Let It Go (Curb, 2007)

Tim McGraw's massive hit, "Live Like You Were Dying," is both a blessing and a curse. Although it is a tear-jerker nearly impossible to dislike, every ballad he records from now on will be compared to it - and likely pale in that comparison. Nothing here comes anywhere close to the emotional tug of "Live like You Were Dying." In fact, there aren't many "big moment" ballads at all.

But what it lacks in large showstoppers, it more than makes up for with small pleasures. Predictably, there's a duet with his wife Faith Hill on "I Need You." On it, McGraw gets slightly politically incorrect by praising smoking pleasures ("Wanna smell that sweet addiction on my breath"). Another song, simply titled "Kristofferson," is better named than written. A heartbroken one deals with his wounded heart condition by writing a song to his heartbreaker - presumably, the way Kris Kristofferson would have done it. But that scenario doesn't ring entirely true because Kristofferson is more of a philosopher/poet than any romantic reactionary. But name-dropping Kristofferson shows that McGraw's focus is in the right place, and overall, "Let It Go" mostly supports the notion that little things sometimes mean a lot.