What makes country music artist Tim McGraw tick?

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Tim McGraw: Standing Room Only Tour ’24

When: March 27, 7 p.m.
Where: Vancouver’s Rogers Arena
Tickets and info: Ticketmaster.ca

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Start, Louisiana is a community in Richland Parish in the northeastern part of the state. The 2020 census lists the population as 982. By comparison, nearby Delhi, La., is a metropolis with its 2,584 residents.

Pretty much nothing of international significance happened in either town until May 1, 1967 — the birthday of one Samuel Timothy McGraw, a.k.a. Tim McGraw. The country music star is claimed by both places as a ‘hometown boy,’ and it’s not hard to understand why.

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Since he dropped his debut single What Room Was the Holiday In on March 29, 1991, the country music scene changed forever. Actually, the single didn’t chart and neither did his self-titled 1993 debut album, but everyone has a dry run (or three) on the way up.

Album No. 2, Not a Moment too Soon, more than made up for that debut album’s humble beginnings.

Its second single, Don’t Take the Girl, became his first No. 1 hit. With sales of more than six million, the record was the top-selling country album of 1994. The man who made Bullhide 50X black straw cowboy hats and unbuttoned Henley shirts a signature look had definitely arrived.

Another No. 1 album, 1995’s All I Want, cemented his status as one of country music’s biggest stars. In 1997, Everywhere repeated that No. 1 chart performance as well as reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200. McGraw had officially entered the crossover world where he has resided ever since. Everywhere also marked the first time he duetted on a recording with his megastar spouse Faith Hill on the classic It’s Your Love. The two singers met on the CMT Spontaneous Combustion Tour.

To say the two are the biggest power couple in country music since George Jones and Tammy Wynette actually downplays their importance on the arts and cultural scene. Not only are the pair mega-selling musicians, but they’re also Hollywood mainstays.

Hill and McGraw are both featured in the Paramount+ series 1883. This 2021 spinoff prequel to the hit series Yellowstone is just the most recent addition to acting careers that stretch back two decades. Looking over the schedule of acting roles and record releases, it’s hard to fathom how they maintain such consistently successful careers, let alone hitting the road to tour.

But tour they do, and McGraw is presently on the road supporting his 16th studio album, Standing Room Only. The release reached No. 2 on the American country airplay chart. Written during the COVID-19 slowdown, the 13-track album includes the top-10-charting title track as well as the heart-wrenching ballad Hey Whiskey.

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This tune is a perfect example of what makes McGraw such a big draw.

Written by Brad and Joel Hutsell and Brad and Brett Warren, the song is three minutes and 23 seconds of vintage country music balladry. Performed by the singer like every single line was potentially the last one he would deliver, the acoustic version loaded up to YouTube is riveting.

From the declaration that he and whiskey have been inseparable every Friday night since he was 22 to the chorus hook pleading: “Hey whiskey, what did I ever do to you?”, the narrative song relays a story that puts it in the same company as such classics as There Stands the Glass, Tennessee Whiskey, and Tonight, the Bottle Let Me Down. It’s easy to imagine this track bringing a hush over the arena when it gets played.

Surprisingly, it’s regularly appearing in the fifth spot on the Standing Room Only ’24’s list of numbers for the night. That’s pretty high billing during shows that are bound to have fans whooping in the stands. All told, McGraw is typically delivering 19 tunes.

As one would expect, every concert comes across as a greatest hits performance. That’s what happens when you’ve written so many of them in the course of your career.

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For those who are headed to Rogers Arena to catch the Tim McGraw gig, rest assured that you’ll get to hear everything from Where the Green Grass Grows and I Like It, I Love It to the awesomely titled Truck Yeah.

sderdeyn@postmedia.com

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