In 1993, Country star Tim McGraw recorded his Top 10 breakthrough hit, "Indian Outlaw." Since then, he has sold 34 million albums and topped the Country Singles chart 26 times. As VOA's Mary Morningstar tells us, Tim McGraw continues to dominate the charts with the release of his new album, Let It Go.
Tim McGraw's latest album, Let It Go, is his 10th consecutive release to debut at Number One on Billboard's Country Albums chart.
Let It Go is the third collection Tim recorded with his touring band.
"My band, The Dancehall Doctors, we've been together right around 15 years," he explains. "The two that have been with me the longest has been 18 years now, since we were in a band pulling a trailer. We've been doing it so long now, I feel that I can stretch my wings and do all kinds of styles of music. Because, when I open my mouth and sing, it's going to come out like me. It allows us a certain amount of freedom to just pick whatever kind of songs we like and not necessarily look for any type of songs."
Included on Let It Go is "Train #10," a song Tim co-wrote with Brad and Brett Warren of The Warren Brothers. Other highlights include Tim's new version of Eddie Rabbitt's 1979 Number One Country hit, "Suspicions," and this duet he recorded with his wife, Faith Hill, "Shotgun Rider."
Last year, Tim and Faith performed their second "Soul2Soul" tour, which became the highest-grossing Country tour ever. In June, they'll launch another "Soul2Soul" outing. Tim says this will likely be their last.
"The kids are getting older, 9, 8 and 5 and there's probably not going to be too many more summers, probably not any, that they're going to be able to go out," he says. "So, the reason we continued the tour this year is because we thought it might be the last shot we would get. It's a real family atmosphere when we're out there. This last year, we had a bus and people brought some family out every now and then. The kids run around, and they're working in the office and stamping passes with Marla, and doing all kinds of things on the bus. So, they're pretty heavily into it now and they have a good time."
In addition to being one of today's biggest Country stars, Tim has earned positive reviews for his acting. He appeared in Billy Bob Thornton's 2004 film Friday Night Lights and played his first starring role in last year's family drama, Flicka. Later this year, he'll be seen again in The Kingdom alongside Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Garner and Chris Cooper. Tim explains why he doesn't plan to make acting a permanent career.
"Acting's great. As an artist, it's a great outlet," McGraw says. "The sitting around and waiting I'm not very fond of. It's hard for me to just sit around. Don't get me wrong, I like to just sit around and do nothing, but not all day."
The first single from Let It Go was written by Big Kenny of the popular Country duo Big And Rich. It's called "Last Dollar."
