With 45 #1 Country songs, 68 top 10’s and 16 studio albums under his belt, Tim McGraw has no plans to stop cranking out the hits anytime soon.
LISTEN NOW: Tim McGraw joins 100.7 The Wolf’s Morning Wolfpack with Matt McAllister
Ahead of headlining Audacy and 100.7 The Wolf’s Throwdown concert over the weekend in Seattle, the Louisiana-native joined The Morning Wolfpack to share more about his forthcoming album and why it’s important to him to keep creating new music.
“Nothing is better than playing new music,” Tim shared of his favorite thing about being on stage. “We get excited every night playing new music because there’s always a good chance that we’re going to screw it up because it’s so fresh,” he laughed.
Clearly a fan of the thrill new music brings to his career, Tim was excited to dive into details surrounding his forthcoming, 17th studio album, Standing Room Only, which he says is his “best album yet.”
“It’s true, but I feel like I always say that,” he laughed. “I’m a song guy and I listen to songs all day… I’m always listening to new music trying to find something that’s special and I’m writing every day.”
While many know him for his vocals and stage presence over his songwriting credits, Tim shares the songwriting process is an important one to him when it comes to the creative process of a new album. With his favorite place to write being at home, in the living room where “everything sounds so good,“ he says he makes sure to record everything he says/sings because anything he physically writes down, he risks not being able to read.
“I think some people think I write everything and some people think I don’t write anything,” he said on the topic of songwriting. “I write all the time for every album, and I’ve had a couple of hits with songs that I’ve written… but what happens is I have these ideas of the kinds of themes I want and the kinds of sounds I want for a record. I start writing songs according to those ideas.”
He continued, “[Then] all of a sudden… all my favorite songwriters start sending me songs… I’ll get songs that are thematically similar to what I’ve been writing and the ideas in my head and I’m like ‘Shoot, that’s what I was trying to write, and that’s way better,’ so mine gets knocked off the list.”
While all but one of the songs he penned for this album got knocked too far down to make the final tracklist this time around, the 56-year-old is proud of the project he’s put together with a theme he describes as “life-affirming.”
“This album is all about life-affirmation, about being the best person you can be. It tells stories, it’s very cinematic,” he explained. “You can sort of create your own movie and paint your own picture with every song.”
Clearly joyful to gush about the new stuff, Tim is sure to make clear he still takes pride in the original hits that built his career, as well as the bandmates who have been with him along the way.
“I think I’ve been lucky with egos not being in the way,” he said of his band, The Dancehall Doctors, which consists of members who have been with him anywhere from 13-32 years. “I think we’ve always just had really good guys in our band that understood our mission.”
He continued, “I think its one of the best bands on the road that you’ll ever hear. I feel like I’m the lead singer of The Dancehall Doctors, I don’t feel like it’s the Tim McGraw Show, I just feel like I’m fortunate enough to be their lead guy.”
In addition to updates on his music, Tim took some time to update us on some aspects of his personal life, sharing he and wife, Faith Hill, have down-sized recently selling all their homes, except the one in Nashville.
“We only have one home now,” he said, crediting it for being the place he can relax the most. “We sold our farm, we sold our place in the Bahamas and now our kids are all over the place so we only have our one home in Nashville and it’s hard to get us out of there if I’m not workin’.”
With a career as big as his, it’s safe to say he’s earned the downtime, and at Saturday’s show, Tim learned his career has also earned him the honor to be the namesake for a future superstar service dog.
For Saturday’s Throwdown show, Audacy was proud to partner with Northwest Battle Buddies, an organization that supports combat Veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) by providing professionally-trained Service Dogs (Battle Buddies) in hopes the Vets can regain their freedom and independence. The organization was on site Saturday night and brought along their newest Battle Buddy in training, named “McGraw,” in honor of Tim.
“I’m proud to be a part of it,” Tim said of the show, which donated $1 of every ticket sold to the Northwest Battle Buddies organization. “Veterans hold a huge place in my heart. I come from a family of Veterans — both of my grandfathers were in World War II, my uncle was a Vietnam Veteran, my sister was a Gulf War Veteram, so everybody in my family has been involved in service for a long time.”
After expressing deep thanks for Veterans all over, Tim melted into a pile of mush as a little Labradoodle puppy, McGraw, was placed on his lap and became his new “Best Friend.”
“I’m glad they named it McGraw instead of Tim,” he laughed, kissing the puppy and smiling. “He’s kind of like me!”
See the sweet moment Tim met McGraw and hear more about his forthcoming album, arriving August 25, by checking out his full interview above.
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