Tim McGraw On His New Album 'Standing Room Only,' Upcoming Tour & More | Billboard News - video Dailymotion

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Country superstar Tim McGraw tells us all about his brand new album 'Standing Room Only,' his upcoming tour, the current rise of country music, and more!

Transcript

00:00 As far as throwing stuff, I don't think I could tolerate that.

00:02 Hopefully I'm quick enough to dodge.

00:03 Yeah, you can dodge those moves.

00:04 Dodge anything now, but you know, soft goods I'm used to having thrown.

00:08 But nothing solid.

00:09 Nothing solid.

00:10 Nothing solid, yeah.

00:11 Hi, I'm Tim McGraw and this is Billboard News.

00:14 Hey, it's Tetris with Billboard News and I'm chilling with country music legend Tim

00:32 McGraw.

00:33 Thanks for coming.

00:34 Thank you, man.

00:35 Thanks for having me.

00:36 I like it, I love it, I want you more of it.

00:37 To live like you were dying.

00:38 But you're gonna remember me, remember me well.

00:48 We gotta talk about this, the 17th studio album you've put together.

00:52 How do you even keep yourself motivated to make music at this point?

00:55 I haven't done anything 17 times.

00:58 Anything 17 times?

00:59 Nothing.

01:00 Actually, it seems like there's been more, because I've been doing it for 30 years,

01:03 I guess, a little over 30 years.

01:05 It seems like there's more albums out there.

01:06 If you count all the greatest hits and all the 22 greatest hits Curb Records put out.

01:10 Well, that's good, you have enough hits to do that.

01:13 There's maybe that, but what usually happens is when I get ready to do a project, I sort

01:17 of have these ideas of the kinds of music and the kind of messages I want to sing about,

01:21 kind of sonically what I want the record to sound like.

01:24 So I'll start writing songs with the themes that I want, and I'll finish a song and I'll

01:28 think, "This is pretty good, this is kind of what I wanted to say, so I might cut this

01:32 one."

01:33 And then Tom Douglas or Laurie McKenna or the Warmbrothers will send me a song, and

01:37 it's saying what I was trying to say, but way better.

01:40 So then my song goes in the bin.

01:42 So I made one song on the album that I wrote.

01:45 Which song was that?

01:46 National California, LA, Tennessee.

01:47 "Greyhound bus and a walk of fame, it's a heartless son and what distance can do?"

01:54 That came from a story.

01:55 My oldest daughter was moving to LA, so I have this 19-year-old Cadillac Escalade that

02:00 I can't get rid of.

02:01 We call it the Griswold family cruiser.

02:03 And I ripped all the seats out of it and loaded all of Gracie's stuff in, and her and I did

02:07 a road trip from Nashville to LA to move her out there.

02:10 We spent about four days traveling, staying in great spots and doing carpool karaoke and

02:15 singing songs together.

02:16 She's a fantastic singer.

02:18 And we got to LA, it was late at night, and I was moving her in her place, moving boxes

02:22 in.

02:23 By that time she was ready to get rid of me.

02:24 And finally she said, "Dad, you have to go."

02:26 So I gave her a big hug and I just cried like a baby.

02:29 ♪ There's standing room only, standing room only ♪

02:35 And tell me about "Standing Room Only."

02:36 Why that title and why that song?

02:37 When I first heard it, I loved the song.

02:39 I loved the message and what it said and the positivity that it had.

02:43 This song is one of those, from the time I sat down on the guitar and started learning

02:46 it and playing it and singing it, this feels pretty good.

02:50 Every step along the way it just got better and better and better and better.

02:54 And then when we got to the final mix, Byron and I were sitting at the board mixing the

02:58 song and when we finally finished it, we sort of looked at each other and said, "This is

03:01 something really special."

03:02 And he sort of just raised his hand and said, "I'm going to be the first single."

03:05 I love that.

03:06 And then you're going on tour, so talk to me about that and what fans can expect.

03:09 Yeah, it's the first time we've been in arenas in a long time.

03:12 It's probably going to be one of the biggest productions we've ever had.

03:15 I'm pretty excited to have all the bells and whistles.

03:18 It's fun for me.

03:19 I mean, I like to put on a show for everybody else, but all the stuff up there is fun for

03:23 me as well.

03:24 And you get to see your fans.

03:25 And speaking of country music fans, I mean, they're doing amazing things right now.

03:29 You got Luke Holmes, you got Morgan Wallen.

03:31 The top ten of the Hot 100 is full of country music.

03:34 I love it.

03:35 So how do you feel about that right now and country sort of resurgence competing with

03:37 like hip-hop and pop?

03:38 I love it.

03:39 I mean, the more we can bring to the party, the better.

03:42 Country music has consistently grown for a long time.

03:45 When new people discover it and they find out they didn't think they liked it, and then

03:48 they'll hear something and all of a sudden they'll discover other people.

03:51 I think for a long time, the country music industry fought that, fought the crossover

03:56 idea or the idea that other people are listening to their music or other stations are playing

03:59 their music.

04:00 The industry itself sort of fought against that for a while.

04:02 I think my wife got the brunt end of that quite a bit when she was having a lot of crossover

04:07 success.

04:08 I can feel your breath washing over me and suddenly I'm melting into you.

04:14 In my mind, I think you miss the point when you feel that way because not only is it good

04:18 for that artist that that happens to, but it's good for all the other artists as well.

04:22 And I love your candidness and just how your energy right now, right?

04:26 You've always been so confident and open, whether you're talking about politics, anything.

04:29 With country music and everything that's happening right now, how do you feel like music reflects

04:34 your thoughts?

04:35 And should it be separate?

04:36 I think as an artist, you just make your music and it lands where it lands and you take the

04:41 consequences of it either way.

04:43 I can't speak to what other artists do when they're making music.

04:45 What I can say is I'll let my music and the kind of music that I make and the kind of

04:50 messages that I put out speak for itself.

04:53 And what I do want to ask you, lastly, is what do you have left to say?

04:57 What does Tim McGraw want to tell the world after decades of good music?

05:01 I don't know.

05:02 I just want to keep getting better.

05:04 Getting better at my craft and honor my craft and not take it for granted and not think

05:07 it's just there and it's going to be there.

05:09 I think the moment that I feel like I'm not making better music than I made the last time

05:14 I was in, it's probably the time to stop.

05:17 And right now I feel like I'm making the best music I've ever made.

05:19 A whiskey, a whiskey, what I ever do to you.

05:27 Well your fans aren't going anywhere, man.

05:28 So thank you so much for hanging out with us.

05:29 Thank you, man.

05:30 My pleasure.

05:30 (upbeat music)

05:33 (whooshing)

Tim McGraw On His New Album 'Standing Room Only,' Upcoming Tour & More | Billboard News

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