Tim McGraw is firm in his beliefs and love of his family: 'I stand for what I stand for'

In his typical uniform of form-fitting jeans and T-shirt, topped with his preferred black cowboy hat, Tim McGraw cuts a presence of country cool.

But on this day, as he sits in wife Faith Hill’s home office, the guy with 92 entries on Billboard’s Hot Country Songs chart – 26 of them No. 1s – three Grammy Awards and innumerable country music accolades is momentarily thinking about something as quaint as etiquette.

He spots a copy of “Jane Austen’s Guide to Good Manners” on the bookshelf and surmises that Hill likely read the book to their three daughters – Gracie, 26; Maggie, 25; and Audrey, 21 – when they were kids.

But then he laughs.

“She probably read it to teach me. That’s more likely,” he says over Zoom.

McGraw seeks life-affirming songs

The self-deprecating McGraw is country music royalty, with 30 years of hits spanning “I Like It, I Love It,” “Just to See You Smile,” “Cowboy In Me,” “Highway Don’t Care” and “When the Stars Go Blue” among his head-spinning catalog.

On Friday, he releases “Standing Room Only,” his 17^th studio album that has already spawned a hit with the title track, a rumination in the category of “Live Like You Were Dying” and “Humble and Kind” with its lyrical journey of a life well-lived: “Start forgivin’ and start forgettin’/Be somebody that’s worth rememberin’/Live a life so when I die/There’s standing room only.”

McGraw, 56, agrees that getting older is one element of his attraction to reflective songs, but also something deeper.

“Throughout my career, my records have gravitated toward those kinds of songs. Stories about life. We all fail. We all have our terrible moments. And we’re going to have moments and we’re going to do the wrong thing, say the wrong thing, be politically incorrect from time to time,” he says. “But all you can do is get up the next morning and try to do the next best thing. I’m always looking for songs that are life-affirming because they’re therapeutic to me and remind me of how much of a better person I need to be.”

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The moment with his daughter that moved McGraw to tears

Though McGraw doesn’t often write his own material – “I do, but they don’t make the record!” he jokes – he teamed with Lori McKenna and Bob Minner, his longtime acoustic guitar player, for one of the album’s most touching offerings, “Nashville CA/L.A. Tennessee.”

Over bending pedal steel guitar and a shuffling beat, McGraw and McKenna sing a chase-your-dreams tale about Greyhound buses, leaving town to find “three chords and the truth” and “stars hanging low.”

The midtempo song might seem like a boilerplate country saga, but it’s rooted in a deeply personal event for McGraw – a 2018 cross-country drive with daughter Gracie in his 20-year-old Cadillac Escalade (dubbed the Griswold Family Cruiser) to Los Angeles.

After arriving at Gracie’s new place, McGraw moved the boxes from the car. But when he was done, he lingered, not yet ready to say goodbye.

“She puts both hands on my shoulders and says, ‘Dad, I’ve got this,’” McGraw recalls, choking up at the memory. “She gave me a big hug and I said I love her and when I was driving back by myself I called Bob (Minner) and we were swapping stories about our kids growing up, and he called Lori and we started working on the song. It’s not really spot on, but the inspiration came from moving my daughter.”

Gracie, a singer, now lives in New York with Broadway aspirations. McGraw and Hill recently saw her perform at Chelsea Table + Stage and, “we were in tears the entire time because she was so, so good,” McGraw says.

McGraw on culture wars: ‘I let the songs speak for themselves’

Several major country stars have landed in headlines in recent months for polarizing songs or actions, such as Jason Aldean’s “Try That in A Small Town,” a lightning rodfor conservative counter-backlash, and Garth Brooks vowing to serve all types of beer, including conservative-targeted Budweiser products, at his Nashville, Tennessee, bar.

But McGraw prefers to focus on his own music and actions.

“I only pay attention to the kind of music I make. I let the songs I record speak for themselves,” he says. “I stand for what I stand for and that’s all out there.”

McGraw also isn’t sure that the blaring culture wars indicate a shift in the country music industry. Nor does he intend to wade into any of them.

“I just try to stay consistent in what I do,” he says simply.

‘Don’t throw anything that could hurt anybody’

In addition to his new album, McGraw is also planning his Standing Room Only tour, which will travel the country starting March 14 in Jacksonville, Florida, through June 27 in Phoenix.

Calling it his biggest production, with the exception of some of the expansive Soul 2 Soul tours he embarked on with Hill starting in 2000, McGraw is eager to get on stage and “figure out the moving parts so I don’t get crushed by something.”

He’s talking about the rigging and lighting and other mechanical necessities for a major-scale live outing. But he’s also aware of the reckless trend of audience members throwing objects at performers. His heartthrob status means he’s seen his share of “soft things” tossed his way – McGraw is too much of a gentleman to specify lingerie – but he’s also irritated about the current practice and says he’s gotten a pointed reminder from his wife.

“I’ve been known to jump off stage and she tells me, if someone throws something at you, do not go off stage and go after them. I’ll try to calm myself,” McGraw says with a smile before adding, “You can hurt the artist or someone else and it ruins the show for everyone. Don’t throw anything that could hurt anybody.”

The veteran performer also has to shrug off, as much as possible, the sea of phones filming his shows.

“It’s a fact of life, but I don’t like it. When you’re looking through your phone, you’re missing the whole experience and the energy and the vibe. It kills the vibe for the artist as well,” he says.

Touring realities aside, McGraw is pumped to be playing arenas, “Where you don’t have to worry about daylight,” and for fans to hear his “very cinematic" record.

“I think every artist will tell you this, but I feel my newest project is the best project I’ve done,” McGraw says. “If I get to the point that the project I just finished isn’t as good as the last, then I probably shouldn’t do it anymore.”

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tim McGraw talks new album, tour, staying out of country culture wars