spent the rest of 2000 on a second tour with Hill.

Released in 2001, Set This Circus Down (number one country, number two pop) kept McGraw’s hit streak going into the new millennium, giving him four more number ones — “Grown Men Don’t Cry,” “Angry All the Time,” “The Cowboy in Me,” and “Unbroken” — just like that. In 2002, his duet with protégée Jo Dee Messina, “Bring on the Rain,” also went to number one. For the follow-up album, McGraw defied country convention by entering the studio not with session musicians, but with his road band, the Dancehall Doctors, a unit that had been together since 1996 (with some members around even before that). Tim McGraw was gave us in late 2002 and produced Top Ten hits in “Red Rag Top” and “She’s My Kind of Rain”; it also featured a startlingly faithful cover of Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer.” McGraw kept the formula the same on 2004’s chart-topping Live Like You Were Dying, utilizing his road band, as well as co-mixing/producing the record himself. Let It Go came in 2007, with Southern Voice arriving in 2009.

Summer Country Concerts!

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Time to plan your summer vacation country concert calendar! June marks the end of the school year and the beginning of big summer concert tours. Touring this month are U2, The Eagles (with the Dixie Chicks and Keith Urban at select venues), James Taylor with Carole King, Taylor Swift, Dave Matthews Band, Sting, Phish, Eric Clapton, Tim McGraw, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Harry Connick Jr., Michael Buble, Jimmy Buffett, Iron Maiden, Conan O’Brien, Lynyrd Skynyrd, MGMT and Jeff Beck. The Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival is held June 10-13 and features musicians Dave Matthews Band, Kings of Leon Tour 2011, Stevie Wonder, Jay-Z, Tenacious D and the Flaming Lips. Also in June, the Country Music Association Music Festival will be held in Nashville. In baseball, interleague play is in full swing as the Red Sox host the Phillies, Diamondbacks and Dodgers June 11-20. The Yankees’ interleague opponents include Houston, the Phillies and the cross-town rival New York Mets. In other sports, the NBA Finals will be held this month, UFC 115 will be the first UCF event held in Vancouver, Canada, the initial stage of the World Cup of soccer begins and the Belmont Stakes takes place. Wimbledon begins at the end of June and 2010 U.S. Open Championship of Golf will take place at Pebble Beach this month. Wicked has been billed as the musical of the decade and there has never been a better opportunity to see it. Wicked is currently on Broadway and will also be play in Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, St. Louis and San Francisco.Country Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum Pre-Sale Tickets!

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Tim McGraw and Lady Antebellum tickets are available for fan club pre-sale starting today! Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice” Tour presale tickets are available before they are available to the general public at mcgrawfan.com. Pre-sale tickets will go on sale Tuesday, April 6th. Lady Antebellum will be a special guest on the entire tour. The Lost Trailers will open shows from February 11th – April 10th while Love And Theft will open from April 11th – August 7th. Here are the newest set of Tim McGraw tour dates that will be up for pre-sale during the next week. DATE CITY VENUE 5/22/10 Portland, OR Rose Garden 6/12/10 Dallas, TX Superpages.com Center 6/26/10 Chicago, IL First Midwest Bank Amphitheatre 7/16/10 Hartford, CT Comcast Theatre 7/17/10 Boston, MA Comcast CenterCountry Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw on Invitation Only

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Tim McGraw is in the spotlight on CMT’s ‘Invitation Only’ November 13th. Tim McGraw will be showing off  some tracks from his new album “Southern Voice” as well as some fan favorites from the past as he guest stars on CMT’s “Invitation Only” in the coming weeks. The show is filmed before a live studio audience, which means fans will also get the chance to ask Tim questions in a one-on-one setting. The show will air November 13th so stay tuned! Also, keep your eyes peeled as we are expecting an announcement for Tim McGraw’s 2010 tour to kick off in February!Country Music Photo Gallery

New Release from Tim McGraw: Southern Voice

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Tim McGraw to release first studio album in over two years this coming fall. Tim McGraw has been out of the limelight for a while but now he’s back! Tim’s latest labor of love, the new album “Southern Voice” is due out this fall from Curb Records. The album was produced by Bryan Gallimore who is also credited with Tim’s last chart-topping release “Let It Go”. Tim McGraw is planning a nationwide tour in 2010 in support of the album. The first single, “It’s a pleasure doing business with you”, was released to radio this month.Country Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw to CoStar with Sandra Bullock

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Tim McGraw to star alongside Sandra Bullock in The Blind Side – An adaptation of Michael Lewis’ novel. Tim McGraw has landed a starring role as the husband of Sandra Bullock ‘s character in an upcoming film titled “The Blind Side“. The film is based on the novel and true story of basketball player Michael Oher who went from a broken home, to being completely homeless before being taken in by a well-off couple and eventually being lined up for this season’s NFL Draft.Country Music Photo Gallery

Calling all Tim McGraw Fans!

