McGraw returns to Big Machine

Here on Earth

Tim McGraw's collection, "Here on Earth," finds the country star sounding peaceful and down to Earth. He's more meditative than overly active, throughout. It's very much an adult album in that McGraw is speaking from the perspective of maturity, rather than pretending he's still a young man. If he's got any barbecue statins on his white t-shirt, he's not letting on here. McGraw burns through five mellow tracks before he gets to anything with a discernable beat. ...

Damn Country Music

Tim McGraw said of his 14th studio album, "Damn Country Music," "It's is all about passion, (taking him back to 1989) "when I came to Nashville to chase my dreams." Country music has richly rewarded him over the past two decades, and he honors the genre's tradition here. The album gets off to a very traditional start with Celtic folk. The flute and skillful acoustic picking on the opener "Here Tonight" bring a Mark Knopfler tune immediately to mind. ...

Sundown Heaven Town

The banjo comes first out of the speakers, the opening strains of "Overrated," the lead-off song on Tim McGraw's latest. But with a "1-2-3-4" count, the mood changes and goes for a more modern country approach. McGraw does about the same on the follow-up "City Lights" with Michael Landau's steely, but rocking lead guitar taking over near the conclusion as it does later hard on "Sick of Me" where the protagonist contemplates a need to turn his life around. ...