McGraw takes us back to that place with Sundown Heaven Town, his
thirteenth studio album (and second release for Big Machine
Records).
I picture a little town, like the one I grew up in," he says of
the album's picturesque title. It's late in the afternoon.
Sunset. Maybe some kids are playing baseball, and their family
members are in the stands. You're at the point where the working
week has given way to the weekend. That's my idea of sundown in
heaven town."
Sundown Heaven Town pays tribute to those two decades, putting a
new stamp on all of the sounds the revved-up country rockers, the
nostalgic ballads, the down-home numbers that have made McGraw
one of the best-selling country artists of the modern era.
From the banjo riff that kicks off the opening track,
Overrated," to the digital percussion that pushes Lookin' for
that Girl" into pop-influence territory, Sundown Heaven Town
mixes the old with the new, the rustic with the modern, the
with the electric. It's a country record, in other
words... with all the twists and turns we've come to expect from
someone who's been at the top of the genre since 1994.
This album is very encompassing of everything that I've done in
my career," McGraw explains. It's a good microcosm of what my 20
years in music has been. You can hear parts of my career
throughout all these songs, as well as the future and where my
music is headed."
Sundown Heaven Town also shines a light on the family, friends,
and collaborators who've played roles in McGraw's career. His
first cousin, Catherine Dunn, joins him on Diamonds Rings and Old
Barstools," a classic-sounding country ballad about love on the
rocks. His wife of 18 years, Faith Hill, lends her award-winning
vocals to Meanwhile Back at Mama's," which doubles as the album's
first chart-topper. Longtime friend Kid Rock makes an appearance,
too, raising a rootsy ruckus on the bonus track Lincoln
Continentals and Cadillacs."
I love being able to collaborate with great people," he says. To
be in a place in your career where you can call up somebody like
Keith Urban or Kid Rock and ask them to play or sing on a song
with you, and they do it... How cool is that?"
Several months before the album's release, McGraw launched the
Sundown Heaven Town 2014 Tour," giving the singer a chance to
perform some of the album's songs long before they hit stores.
After spending countless summers on the road McGraw knew that his
new songs deserved to be heard not only on the radio, or in a
pair of fans' earbuds, but on stage. After all, there's an
immediacy to Sundown's faster tunes, an anthemic vibe that owes
just as much to the amphitheater as the honky tonk.
A family man and devoted husband, McGraw also shines a light on
his softer side with tracks like Words are Medicine" and
Portland, Maine." He recorded his vocal parts for the latter song
in just 10 minutes. The result is a wounded, wistful ballad,
driven forward not by a drumbeat, but an acoustic guitar. McGraw
may look larger than life while standing onstage... but when he
sings about heartache, he sounds just as vulnerable as the rest
of us. Maybe that's why he considers Portland, Maine" one of the
album's best songs, a difficult distinction to make on a record
that spawned three hit singles before the album's release.
From start to finish, Sundown Heaven Town tips its cowboy hat to
the traditions of country music, then tosses a some new
ingredients into the mix. The result is a melting pot of
everything Tim McGraw does best. It's a country album for 2014,
anchored by a fondness for the genre and the desire to push it
into uncharted territory. More than anything else, it's proof
that artists can sound contemporary without chasing after current
trends. After all, trends don't last but songs do. Especially
songs like these.