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Tim McGraw fans seem to be up in arms over a lack of news from his camp, so I’m calling all those fans to help us out! Tim McGraw is everywhere these days, with hosting duties at CRS-40, a performance scheduled at the 2009 ACM awards show, and even winning a Mom’s Choice award for his best-selling children’s book “My Little Girl”. But what about new music? After digging into both my files, and my favorite country music news sources, it turns out that nobody has made a peep about any new releases from the McGraw camp in quite some time. Instead I find rumor of him previewing new tracks at CRS-40, along with what appears to be some dissatisfaction with the powers-that-be at Curb Records: Tim McGraw previewed music from his upcoming album during his Wednesday night (March 4) performance at the Country Radio Seminar’s annual Music City Jam, but he indicated he has no idea when Curb Records will release it. Throughout the evening, McGraw and the Warren Brothers, who hosted the show, made several verbal jabs at the label for continuing to release singles from McGraw’s Let It Go album that was released in March 2007. Last year, McGraw apologized to fans for Curb’s decision to release a third greatest hits album instead of the project he finished recording more than a year ago. (read more) So I’m calling out to Tim McGraw fans everywhere (and especially those who were at CRS-40). What were the new songs? How did they sound? Is it worth the wait? Where do you get YOUR Tim fix? I can wait forever for his press team to send me some dirt, but I know some of you dedicated fans are far more “on top of it” than they seem to be :-)Country Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw Almost Fist Fights Fan

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Was Tim McGraw’s rescue effort staged or real? You decide. Tim McGraw fans and media hounds alike are in heaven as this juicy morsel of video was released showing Tim yanking a concert-goer out of the crowd and kicking him out of the show. Claims are that McGraw looked down from the stage and observed a man being abusive to a woman just below him. He didn’t think security was fast enough so he began pulling the man up himself to break up the fight. However, in watching the video I find it odd that the incident occurs and is over with in perfect time with the song. Call me a cynic but to me the entire ordeal seems more staged than Jessica Simpson’s foray into country music. Watch the video and leave your comments below. [youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiAAIqFOrZE] This incident occurred on Tim McGraw’s Live Your Voice tour. Country Music Photo Gallery

Country Music News in a Flash: Wrecker Jessica Harp Marries, Tim McGraw Gets Suspicious, Carrie Underwood goes All American

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Tim McGraw released his new video for the song “Suspicions” using live footage from the Soul2Soul2 concert. I love the stage effects but otherwise I’m not a fan of the song or his rendition of it. Suspicions was originally recorded by Eddie Rabbit in 1979 and reached #1 on the Billboard charts. Somehow I don’t see the same success for Tim on this number. Watch the video and tell me what you think. The Wreckers‘ Jessica Harp celebrates this lover’s season by tying the knot in an intimate candle-lit ceremony to band-mate, boyfriend, and violinist extraordinaire Jason Mowery. Jessica and fellow Wrecker Michelle Branch each plan to release their own solo albums later this year. Carrie Underwood breaks records as she goes through about 20 costume changes in her new video for “All American Girl” that was recently released. Carrie is also celebrating the record-breaking double platinum Digital Single status for “Before He Cheats“, and having a blast on tour with Keith Urban. Click Here To See Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood’s 2008 Concert Tour Schedule. For information on the hottest 2008 country concert tours, dates, artist biographies and event details, please visit our partner site Country Music On TourCountry Music Photo Gallery

Dwight Yoakam Only Country Singer on Coachella Festival

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One set of dates that’s solid on Dwight Yoakam’s schedule comes April 26. He’s the only country artist set to appear in Indio, Calif., at the annual Coachella music festival, which this year features Pink Floyd alum Roger Waters, Death Cab For Cutie, Kraftwerk and Portishead. The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (commonly known as Coachella) is a three-day (formerly a one or two-day) annual music and arts festival held at the Empire Polo Fields in Indio, California. The event features many genres of music including alternative rock, hip hop, country, and electronica as well as large sculptural art. The event has several stages/tents set-up throughout the grounds, each playing live music continuously. The main stages are: Coachella Stage, Outdoor Theatre, Gobi Tent, Mojave Tent, and the Sahara Tent (2006 also saw the addition of a smaller Oasis Dome). The following weekend, he’ll return to the same location for the second annual Stagecoach Country Music Festival. Among the artists booked so far for that event are Carrie Underwood, Big & Rich, Earl Scruggs, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Dierks Bentley and country music legends, The Judds. For Dwight Yoakam 2008 concert tour dates, artist biographies and event details, please visit our partner site Country Music On TourCountry Music Photo Gallery

Tim McGraw gets grabbed, Faith fights back

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Faith Hill scolded a member of the audience in front of thousands during her Soul2Soul2 concert in Louisiana. A woman grabbed her husband, Tim McGraw, by the balls in the groin area. Faith wasted no time working her way over to the woman, scolding the husband molester in public!! Faith said, “Somebody needs to teach you some class, my friend. You don’t go grabbin’ somebody else’s, somebody’s husband’s balls, you understand me? That’s very disrespectful.” You go, Faith!!!! Defend your man’s manhood!!! ~Courtesy of KNIX CountryCountry Music Photo Gallery