Tim McGraw becomes first country act on classic rock chart
Friday, April 25, 2008 – Tim McGraw racked up the 30th number 1 single of his career with "Nine Lives," the song he performed on and co-wrote with Def Leppard members Phil Collen, Joe Elliot and Rick Savage. The tune is the lead single from Def Leppard's "Songs From the Sparkle Lounge" album and landed at the top of the Billboard/RR Classic Rock chart this week. He also became the first country artist to chart on the Billboard/RR Active Rock Singles chart, where the single is top 15 and climbing.
McGraw initiated the co-write idea three years ago through his long-time tour manager Robert Allen, brother of Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen. The actual collaboration process began a year later when McGraw sat in on their Hollywood Bowl show in 2006.
This is not the first time McGraw has charted songs in other genres of music. His 2005 hit with Nelly, "Over And Over," remained at number 1 for 12 weeks on Billboard's Mainstream Top 40 chart, and he was the first country artist to chart on the Billboard Hip Hop/Rap Singles Chart.
More news for Tim McGraw
- 03/07/25: McGraw enlists McCollum to make "Paper Umbrellas"
- 10/11/24: McGraw releases "People Like Us"
- 01/29/24: McGraw has "One Bad Habit," also names opening acts for tour
- 11/21/23: McGraw drops surprise EP
- 09/25/23: McGraw expands Standing Room Only Tour
- 07/31/23: It's Standing Room Only for McGraw's tour
- 06/26/23: It's "Standing Room Only" for McGraw
- 04/27/23: It's "Standing Room Only" for McGraw's video
CD reviews for Tim McGraw
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. ...
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. ...
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. ...
©Country Standard Time • Jeffrey B. Remz, editor & publisher • countrystandardtime@gmail.com
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