Tim McGraw

All quotes By Tim McGraw

Life is different for me than it was a year ago. There’s a lot more people working for me,so when they work for you they treat you a little better (he laughs).

That’s probably the cool thing about all this. The past year has been great. I’ve got good people working all around me and I’ve got people who I went to college with and my old college roommates and fraternity brothers from college working with me. I’ve got old friends who were with me before I had a record deal. I’ve got my publishing company going and the first songwriter I ever met in Nashville,Tommy Barnes working for me.

Tommy wrote “Indian Outlaw” for me. So I’m working with some really great people now. When I put a baseball cap on and go out to some places it’s rare that I get recognized. Actually, I’m being recognized a little bit more often lately. I don’t get as recognized as often as people would think. Without the cowboy hat,it takes a little bit away from it.

I see that stuff (his portrait on the cover of magazines) and I don’t think it sinks in. I’m not tuned into it,or I don’t tap into it or what. I see myself on the cover of a magazine and I’d don’t think anything of it. But if I see someone like Garth Brooks or Alan Jackson, well, I think it’s cool to see them on the cover myself. So I just don’t feel like I fall into that category. Maybe this is all going so fast that it hasn’t sunk in. When I see myself on the cover of a magazine in a grocery store, I just think that’s another guy on the cover there.

In this business, it’s real easy to get Tim McGraw, or the perceived entity, or the can of beans you’re trying to sell confused.

It’s easy to get those confused. And when that happens you kind of lose your way. I don’t intend on that ever happening. Like I said earlier,I’ve got a lot of good people around me and a lot of old friends around me. That keeps you gravitated. If you keep some sense of your self about you. The image of who I am and the real me do have some elements which are the same,but you have to separate what is what in your head and not let it get to you. If somebody is a friend of mine,or they’re going to be a friend of mine,the first thing they’re going to think of is Tim McGraw the entertainer. After they’re done talking with me or they’re hanging out with me, I want people to forget about Tim McGraw the entertainer. I want that to not even be an issue. Suddenly that will not even be an issue after a while. I think you have to rely on your friends. I rely on them for that a lot. And if your friends start letting you get that way,then I think they’re really not your friends. When you have forty people who work for you,and those forty people have a wife and kids, then it becomes a whole support system. I could just go off on a whim and say,’I want to take off for six months’ and not work and just lay everybody off. So, yeah there’s a certain amount of responsibility and that helps keep you even. That allows you to grow up and that keeps you even.

If you care people and care about what you’re doing and especially if you care about your friends who are working for you,then you have to take a certain responsibility and a professional attitude towards things. You can’t let one over ride the other,because if you do you can get in trouble. If I can sing a song, then it’s got a good shot on being on the album to start with (he laughs).

I just pick songs I feel I can sing well and I feel like I can put across on an album well.

I don’t necessarily look for a hit song,I look for a song that I can sing well. I look for a song that I can do well and I feel has something to say for me. I feel like I do the same thing I’ve always done. I put on a good show and try to have some fun. I feel like there’s just more people there now. It just makes it a lot easier.

With the success you develop some confidence and with the confidence it makes it a lot easier.

I’ve never changed my attitude about the music,I just tried to get better. We have fans and fans are what country music pays attention to. And the fans I think will tell us when country music goes too far. It’s a process of growing. Rock & roll has changed,and it’ll come back and change if history repeats itself. We’re trying to make good records. I sing country music. I grew up in a time where I listened to all kinds of music. I grew up in a town where there’ were a lot of different radio stations and radio was playing a lot of different kinds of music. Many of the other artists in country music a generation before mine didn’t have the opportunity to listen to as much different music. There wasn’t as many different radio stations. So I think it’s an evolution of listening to a lot of different things.

I sing country music because I sing country.

Anything I try to record,or if I try to record a pop album,when I sing it it’s going to sound country. So I don’t think it’s getting too pop or too rock & roll. I think it’s just good music. And as long as it stays good music and they’ve got good country singers,then I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. If it gets too far and it gets out of hand,then the fans will quit buying it. It’s a tough business and I have a girlfriend,but I don’t plan on getting married any time soon(he laughs).

There’s too much pressure on the business of it right now. Marriage right now probably wouldn’t be fair to either one of us. I’m happy in my personal life. The love songs and ballads are fun to sing. It’s like you would go see a sad movie or a happy movie. All a song is is a version of a movie that you hear. Everybody gets their own interpretation out of songs and everybody gets their own meaning out of it. It means something different for every person who listens to it. You’re trying to sell emotions is what you’re doing.

The best way to purge your emotions is to listen to music or go see a movie. That’s what I’m trying to do.

If I make somebody real sad by one of my songs,then that really means that their real life shouldn’t be so sad because the song is sadder(he laughs). I’m probably a hopeless romantic. I think everybody is at heart. That’s probably why I love music so much. I think it’s great that so many people like country music. I think it’s a healthy atmosphere at it’s great. Country music has a lot to say and it’s a great teaching tool. Some of the greatest songwriters and poets are right here in Nashville. They had to learn that somewhere.