Tim McGraw News

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
On music, marriage to Faith and
the joys of fatherhood.

Tim McGraw's
Blockbuster Hit "Please
Remember Me" to be
performed on the
Blockbuster
Entertainment Awards
Wednesday, June 16, 1999

NASHVILLE- Tim McGraw will take a
trip to Los Angeles next week, May
25, during a hiatus from the George
Strait Country Music Festival, to tape
the Blockbuster Entertainment Awards.
McGraw is nominated as Favorite
Male Artist and will perform his smash
single "Please Remember Me," which
has currently reached Number One on
the Billboard singles chart for the last 3
weeks and hit the top spot on R&R this
week. The Blockbuster Entertainment
Awards will air during Fan Fair,
Wednesday, June 16, 1999 on the Fox
Network (check local listings).

McGraw is basking in the glow of his
triumphant first week sales of his new
release A Place In The Sun, as the
album debuted at Number One on both
the country and pop charts. McGraw
will resume his touring schedule on
May 27 in Texas with a private show
for Microsoft.

By Neil Pond
Country Music Magazine
June/July 1999

Tim McGraw sure looks like a guy
who's got it all. He's in the driver's
seat of a red-hot career. He's got a
beautiful, talented and supportive wife
- who just happens to be Faith Hill.
He's a proud papa to their pair of
healthy kids.

Yes, he's got everything he could
possibly want - doesn't he? Actually,
he admits, there is one little piece of
the happiness puzzle that he's yet to fit
in.
A Place In the Sun
People Magazine - Picks & Pans - May 24,
1999

Reviewed by Ralph Novak

At times, Tim McGraw seems to
thrive in a rut, spewing out whiny
line-dance-ready songs with
sing-songy arrangements. So it's a
pleasure to hear him branch out a little
on this album. There's a very lively
good ol' boy tune titled "Something
Like That" ("I had a barbecue stain
on my white T-shirt/ She was killing
me in that miniskirt"). There's what
should become an anthem at 30th
birthday parties everywhere ("My
Next Thirty Years" by songwriter Phil
Vassar). And there's even a rare
appearance by philosopher Friedrich
Nietzsche - or at least his sentiments
("Carry on/ Carry on/ What don't kill
us makes us strong"). McGraw also
gets a boost from background vocals
by Patty Loveless and the distinctive,
if underappreciated, Kim Carnes. Put
these elements together, and they
suggest that there could be more to
this guy than has met the ear so far.
Bottom Line: Nashville veteran
shows new promise.

At RFK, Giving Everything for Their
Country

By Mike Joyce
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, May 17, 1999; Page C01

Forget about Garth and Shania. Five of the seven acts that performed at
RFK Stadium Saturday currently have Top 10 albums on the country
charts. But music wasn't the only reason the arena was packed with
cheering and often screaming fans.

To judge by the number of women who spent much of the afternoon and
night squealing their hearts out, attending the concert was akin to booking a
room at the Heartthrob Hotel. Even Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie
Maines confessed that the best thing about being part of the tour was
watching "George Strait and Tim McGraw walk away from you."

Following performances by Asleep at the Wheel and Mark Wills, the
midafternoon performances kicked off with lively sets by Jo Dee Messina
and Kenny Chesney. Chesney's show was a big crowd-pleaser, long on
energy and short on emotion. A versatile singer, he performed his own hits,
including a few custom tailored for the Washington audience, with the same
ease that he brought to tunes associated with George Jones and Jimmy
Buffett. Yet like a lot of country singers who lack a distinctive vocal
personality, he was more apt to move your feet than stir your soul.

Messina was even more animated, moving across the stage like a
redheaded tornado, constantly shifting direction and packing plenty of
vocal power. A lot of the songs she performed--the old ("Heads Carolina,
Tails California") as well as the new ("Stand Beside Me")--were well
suited to her spirited and sometimes defiant alto, and she punctuated the
set by playing timbales on a crackling summertime arrangement of Paul
Simon's "Late in the Evening."

In sharp contrast, Messina stilled the crowd by alluding to the student
killings in Littleton, Colo., before singing the reflective ballad "Even God
Must Get the Blues." Despite a few lulls created by mediocre tunes,
Messina ended the set on a high note with her engaging hit "Bye, Bye."

The Dixie Chicks were never more appealing than when they briefly
recalled their early association with the Birchmere in Alexandria with a
rollicking string band version of "Roanoke." At this stage in the trio's
quickly blossoming career, vocalist Maines, banjo-dobro player Emily
Erwin and fiddler Martie Seidel are still performing an uneven collection of
cover tunes, ranging from a forgettable version of Dobie Gray's "Loving
Arms" to a feisty rendition of Bonnie Raitt's "Give It Up and Let It Go."
Even so, several songs from the group's breakthrough album, "Wide Open
Spaces," radiated plenty of spirit, fun and attitude.

The sets by McGraw and Strait were worth the long wait. Wearing his
trademark black hat, fashionably shredded jeans and a tight T-shirt,
McGraw generated one earsplitting ovation after another as he and his
crack band casually moved through a hit list that included a quiet rendering
of "Everywhere," a crowd-fed reprise of "Indian Outlaw" and a
house-rocking "I Like It, I Love It."

Though he lacks a commanding voice and still seems a bit puzzled by all
the adulation, McGraw knows exactly what he's doing onstage. He
expertly paced the show and delivered even overly sentimental ballads with
a simplicity and honesty that proved affecting. Capping his set, he picked
up a cellular phone and sang his monster hit "It's Your Love" to his wife
and duet partner, Faith Hill. The crowd ate it up, of course, though
perhaps not as eagerly as one of the sponsors of the event: a cell phone
manufacturer.

Strait performed the longest, smoothest and most impressive set, backed
by his 11-member Ace in the Hole band. Touring with an ensemble of this
size has its price, however. The handsome and personable Texan was
preceded onstage by a couple of thinly veiled commercials for phones and
trucks. Still, the crowd cheered whenever his image flickered on the
screens behind him.

When he finally appeared in the flesh, Strait seemed to personify the
country gentleman, and his polished brand of Western swing only
reinforced that image. With his great band providing colorful support, Strait
surveyed much of his 20-year career in homespun but eloquent fashion. He
alternated new songs (including the catchy hit "Write This Down") with
terrific covers (Bill Monroe's "Milkcow Blues" and Robert Earl Keen's
"Maria"), contrasted clever ditties ("Check Yes or No") with romantic
ballads ("Carrying Your Love With Me"), and reserved plenty of time for
his exceptional ensemble to conjure images of old fiddle and steel guitar
bands swinging across the countryside.

All told, the show ran 10 hours, though it would have been a lot shorter if
not for the blitz of commercials screened and broadcast throughout the
event. Indeed, there were numerous times when the atmosphere seemed
more the product of corporate boardrooms than the stuff of dance halls
and barrooms.


© Copyright 1999 The Washington Post Company